Microsoft has reportedly decided to add the next installment of Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass. The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft will announce that Call of Duty is coming to its game subscription service during the company’s Xbox showcase on June 9th.
Advancing the Line – Call of Duty 2024 Launching Day-One on Game Pass (Rumor)
When the Activision/Blizzard acquisition was announced, questions surrounding Call of Duty were hovering. Will the series remain multiplatform? Will the series find new homes on platforms like Nintendo Switch?
But one question never got a clear answer. Will the series launch day one into Game Pass like other Microsoft first-party releases?
As of this writing, we seemingly have our answer.
Call of Duty 2024 Launching into Game Pass
Covered by Tom Warren on The Verge, they have said the following on the matter;
I reported earlier this month that Microsoft had been debating whether to put new releases of Call of Duty into Game Pass, with concerns from some at the company that the revenue generated from typical Call of Duty sales would be undermined by Game Pass. Activision traditionally sells copies of Call of Duty for around $70 or more, selling more than 20 million copies on average.
Questions surrounding how this will affect Game Pass pricing and its tiers aren’t known, but with the Xbox Games Showcase around the corner, answers will come sooner rather than later.
Is it the Right Call?
One could argue that Game Pass is immune to sales woes. With Microsoft funding, developers, and publishers had nothing to worry about. That is what it seemed to be on the surface.
With the closure of three Bethesda studios, the question of why they got shuttered has been asked. One answer people would suggest is a lack of sales impacting games like Redfall, Ghostwire Tokyo, and Hi-Fi Rush.
But do sales metrics matter to Microsoft Gaming? Despite being owned all under the same umbrella, the three ‘pillars’ of Xbox are all seemingly isolated from one another. With some exceptions, such as Starfield, Microsoft typically leaves well enough alone.
That impacted things negatively, as seen with Redfall‘s development woes. But could this extend to how the publishers work on a business level?
Importance of Call of Duty and Game Pass
Call of Duty is a franchise that speaks for itself. It yearly tops the charts and for many, it’s the game they get every year. And as a publisher, Activision has sold the game for $70 every single year.
Will they be ‘okay’ with the game being day one in Game Pass, potentially losing millions of sales? Or is this a decision that they have no say in, with Xbox having a firm wheel on the ship?
During both the Xbox Business Update and a recent interview Sarah Bond had with Bloomberg, Call of Duty and other Activision games were reafirmed to be coming day-one into Game Pass.
While I doubt any further cuts will be given to the Call of Duty teams, considering a sizable amount of them got laid off already, hopefully, sales potentially being lesser on Xbox doesn’t lead to further layoffs.
Game Pass Pricing Going Up
In addition, pricing for Game Pass will potentially rise, as cited by the Verge.
The brief Wall Street Journal report doesn’t make it clear whether Microsoft plans to charge extra for Call of Duty inside Game Pass, nor whether the company will raise its Game Pass Ultimate subscription fee. I understand Microsoft has been considering raising the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate pricing again. Activision is currently targeting a late October release of the next Call of Duty, which is rumored to be set during the ’90s Gulf War.
This would fall in line with many other subscription services that have raised their prices in recent months following lackluster subscription numbers.
New Game Pass Tiers?
A rumor that originated from December 2023, was that an ad-version Game Pass could be in the works,
In an interview that he gave at the Wells Fargo TMT Summit that was held on November 28, Stuart described a vision of offering xCloud in regions like Africa, India, and Southeast Asia in exchange for ad views. “[In these] places that aren’t console-first, you can say, ‘hey, do you want to watch 30 seconds of an ad and then get two hours of game streaming?'” Stuart explained, according to a transcript provided by Tweaktown. Many countries in the regions the executive mentioned have no official support for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, therefore they also have no official support for Xbox’s cloud gaming service.
While the initial idea of this is for specific regions, a variety of this would be ideal to launch alongside Call of Duty 2024. The game is big enough to ‘test’ the waters for this version of Game Pass.
Multiplatform Factor
One major aspect of this entire conversation is the fact Call of Duty 2024 will still be released on all platforms. So even if Xbox players don’t buy the title due to Game Pass integration, an audience on both PC and PlayStation could easily make up for lost sales.
As of this writing, multiple Call of Duty games are on the best selling section on the PlayStation Store. And when the Nintendo Switch 2 launches sometime next year, the system will be powerful enough to run Call of Duty 2024 and any other upcoming launches in the series.
Closing Thoughts on Call of Duty
I am personally not a huge fan of Call of Duty, though I greatly enjoyed the original Modern Warfare growing up. Dabbling with the newer releases, the series still has that appeal, and with Game Pass, the series getting even more eyes on it can only be a good thing.
But with uncertainty surrounding what ‘success’ means for Xbox titles, I have to show some concern. Hopefully during the Xbox Games Showcase in a few weeks, we will get some clear answers.
Will you answer the call of duty this fall if the game launches on Game Pass? Or will you buy it like most typically do? Let us know in the comments below!
