Microsoft for first time makes major Call of Duty release available on Game Pass subscription plan, after $75bn Activision Blizzard buyout
Microsoft has for the first time made a new Call of Duty videogame title available immediately on its Game Pass subscription service, its biggest bet yet on the subscription business model that it is attempting to use to offset falling console hardware sales.
The Game Pass strategy was one of Microsoft’s principal motivations in buying Activision Blizzard for $75 billion (£58bn), a deal that was initially opposed by some regulators but finally concluded in October of last year.
In order to placate regulators Microsoft was obliged to offer a number of concessions, including offering Sony a 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on the PlayStation platform, a deal finally accepted by Sony in July 2023.
Under the terms of that deal, the latest Call of Duty title, Black Ops 6, is available for purchase for the PlayStation 5 in addition to being accessible via Xbox Game Pass and as a standard purchase on Xbox.
Business shift
Game Pass allows users to access hundreds of titles for a flat subscription fee.
Microsoft substantially raised that fee in July, with an 18 percent increase in the US, 15 percent in the UK and 20 percent in the EU ahead of top-tier releases such as new Call of Duty games.
The company at the same time introduced a “standard” tier with fewer benefits than the “Game Pass Ultimate” offering. The “standard” tier doesn’t include immediate access to Black Ops 6 and also removes access to many other games.
Microsoft also temporarily removed a $1 two-week Game Pass trial on 8 October, similar to a move it employed last year ahead of the release of Bethesda Softworks’ space-exploration game Starfield.
In a recent filing the US Federal Trade Commission, which attempted to block the Activision Blizzard buyout on competition grounds, called the move to a tiered offering “product degradation”.
Microsoft said the criticism was “misleading”.
Subscription model
Microsoft is attempting to boost Game Pass subscribers from 34 million in February this year to 110 million by 2030, as it sees the industry moving to a Netflix-like model.
Meanwhile Xbox hardware revenues fell 13 percent year-on-year in Microsoft’s fiscal 2024, which ended in June.
The decline came amidst a broader slump in the videogames industry, which saw sales boom during the Covid-19 pandemic only to slump after lockdowns ended.
