Xbox Game Pass Announces Price Reduction, with One Minor Disadvantage

Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, has officially announced the first price reduction for Xbox Game Pass at both the Ultimate tier and the PC version.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is on sale.

Asha Sharma  has only been CEO of Microsoft Gaming for a few months, but she's already showing her determination to bring about change. With both Phil Spencer and his supposed successor, Sarah Bond, no longer on the board,  Xbox  is sure to take a different direction than many people predicted. And now, Sharma has made some initial moves by changing the Game Pass pricing and its Day-One game catalog.

According to an announcement on Twitter,  Xbox Game Pass Ultimate  will be reduced from $29.99 to $22.99. Additionally, the post also announced that the PC Game Pass package will be reduced from $16.49 to $13.99 – with prices potentially varying by region. Another notable point is that  new Call of Duty  titles will no longer be released as Day-One purchases on Game Pass.

Call of Duty ends Day-One privilege on Game Pass.

Currently, existing COD games   on the platform will remain, while new installments – such as  the upcoming Call of Duty 2026  – are expected to launch on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate about a year after their official release. Alongside the overwhelmingly positive feedback, some people are disappointed that  Call of Duty  no longer offers Game Pass players the privilege of playing from day one. This strategy previously attracted many gamers, but it also left behind a number of disadvantages.

Last year,  Call of Duty's  Day-One launch on Game Pass cost  Microsoft  approximately $300 million in revenue. Sharma assured that these games would launch on Ultimate later, not be removed entirely. In early April, an internal Xbox memo revealed that Asha Sharma felt the Game Pass pricing was too high, marking the beginning of a possible price reduction. However, few likely believe  COD  will be affected by this new strategy.

Concluding the announcement, Sharma stated that she and the  Xbox team  are working to develop the service to make it a more user-friendly platform. It's unclear what that means, but it could be the first steps toward a better direction. There are still many other high-quality games on Xbox Game Pass besides this one. While the brand's earlier arrival on the platform might be disappointing to some, the overall price reduction is still good for the wallets of most gamers.