Microsoft Gaming announced a significant restructuring of its Xbox Game Pass subscription tiers on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, lowering monthly fees for its primary services while ending the high-profile policy of including new Call of Duty titles as day-one releases. The decision, led by recently appointed Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma, represents a strategic pivot for the company as it seeks to balance subscriber growth with the high costs of its premium content library.
Effective immediately, the monthly price for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate has been reduced from $29.99 to $22.99, a decrease of approximately 23 percent. PC Game Pass also saw a price reduction, falling from $16.49 to $13.99 per month. Other tiers, including the Essential and Premium console plans, will maintain their current pricing at $9.99 and $14.99, respectively. These adjustments follow a period of consumer backlash after a 50 percent price hike in October 2025, which had raised the Ultimate tier from $19.99 to its previous $29.99 peak.
The price reductions come with a significant change to the service's content offering. Microsoft confirmed that future installments of the Call of Duty franchise will no longer be available on Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass on their launch dates. Instead, new entries in the series will be added to the service during the following holiday season, roughly one year after their initial retail debut. Existing Call of Duty titles already in the library, including last year's Black Ops 7, will remain available to subscribers.
In an official statement posted to X, Sharma characterized the move as a response to player feedback regarding affordability. Sharma stated that Game Pass Ultimate had become too expensive for too many players and emphasized a commitment to evolving the service to better match consumer priorities. This marks Sharma's first major policy shift since taking over the role from long-time CEO Phil Spencer, who retired in February 2026. Earlier this month, an internal memo from Sharma to staff indicated that the company was looking to create a more flexible value equation for the gaming division.
The policy reversal follows financial pressure within Microsoft's gaming segment. According to a Bloomberg report citing internal sources, the company estimated it lost more than $300 million in premium sales by offering Call of Duty titles on Game Pass at launch. In the most recent holiday quarter, Microsoft reported that gaming revenue fell 9 percent to $5.96 billion, with content and services performance falling below internal projections. Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023, a deal that was heavily scrutinized by global regulators over the future exclusivity and availability of the Call of Duty franchise.