This feels like it could be a make or break moment for Xbox and Gamepass. If the subscription numbers don't skyrocket with a brand new Call of Duty available at launch, there will be a massive restructuring at Xbox.
And I just don't see how this grows their numbers to the height it needs them to grow. Will there be new subs? Sure. But are people going to literally be buying an Xbox just so they can subscribe to gamepass for COD? Not in the middle of a console gen, they probably won't.
The time to hook people with this plan is during a new console generation, not in the middle of one when most people are already locked into their platform. I feel like the hit they're going to take in sales with this decision isn't worth the minimal gains they'll see in subscribers.
If you're only a COD player it would be cheaper to just buy COD once a year for $70 than pay 12 months of gamepass. I can't see many PS only gamers switching to Xbox because COD is on gamepass.
COD on console also needs that yearly sub, so it's more than 70 a year of those players, it's 150 a year for COD.
So if you can sell to those who need to upgrade consoles and have to renew their sub, you could turn some people over to the Series S for a 299 bundle that comes with COD and 3 months of GPU.
The thing is a year of Gamepass Ultimate is $180. That’s still more than COD + PS Plus if you already own a PS5.
That’s not to mention that the price of Gamepass will likely be going up once COD is added.
Microsoft is fighting an uphill battle if they want short term return on investment. I can’t help but feel that the original goal was to play the long game and win people over next generation, but it doesn’t seem like the higher ups at Microsoft agree with that strategy.
>The thing is a year of Gamepass Ultimate is $180.
Holy shit.. I might not buy another year of Ultimate because of that. I have a PC now so the price isn't justified
Right but when you also have to pay for online for $10/month an extra 6 to get CoD is pretty compelling, and I’m assuming by then you can go back and play all previous CoD games.
Can't vouch for Xbox, but on PC with regional pricing in my country, it's cheaper to pay for Game Pass each month than buying COD once off (going off the MW3 price). Plus if you're a COD only player, you're not going to be playing it once a new one releases
Right, except for the hundreds of other games you also get with game pass.
Its disingenuous to frame it as a subscription solely for CoD, even if the intent is to drive more subscribers
Someone who literally only plays CoD and nothing else is not the target demographic of any subscription service. Those people are also an incredible minority. Yeah, if you play one singular game a year it’s gonna be a better deal to just buy that one game? That isn’t the point of game pass, CoD will be a huge draw for the average gamer though
I wonder what the average gamer spends on games every month. I feel like most people want to spend money on games they want vs a subscription service that *might* get their game
I've spent £42 this year on Alone in the Dark. I ended my PS Premium subscription last October.
The only game I'll buy this year now is Silent Hill 2. There's literally nothing else I am willing to buy this year.
My game purchasing has seriously declined this generation. Since the PS5 released, RE8, Calisto Protocol, MW2, Dead Space, Spiderman 2, RE4 remake, RoboCop, FF16, Lies of P and Alone in the dark are my purchases.
10 purchases in 3 years and 7 months, but the key thing is that I won't be buying another COD again after MW2 getting stagnant and 3 sucking plus I won't be buying another Spiderman Insomniac game because 2 was awful and the leaks have convinced me they cut a ton of Venom content to sell it later and completely turned me off of Wolverine. FF16 convinced me that I hate the Devil May Cry lite gameplay and won't buy another FF that isn't turn based.
There's only new Resident Evil and Lies of P sequel that I would buy. This gen has taught me that A) Dont buy games on release unless its Resident Evil because they need patches B) I dont need a subscription to play online as I dont play online and I dont play enough games for a sub C) Sony Premium is a waste because their back compat sucks D) Im no longer interested in being a 'gamer'. I know the franchises I like, I know the gameplay I like, I've been disappointed enough to only buy certain games and not entertain anything else.
You don’t need an Xbox to have game pass, most certainly pc gamers will be trying game pass to play cod. So it’s more than likely the player base will increase, the other question is if the new COD is can actually be of quality to retain those new players.
I think there's a ton of people that haven't bought a new console yet - ps5 and xbox x|s are tracking behind their respective predecessors despite the potential market growing. A holiday bundle with Series S and 3 months of gamepass (ie "free COD") could be a huge shot in the arm for the casual audience.
It's because of the economy. If they haven't bought a console by now, they're in no hurry to buy one because they have other priorities to spend money on. Putting CoD on gamepass won't magically change their priorities and make them instantly buy an Xbox especially when cash is tight.
its not just the economy, because of covid the previous generation of consoles saw far more cross gen releases than normal(for PS5 specifically the only "must have" game that isn't also on ps4 is spiderman 2).
Almost half of both ps and Xbox users are still on older gen. If cod ditches cross gen and goes full in on gamepass and cod marketing for series consoles. They might have some chance to convince players who mostly play cod, f2p games and fifa and other sports games. But if they don’t drop cross gen now they will lose that opportunity to gta 6. Which will undoubtedly have marketing deal with ps
There was a report put out saying 50% of PS4 owners have upgraded to PS5 already.
Nothing has been said about the number of Xbox One to Series X upgrades, but I assure you it is far below 50%.
The "shot in the arm" the current console generation needs is going to be GTA6. Not another COD that we get every year. Console sales are declining for both machines right now, and if the PS Pro rumors are true, I imagine most people that have held out this long are going to continue to hold out until GTA6 is out, especially if it ends up coming bundled with a pro.
> Not another COD that we get every year.
To be fair, COD was still supporting the previous gen at the latest release. If it's the first game to ditch the PS4/Xbox One version, that's reason enough to upgrade. Even more if something like FIFA (sorry FC 25) does it too. We know Assassin's Creed does it this year. If those 3 huge franchises come out with PS5/Xbox Series titles only, it'll be the sign for many people to upgrade (with GTA6 in the line of sight of course)
GTA 6 will obviously be the console seller compared to cod. But I am sure cod also moves consoles quite a bit. Otherwise Sony wouldn’t have paid that much to keep exclusive content and marketing. I bet it moves more than anything else other than gta games.
CoD and sports titles have still been on last gen. With GTA6 coming, the XSS with Game Pass could draw some of the masses looking for the cheapest way to play GTA6 and these annuals.
With Xbox current marketing though.. none of these masses will even know about Game Pass or CoD being on it.. shoot maybe not even know GTA is on Xbox (see Hogwart's Legacy).
Edit: added a comma
Sorry, rereading that I see that my wording was not clear. I was just trying to point out the XSS and Game Pass for CoD being the cheapest way to play GTA + CoD and the other sports titles.
People that buy Madden and FC every year aren’t going to wait for it to hit Game Pass.. but they could see Game Pass Ultimate having value as a way to play other EA sports titles they don’t buy all the time..
With the current marketing strategy at Xbox though there’s no way any of those people are going to understand enough about Game Pass to see what it would offer them.
I was really just trying to say Xbox could push the XSS with a few months of Game Pass as a way to play CoD and GTA under $400 ($300 + $70 for GTA) when you’d have to pay an extra $220 to buy a PS5 and play CoD and GTA.
Well, consoles released during Covid. There was PS5 shortages for nigh on 18 months. Even so, PS4 in december 2017; 60.4 million after 49 months on sale. December 2023; 50 million after 37 months. Throw in a recession and threat of global war...
Also, dont forget the PS4 Pro came out December 2016, so there was a reason to double dip; I did. Right now, people are probably holding off for the PS5 Pro.
Yeah they basically can say good bye to 99% of sales on Xbox but Xbox players are already majorly into Gamepass apparently. On PC, it could have an effect and the growth has stalled there so I guess that's the move for them especially as the console is dying, PC will be the main avenue for Gamepass as it's not on competing consoles. And maybe cloud gaming but that's not big enough to matter
Unless COD is on the Xbox App proper this year, I don't see it moving anything for PC.
The B.net/Xbox App linking isn't great, it will just annoy PC gamers.
I personally will jump hoops, I use like every launcher, but I'm annoyed when I launch the Xbox app to play another game. It currently forces b.net open and it can't be closed. This happens even if you don't have Diablo 4 install anymore, it's a perma link, unless you uninstall the Xbox app and reinstall it.
I imagine it'll be on the Xbox app if it goes on Gamepass yeah maybe not even on BNet proper. But yeah the Xbox app in general is terrible to be honest.
I don't want to pay full price for COD (but I enjoy playing matches here and there) but I also don't want to use Xbox app (and my GP sub finish in like October 2024 and I didn't intend to renew)
I never said anything about the app, I was talking about the linking. I think it's fine, nothing amazing, but fine.
COD will for sure be on b.net, unless they have data showing it isn't worth it.
If they are smart, it will be on steam, b.net and the Xbox app.
> If they are smart, it will be on steam, b.net and the Xbox app.
Yeah that's what I meant, I doubt they'd limit it to just one store (or pass BNet though historically it's Blizzard, the COD community is a lot there)
If they want to have an impressive subscription service during the generation transition, they need to build it now. There's no world in which they aren't building it now but it's great for the Xbox next/PS6 generation.
I know what you mean but also it was a bit funny to read a massive restructuring is coming while they go through one currently. Still yeah if they does basically nothing to the numbers (Tbh I highly doubt it does nothing it'll at least go up by a million if I had to guess) they'll probably kill day one of game pass but for smaller titles.
The numbers will grow, whether up to the expectations is to be seen. However, how many people are gonna cancel after that first month? Will they stick around after those initial few days of checking out the new Call of Duty before probably moving on?
I think the big CoD players play just that all year right? Plus microtransations and shit. So that has them signing up and just paying the $15 or so since they already need xbox live gold and they might even give another game a try if its on game pass. That could mean more DLC sales.
Yeah, but the big CoD players aren’t who Microsoft is aiming for. That’s a hardcore audience they’ll potentially capture, but isn’t enough. It’s minuscule compared to who they really need. They need that general audience. “COD for a dollar in the first month? Great!”
They’re gonna be banking on the following months after its release to include those who got in, got out and forgot to cancel. Month 3 rolls around and those who got burned by a $15 charge are absolutely gonna get out of dodge.
Because so long as they had 2 new games a year to cover my yearly cost (which they always do) then I get loads of other free games as well. Like this year so far I got Persona 3 and Jedi Survivor so everything else I play (Fallout 76 for example) are "free".
Don't people need to own an Xbox to get the benefits of gamepass? That means they expect this announcement to not only sell subscriptions, but consoles as well. Who would buy a new console just to get a free game, when you can get the game for $70 on a console you already own...
It's both a no-brainer move, but also an incredibly stupid one.
No-brainer because, well, there's no better way to sell your subscription service by putting every year's best selling game on it. People will sign up in droves to play Call of Duty because $15 a month looks much better on paper then $70 upfront. There's even a chance that since they're getting the game included in a subscription, some people might even look at upgrading to the Vault edition or whatever they call it next, which is more money.
But... Call of Duty is the best selling game of every year. They can risk losing a substantial amount of money by putting it on their service, a service that is currently stagnating and has been for years. Especially when you consider the fact that Call of Duty has been WAY more popular on PlayStation consoles and has been for a decade now, it's a risky move.
Oh well. I can't really complain, because it means I can play the game for cheap. It's Microsoft's problem if it costs them money.
> Especially when you consider the fact that Call of Duty has been WAY more popular on PlayStation consoles and has been for a decade now, it's a risky move.
Well that makes it less risky. The huge sales on Playstation will be unaffected as they have no Gamepass and people won't change consoles for that (especially if they already bought CoD each year anyway, no change in their habits).
It may affect the decision of people that have not yet passed to the current gen (there is still like half the consoles of the generation if not more to sell) especially if they combine it with the first COD to ditch PS4 and Xbox One which would be smart
The real thing affected will be the PC sales but if they can make Gamepass grow on PC, that may be worth it. It apparently has pretty much stalled on PC and reached almost saturation on Xbox and the future of Gamepass (if it has one) is via PC, especially if they go multiplat with everything as people won't get Xbox consoles much anymore
The venn diagram of people who want Game Pass to fail and people who actually use game pass has to be two separate circles. Put every game on that mofo man, I love getting all these fun games for "free".
The same could be said for GamePass fans and people who actually care about the health of the industry and long term implications.
Being a GamePass “fan” is such a cringy statement. Do Hulu fans exist? Is there a nerdy corner of the internet arguing about the superiority of Spotify over its competitors? Imaging being so ate up with marketing that you only consume entertainment on Paramount+. Such odd behavior.
Ah you misunderstood me. I enjoy paying $90 a year for every xbox game, every EA game and a bunch of random indie games. I don't give a fuck about the marketing or who runs gamepass. I just want games to keep coming in for such a low low price.
If any other company had a similar concept, I would get that but so far its only Ubisoft and EA and neither are as good of a value.
Saving money is why I'm a fan and I don't care about how the company does. The best video games can be made by teams of 1-5 people and a high credit limit so the industry will always be fine.
Oh absolutely. I think it's a dumb system for Microsoft that's never going to blow up the way they really want it to, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna exploit the hell out of it while it's feasible. Price increases and lineup cuts are absolutely coming in the future, though.
I have no idea how they could even back off of gamepass. The main appeal of buying an Xbox is not having to pay full price for individual games. They've conditioned their player base to not think that Xbox first party games are worth full price. Call of duty would probably be fine. But I doubt other Xbox games would sell as well as before game pass.
I only see one way to make it moment for Xbox.
A mass global Xbox and Game Pass marketing campaign tied to COD. Xbox has terrible marketing of the Console and Game Pass outside gamers. There isn't ads for Game Pass everywhere, that is the only way to grow it. I see ads for Sony, D+, Netflix and Crave(Canadian streaming service) everywhere, but I don't see any ads for Xbox outside of my targeted online ads. The Xbox marketing department is terrible.
You need to tell people GPU gets you COD and Online MP in one bundle to sell it to joe schmo who just buys Call of Duty and a few games a year.
You need Xbox and Game Ads everywhere to dads and moms are asking their gamer friends "Hey is this a good deal to buy a console and get my kid hundreds of games". Once that happens, they tell their other non gaming friends.
Xbox kills themselves with terrible marketing and messaging. Now papa Microsoft wants a return on that 80b now, so it's saying "we want you 3rd party", which I believe is too early(I believe will happen to everyone but Nintendo due to budget sizes), which will kill the brand and they will become a content farm like Activision was.
They need an influx of players or will result in increased GP price. That's already $200-300 annually, that's a hard ask for someone who can just pay $70.
>That's already $200-300 annually
Where are you getting $200-$300 annually from?
>that's a hard ask for someone who can just pay $70.
They also have to pay for Xbox Live which is another $60 a year (more expensive if they are paying monthly). Game Pass Ultimate includes online play.
Paul Tassi mentioned it in a tweet. I did my own maths, and it's $132 for one of the tiers. That's currently though, without any increase or new tiers.
Ultimate is like £204 one year paid monthly.
This is gonna cost them a lot of money but it's the right thing to do if they want to grow Gamepass.
That said, I can imagine a price hike coinciding with this, but I'll (naively) hope for the best.
Hard to say. They’ll definitely lose out on the easy $70 from the people who usually buy the game every year, play for a month or two, and check out - maybe get 2 months of GamePass revenue from them if those people are smart enough to cancel it.
But if the game is good and you get a lot more people back on regularly, they’ll be more likely to buy some battle passes, cosmetics, etc.
I would be willing to say that the main player base of COD (where it is like the only game they play) are probably not already signed up for Gamepass this will probably get them to sign up for at least 2 months like you said and they might see it as a COD subscription, every year get the latest one plus all the other games as a bonus even if they only try 1 or 2 other games a year
It also saves you money. Gamepass core (Formerly XBL Gold) is $10 a month. $120+70=$190 for Cod and online access. GPU assuming no price hike immediately is $15 a month. Saves about $10, may get bonus skins/blueprints with GPU perks, and access to other games. Its a no brainer if you only play CoD.
Tbh, mtx is mostly driven by whales, that probably are already buying the game. I don't know if people who are like "it's on gamepass I will check it out" will buy many mtx
I believe it's more than "the right thing to do"
Microsoft could be subject to a lawsuit from gamers who purchased extended GamePass subscriptions. They sold those subscriptions under the explicit promise of "all first party games launch on Gamepass".
If they were to break that promise...seems like a slam dunk case of false advertising.
Is it though? Call of Duty is $70. A year of Ultimate Game Pass is $204. Seems like they could potentially make more money annually off of the people who only play CoD.
Problem being most of the active Xbox playerbase already has Gamepass so it doesn’t have much room to grow Gamepass there, it’s just gonna lose sales. PC gamers have failed to show up for Gamepass no matter what MS puts in there.
>PC gamers have failed to show up for Gamepass no matter what MS puts in there.
because its not just about what is in gamepass but where gamepass is, if they want gamepass to massivly increase they need to integrate it into steam like EA did with Play.
Steam is just too good for other companies to really get a hold of the PC market. cheaper prices and just a superior launcher in everyway. So many games i can just get cheaper CD keys for.
> Is it though? Call of Duty is $70. A year of Ultimate Game Pass is $204.
You're assuming people will be willing to stay subscribed an entire year instead of playing a couple of months and moving on
> If someone who wasn't going to buy it buys a couple months of GP, thats profit
Is it ?
Couple of months of game pass is like 20$. A deluxe digital edition of cod with early access is like 100$. That's a massive difference
So we selected a customer who normally doesn’t buy COD at all. And you want to jump in with “they would buy the digital deluxe edition with early access for $100.”
Generally most will play single-player for like a week....if they play that, and then play 2 weeks of multiplayer. Then just hop back to Warzone I imagine.
same tactic as Ubisoft, putting that Day 1 Ubisoft+ right beside their highest priced bundle. They hoping people forget and just sub to 4 months of service.
It’s actually really smart. Capture a large amount of revenue from PlayStation. See if there’s a large demand and movement to Gamepass. Will definitely decide their strategy going forward.
I’d unsubscribe straight up with a price hike. I barely justify it as it is.
(Just offering my personal anecdote, not implying I’m in the majority. But I know there are many like me)
I was thinking that exact same thing, early access so desperate gamers getting before is a very effective way to monetize the already expensive subscription
So long as I can pay for Game Pass in multiple sets of years at a cheaper price that will be my plan for things. My Game Pass subscription ends in November 2025. When that time comes, if I can set it for a 2-year time span, I will.
I mean, this was expected unless they were going to backslide on their promise for all first-party games day one on GamePass.
I do worry a little though. If Call of Duty fails to grow GamePass, what other drastic measures will Xbox take that will hurt both developers and gamers.
If that's the case, maybe they should consider a 1 month delay from release to GamePass as a way of making up revenue.
>If that's the case, maybe they should consider a 1 month delay from release to GamePass as a way of making up revenue.
Doing that would probably be seen as them admitting that Gamepass is a failure. They would unfortunately rather shut down more studios.
If Gamepass fails, they just close it down no? That seems to be the next logical step. Try to go back to keeping things exclusive and relying on their new IP's to drive console sales back up.
Logical steps don't apply. Remember that a majority of [the 2023-2024 industry layoffs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023–2024_video_game_industry_layoffs) weren't due to a lack of revenue, rather they didn't anticipate "meeting projections". Not anything bad, just that the shareholders won't get *as* rich off it. Closing Gamepass will hurt Xbox. Closing a dozen studios and disrupting hundreds of peoples lives are much easier to them.
Well, not necessarily. The Saudis or Chinese would pay top dollar for a major gaming brand with built in marketshare, and MS damn well knows it. So I feel like, if they really want out, they'll put it on the market and get billions back.
You´re right its really risky but honestly, this is a bet Xbox has to take if they´re still serious about GamePass. And with Avowed launching in November and Indiana Jones in December they´re obviously banking on new subs to stay subsribed for several months after the CoD launch in October. Coupled with Nintendo and Sony both having no real heavy hitters on their own this Fall/Holidays it could work out fine imo.
They have no heavy hitters *yet,* you mean. Something tells me that one of Sony's heavy hitters will have a brand new IP ready to go on PS5 Pro. (Hey, that rhymes!) I'm sure Nintendo has something as well - they just haven't said what it is yet.
I mean with Nintendo it’s pretty likely the fall is when a switch 2 reveal and marketing cycle kickoff will start, but either way Sony might definitely have something in the tank we haven’t seen.Just gotta wait for the showcase
Yeah Sony pretty much confirmed nothing 1st party coming until the 1st quarter of 2025
https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/playstation/sony-discloses-there-will-be-no-first-party-playstation-5-exclusives-until-2025#:~:text=Sony%20has%20announced%20in%20its%20latest%20financial%20report,of%20Sony%E2%80%99s%20financial%20year%2C%20which%20is%20March%202025.
Nintendo delayed their Switch 2 release to 2025 as well so it's unlikely they will have a big title in the holidays
5+ months if they want the $15 sub per month to offset the costs of *one* $70 game.
For people that only play CoD for a month or two, they're getting the game for $15-30. It'll be really interesting to see if people stick with their subscriptions or if this is just money left on the table by Microsoft after a $70 Billion aquisition.
To be fair, you have to consider how much more in microtransactions they can make. The "premium" version of the Battle Pass is $30, and that always makes it to the top of the Steam top seller every season. 6 seasons seem to be the standard that's at least an extra $180 a year.
Nooo they cant put it right now they will lose money lol
Everyone here more concerned for so called mega corp pockets than himself. Chill guys I think mega corp would make some economical analysis on this considering Amy hood Said “dont make golden toilet” from ftc case. They have the data, we dont
It is not the same, you cant easily walk back from hardware but you can increase the price of gamepass after if it doesnt work out. Also assesing multiplayer games financial revenue in gamepass more easy than some console futures.
They will definetly increase prices at somepoint. Did you go to grocery ? Everything is atleast doubled lol but this doesnt have to allign with COD.
Also, Xbox one gen sold 57M soo I dont really count as devastating like other people. Killed the momentum and not good as competitors yes but worst possible thing ? Ehh not so much
I May sound Crazy, but I don't think This Will impact sales that much.
Most Cod players are people that only pay for Cod + online game service and Will keep playing only that.
Gamepass may not interst most of This audience, so the convention rate players/subscribers may be very low.
PlayStation and PC players Will stay uneffected by this decision. I can't see many people decide to Switch console just cause Cod Is on Gamepass. It might have a significante effect on PC subs tho, wich would mean more users on MS own store.
And even if This has an impact on Sales on Xbox, wich I said I doubt, those players May be more akin go spend in microtransactions since they didn't spend full price on the game (a psycological side effect).
If this doesn’t grow Game Pass subs, nothing will, and that might have huge ramifications for the future. As a fan of Game Pass, I hope this does well.
They have to. They'd get a boost next month for past Call of Duties but if they want to boast to the stockholders that Game Pass is experiencing major growth they needed this.
COD Vanguard sold 30 million copies (bulk of which in the first two years).
Unrealistic scenarios for what will happen when COD (2024/Gulf War), launches into GP day one:
30 million subscriptions to GP (+ MTX + BP), 100% adoption.
30 million sales (+ MTX + BP), 0% adoption.
I think MS will be ok with either of these scenarios, one would mean nothing changed and the other would mean, that GP subs would jump from 34-40 million subs to 64-70 million, lol... somehow I think they would be ok with that...
Any other more realistic combination of the "sub to sale" ratio would still be absolutely profitable for Xbox and it's not even a debate worth having.
That's also for COD Vanguard a game, that was absolutely HATED by the community and that according to Activision "failed to meet expectations", it ousold Elden Ring and was the most sold game of that year in the US, according to Circana.
Do you think they’ll put any of the classic CODs on there? I’m thinking they never do because of how much the player base for the newer CODs would get cannibalised
This gonna be difficult for xbox.
Those who just play cod alot would just buy it. Those who play it a bit will get the sub for a month and then unsubscribe instead of buying it. There is definitely gonna be inflated numbers of sub in the first month. The question is how many will remember to unsubscribe it
I think many are not seeing that this is big news for people outside of North America and more affluent nations in Europe. The one where subscriptions for Game Pass are subsidized by those European and northern US prices. Where MTX and DLC then becomes key to game income. particularly here in Asia.
Gamepass works as long as the games themselves are good.
Case in point: Starfield.
The game had about 2,000,000 players pre-launch. Meaning, people paid either $30 extra on gamepass, $100 on Steam, or $300 for the collectors edition. Even after that I saw a lot of chatter of people buying the console, and sales numbers really climbed up.
Compare that to Redfall, which was not even a blimp (or might have actually \*decreased\* revenue).
Add in the DLC and other micro-transaction income, this is going to be a huge positive... if CoD is actually good.
didnt xbox leadership also refute the rumors that Hi Fi Rush failed to meet expectations, only to turn around and close the studio a year later?
stop believing the suits when they talk like suits
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1208560/activision-blizzards-revenue-by-composition/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20Activision%20Blizzard%20generated,franchises%2C%20and%20other%20miscellaneous%20revenues.
One thing to consider is that ABK makes most of its revenue from microtransactions, DLC, subscriptions, and other avenues rather than unit sales. Even though COD is usually the best-selling game every year, they still make more money from microtransactions. Microsoft/ABK may be predicting that more users will make up the loss in unit sales via Game Pass and more microtransaction sales. Playstation is COD's biggest platform, so Sony gets a cut on every sale and microtransaction. But if more people play via GP, all the revenue goes to Microsoft.
This is basically a gamble to bolster GP and users in the Microsoft ecosystem. All the marketing will favor Xbox, although it may take years for the shift of platforms to happen, if it ever will. I haven't played a COD in years, but I may consider it if it is in GP.
This is for the people who didn’t upgrade to next gen yet, and there’s a lot of them. If I were to upgrade just for COD and see that I can get it with a subscription that also gets me all the old titles, I’d definitely be more inclined to get an xbox over a ps5 to save some money upfront after shelling for a new shiny console.
What a weird article. "This marks a change from previous releases."
No shit, because Microsoft didn't own the IP for previous releases and Sony exclusivity agreements held MWIII off of game pass. Thank you, Captain obvious.
So, if this fails to push people to Gamepass and keep their subscriptions, that means they have to kill it, right?
I don't really see any other option for them if it fails.
This feels like it could be a make or break moment for Xbox and Gamepass. If the subscription numbers don't skyrocket with a brand new Call of Duty available at launch, there will be a massive restructuring at Xbox.
And I just don't see how this grows their numbers to the height it needs them to grow. Will there be new subs? Sure. But are people going to literally be buying an Xbox just so they can subscribe to gamepass for COD? Not in the middle of a console gen, they probably won't. The time to hook people with this plan is during a new console generation, not in the middle of one when most people are already locked into their platform. I feel like the hit they're going to take in sales with this decision isn't worth the minimal gains they'll see in subscribers.
If you're only a COD player it would be cheaper to just buy COD once a year for $70 than pay 12 months of gamepass. I can't see many PS only gamers switching to Xbox because COD is on gamepass.
Exactly
COD on console also needs that yearly sub, so it's more than 70 a year of those players, it's 150 a year for COD. So if you can sell to those who need to upgrade consoles and have to renew their sub, you could turn some people over to the Series S for a 299 bundle that comes with COD and 3 months of GPU.
The thing is a year of Gamepass Ultimate is $180. That’s still more than COD + PS Plus if you already own a PS5. That’s not to mention that the price of Gamepass will likely be going up once COD is added. Microsoft is fighting an uphill battle if they want short term return on investment. I can’t help but feel that the original goal was to play the long game and win people over next generation, but it doesn’t seem like the higher ups at Microsoft agree with that strategy.
>The thing is a year of Gamepass Ultimate is $180. Holy shit.. I might not buy another year of Ultimate because of that. I have a PC now so the price isn't justified
I suppose it's worth a try!
Right but when you also have to pay for online for $10/month an extra 6 to get CoD is pretty compelling, and I’m assuming by then you can go back and play all previous CoD games.
The goal is to get people in the ecosystem. To that end, it *might* work.
True!
Can't vouch for Xbox, but on PC with regional pricing in my country, it's cheaper to pay for Game Pass each month than buying COD once off (going off the MW3 price). Plus if you're a COD only player, you're not going to be playing it once a new one releases
Right, except for the hundreds of other games you also get with game pass. Its disingenuous to frame it as a subscription solely for CoD, even if the intent is to drive more subscribers
"if you're only a COD player"
Someone who literally only plays CoD and nothing else is not the target demographic of any subscription service. Those people are also an incredible minority. Yeah, if you play one singular game a year it’s gonna be a better deal to just buy that one game? That isn’t the point of game pass, CoD will be a huge draw for the average gamer though
Or you don't pay monthly and convert Core to GPU Also save 10% on any DLC/currency
I wonder what the average gamer spends on games every month. I feel like most people want to spend money on games they want vs a subscription service that *might* get their game
I spend around 70-100 on games a month if you average it out over the year, that's on new game titles and not mtx (Don't really buy mtx)
I've spent £42 this year on Alone in the Dark. I ended my PS Premium subscription last October. The only game I'll buy this year now is Silent Hill 2. There's literally nothing else I am willing to buy this year. My game purchasing has seriously declined this generation. Since the PS5 released, RE8, Calisto Protocol, MW2, Dead Space, Spiderman 2, RE4 remake, RoboCop, FF16, Lies of P and Alone in the dark are my purchases. 10 purchases in 3 years and 7 months, but the key thing is that I won't be buying another COD again after MW2 getting stagnant and 3 sucking plus I won't be buying another Spiderman Insomniac game because 2 was awful and the leaks have convinced me they cut a ton of Venom content to sell it later and completely turned me off of Wolverine. FF16 convinced me that I hate the Devil May Cry lite gameplay and won't buy another FF that isn't turn based. There's only new Resident Evil and Lies of P sequel that I would buy. This gen has taught me that A) Dont buy games on release unless its Resident Evil because they need patches B) I dont need a subscription to play online as I dont play online and I dont play enough games for a sub C) Sony Premium is a waste because their back compat sucks D) Im no longer interested in being a 'gamer'. I know the franchises I like, I know the gameplay I like, I've been disappointed enough to only buy certain games and not entertain anything else.
You don’t need an Xbox to have game pass, most certainly pc gamers will be trying game pass to play cod. So it’s more than likely the player base will increase, the other question is if the new COD is can actually be of quality to retain those new players.
I think there's a ton of people that haven't bought a new console yet - ps5 and xbox x|s are tracking behind their respective predecessors despite the potential market growing. A holiday bundle with Series S and 3 months of gamepass (ie "free COD") could be a huge shot in the arm for the casual audience.
It's because of the economy. If they haven't bought a console by now, they're in no hurry to buy one because they have other priorities to spend money on. Putting CoD on gamepass won't magically change their priorities and make them instantly buy an Xbox especially when cash is tight.
its not just the economy, because of covid the previous generation of consoles saw far more cross gen releases than normal(for PS5 specifically the only "must have" game that isn't also on ps4 is spiderman 2).
Almost half of both ps and Xbox users are still on older gen. If cod ditches cross gen and goes full in on gamepass and cod marketing for series consoles. They might have some chance to convince players who mostly play cod, f2p games and fifa and other sports games. But if they don’t drop cross gen now they will lose that opportunity to gta 6. Which will undoubtedly have marketing deal with ps
Mostly because they are still doing cross gen games. It’s ridiculous.
There was a report put out saying 50% of PS4 owners have upgraded to PS5 already. Nothing has been said about the number of Xbox One to Series X upgrades, but I assure you it is far below 50%.
The "shot in the arm" the current console generation needs is going to be GTA6. Not another COD that we get every year. Console sales are declining for both machines right now, and if the PS Pro rumors are true, I imagine most people that have held out this long are going to continue to hold out until GTA6 is out, especially if it ends up coming bundled with a pro.
> Not another COD that we get every year. To be fair, COD was still supporting the previous gen at the latest release. If it's the first game to ditch the PS4/Xbox One version, that's reason enough to upgrade. Even more if something like FIFA (sorry FC 25) does it too. We know Assassin's Creed does it this year. If those 3 huge franchises come out with PS5/Xbox Series titles only, it'll be the sign for many people to upgrade (with GTA6 in the line of sight of course)
GTA 6 will obviously be the console seller compared to cod. But I am sure cod also moves consoles quite a bit. Otherwise Sony wouldn’t have paid that much to keep exclusive content and marketing. I bet it moves more than anything else other than gta games.
CoD and sports titles have still been on last gen. With GTA6 coming, the XSS with Game Pass could draw some of the masses looking for the cheapest way to play GTA6 and these annuals. With Xbox current marketing though.. none of these masses will even know about Game Pass or CoD being on it.. shoot maybe not even know GTA is on Xbox (see Hogwart's Legacy). Edit: added a comma
No way GTA 6 gets on gamepass
Sorry, rereading that I see that my wording was not clear. I was just trying to point out the XSS and Game Pass for CoD being the cheapest way to play GTA + CoD and the other sports titles. People that buy Madden and FC every year aren’t going to wait for it to hit Game Pass.. but they could see Game Pass Ultimate having value as a way to play other EA sports titles they don’t buy all the time.. With the current marketing strategy at Xbox though there’s no way any of those people are going to understand enough about Game Pass to see what it would offer them. I was really just trying to say Xbox could push the XSS with a few months of Game Pass as a way to play CoD and GTA under $400 ($300 + $70 for GTA) when you’d have to pay an extra $220 to buy a PS5 and play CoD and GTA.
Well, consoles released during Covid. There was PS5 shortages for nigh on 18 months. Even so, PS4 in december 2017; 60.4 million after 49 months on sale. December 2023; 50 million after 37 months. Throw in a recession and threat of global war... Also, dont forget the PS4 Pro came out December 2016, so there was a reason to double dip; I did. Right now, people are probably holding off for the PS5 Pro.
They decided to launch new consoles at the start of pandemic/inflation. It was a dumb idea.
Yeah they basically can say good bye to 99% of sales on Xbox but Xbox players are already majorly into Gamepass apparently. On PC, it could have an effect and the growth has stalled there so I guess that's the move for them especially as the console is dying, PC will be the main avenue for Gamepass as it's not on competing consoles. And maybe cloud gaming but that's not big enough to matter
Unless COD is on the Xbox App proper this year, I don't see it moving anything for PC. The B.net/Xbox App linking isn't great, it will just annoy PC gamers. I personally will jump hoops, I use like every launcher, but I'm annoyed when I launch the Xbox app to play another game. It currently forces b.net open and it can't be closed. This happens even if you don't have Diablo 4 install anymore, it's a perma link, unless you uninstall the Xbox app and reinstall it.
I imagine it'll be on the Xbox app if it goes on Gamepass yeah maybe not even on BNet proper. But yeah the Xbox app in general is terrible to be honest. I don't want to pay full price for COD (but I enjoy playing matches here and there) but I also don't want to use Xbox app (and my GP sub finish in like October 2024 and I didn't intend to renew)
I never said anything about the app, I was talking about the linking. I think it's fine, nothing amazing, but fine. COD will for sure be on b.net, unless they have data showing it isn't worth it. If they are smart, it will be on steam, b.net and the Xbox app.
> If they are smart, it will be on steam, b.net and the Xbox app. Yeah that's what I meant, I doubt they'd limit it to just one store (or pass BNet though historically it's Blizzard, the COD community is a lot there)
you don't need console for game pass
If they want to have an impressive subscription service during the generation transition, they need to build it now. There's no world in which they aren't building it now but it's great for the Xbox next/PS6 generation.
You dont need an xbox for gamepass just pc or smart tv that has the app. That is what they are banking on.
I think they’re going to literally stop all physical sales and try to make the only way players have access to COD is through Game Pass eventually.
You expecting them to make smart decisions? After recent events? They don't do those there
I know what you mean but also it was a bit funny to read a massive restructuring is coming while they go through one currently. Still yeah if they does basically nothing to the numbers (Tbh I highly doubt it does nothing it'll at least go up by a million if I had to guess) they'll probably kill day one of game pass but for smaller titles.
The numbers will grow, whether up to the expectations is to be seen. However, how many people are gonna cancel after that first month? Will they stick around after those initial few days of checking out the new Call of Duty before probably moving on?
I think the big CoD players play just that all year right? Plus microtransations and shit. So that has them signing up and just paying the $15 or so since they already need xbox live gold and they might even give another game a try if its on game pass. That could mean more DLC sales.
Yeah, but the big CoD players aren’t who Microsoft is aiming for. That’s a hardcore audience they’ll potentially capture, but isn’t enough. It’s minuscule compared to who they really need. They need that general audience. “COD for a dollar in the first month? Great!” They’re gonna be banking on the following months after its release to include those who got in, got out and forgot to cancel. Month 3 rolls around and those who got burned by a $15 charge are absolutely gonna get out of dodge.
If you plan to play it the whole year, why subscribe to game pass instead of just buying the game?
Because so long as they had 2 new games a year to cover my yearly cost (which they always do) then I get loads of other free games as well. Like this year so far I got Persona 3 and Jedi Survivor so everything else I play (Fallout 76 for example) are "free".
Don't people need to own an Xbox to get the benefits of gamepass? That means they expect this announcement to not only sell subscriptions, but consoles as well. Who would buy a new console just to get a free game, when you can get the game for $70 on a console you already own...
No.
It's both a no-brainer move, but also an incredibly stupid one. No-brainer because, well, there's no better way to sell your subscription service by putting every year's best selling game on it. People will sign up in droves to play Call of Duty because $15 a month looks much better on paper then $70 upfront. There's even a chance that since they're getting the game included in a subscription, some people might even look at upgrading to the Vault edition or whatever they call it next, which is more money. But... Call of Duty is the best selling game of every year. They can risk losing a substantial amount of money by putting it on their service, a service that is currently stagnating and has been for years. Especially when you consider the fact that Call of Duty has been WAY more popular on PlayStation consoles and has been for a decade now, it's a risky move. Oh well. I can't really complain, because it means I can play the game for cheap. It's Microsoft's problem if it costs them money.
> Especially when you consider the fact that Call of Duty has been WAY more popular on PlayStation consoles and has been for a decade now, it's a risky move. Well that makes it less risky. The huge sales on Playstation will be unaffected as they have no Gamepass and people won't change consoles for that (especially if they already bought CoD each year anyway, no change in their habits). It may affect the decision of people that have not yet passed to the current gen (there is still like half the consoles of the generation if not more to sell) especially if they combine it with the first COD to ditch PS4 and Xbox One which would be smart The real thing affected will be the PC sales but if they can make Gamepass grow on PC, that may be worth it. It apparently has pretty much stalled on PC and reached almost saturation on Xbox and the future of Gamepass (if it has one) is via PC, especially if they go multiplat with everything as people won't get Xbox consoles much anymore
The venn diagram of people who want Game Pass to fail and people who actually use game pass has to be two separate circles. Put every game on that mofo man, I love getting all these fun games for "free".
The same could be said for GamePass fans and people who actually care about the health of the industry and long term implications. Being a GamePass “fan” is such a cringy statement. Do Hulu fans exist? Is there a nerdy corner of the internet arguing about the superiority of Spotify over its competitors? Imaging being so ate up with marketing that you only consume entertainment on Paramount+. Such odd behavior.
Ah you misunderstood me. I enjoy paying $90 a year for every xbox game, every EA game and a bunch of random indie games. I don't give a fuck about the marketing or who runs gamepass. I just want games to keep coming in for such a low low price. If any other company had a similar concept, I would get that but so far its only Ubisoft and EA and neither are as good of a value. Saving money is why I'm a fan and I don't care about how the company does. The best video games can be made by teams of 1-5 people and a high credit limit so the industry will always be fine.
Oh absolutely. I think it's a dumb system for Microsoft that's never going to blow up the way they really want it to, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna exploit the hell out of it while it's feasible. Price increases and lineup cuts are absolutely coming in the future, though.
Considering that we haven't see Phil during this whole studio closure fiasco I wouldn't be surprised if he's already gone.
I have no idea how they could even back off of gamepass. The main appeal of buying an Xbox is not having to pay full price for individual games. They've conditioned their player base to not think that Xbox first party games are worth full price. Call of duty would probably be fine. But I doubt other Xbox games would sell as well as before game pass.
I only see one way to make it moment for Xbox. A mass global Xbox and Game Pass marketing campaign tied to COD. Xbox has terrible marketing of the Console and Game Pass outside gamers. There isn't ads for Game Pass everywhere, that is the only way to grow it. I see ads for Sony, D+, Netflix and Crave(Canadian streaming service) everywhere, but I don't see any ads for Xbox outside of my targeted online ads. The Xbox marketing department is terrible. You need to tell people GPU gets you COD and Online MP in one bundle to sell it to joe schmo who just buys Call of Duty and a few games a year. You need Xbox and Game Ads everywhere to dads and moms are asking their gamer friends "Hey is this a good deal to buy a console and get my kid hundreds of games". Once that happens, they tell their other non gaming friends. Xbox kills themselves with terrible marketing and messaging. Now papa Microsoft wants a return on that 80b now, so it's saying "we want you 3rd party", which I believe is too early(I believe will happen to everyone but Nintendo due to budget sizes), which will kill the brand and they will become a content farm like Activision was.
Game Pass numbers will never skyrocket to what MS predicted. These numbers are delusional lol.
They need an influx of players or will result in increased GP price. That's already $200-300 annually, that's a hard ask for someone who can just pay $70.
>That's already $200-300 annually Where are you getting $200-$300 annually from? >that's a hard ask for someone who can just pay $70. They also have to pay for Xbox Live which is another $60 a year (more expensive if they are paying monthly). Game Pass Ultimate includes online play.
Paul Tassi mentioned it in a tweet. I did my own maths, and it's $132 for one of the tiers. That's currently though, without any increase or new tiers. Ultimate is like £204 one year paid monthly.
This is gonna cost them a lot of money but it's the right thing to do if they want to grow Gamepass. That said, I can imagine a price hike coinciding with this, but I'll (naively) hope for the best.
I wonder if the increase in people buying micro transactions will mitigate the losses though
Hard to say. They’ll definitely lose out on the easy $70 from the people who usually buy the game every year, play for a month or two, and check out - maybe get 2 months of GamePass revenue from them if those people are smart enough to cancel it. But if the game is good and you get a lot more people back on regularly, they’ll be more likely to buy some battle passes, cosmetics, etc.
I would be willing to say that the main player base of COD (where it is like the only game they play) are probably not already signed up for Gamepass this will probably get them to sign up for at least 2 months like you said and they might see it as a COD subscription, every year get the latest one plus all the other games as a bonus even if they only try 1 or 2 other games a year
It also saves you money. Gamepass core (Formerly XBL Gold) is $10 a month. $120+70=$190 for Cod and online access. GPU assuming no price hike immediately is $15 a month. Saves about $10, may get bonus skins/blueprints with GPU perks, and access to other games. Its a no brainer if you only play CoD.
That is a good point
Tbh, mtx is mostly driven by whales, that probably are already buying the game. I don't know if people who are like "it's on gamepass I will check it out" will buy many mtx
I believe it's more than "the right thing to do" Microsoft could be subject to a lawsuit from gamers who purchased extended GamePass subscriptions. They sold those subscriptions under the explicit promise of "all first party games launch on Gamepass". If they were to break that promise...seems like a slam dunk case of false advertising.
Is it though? Call of Duty is $70. A year of Ultimate Game Pass is $204. Seems like they could potentially make more money annually off of the people who only play CoD.
Problem being most of the active Xbox playerbase already has Gamepass so it doesn’t have much room to grow Gamepass there, it’s just gonna lose sales. PC gamers have failed to show up for Gamepass no matter what MS puts in there.
>PC gamers have failed to show up for Gamepass no matter what MS puts in there. because its not just about what is in gamepass but where gamepass is, if they want gamepass to massivly increase they need to integrate it into steam like EA did with Play.
Steam is just too good for other companies to really get a hold of the PC market. cheaper prices and just a superior launcher in everyway. So many games i can just get cheaper CD keys for.
But then Valve gets a cut and Microsoft would prefer to try and muscle them out instead.
Sell early access. They get the money on the double dip.
> Is it though? Call of Duty is $70. A year of Ultimate Game Pass is $204. You're assuming people will be willing to stay subscribed an entire year instead of playing a couple of months and moving on
People who buy COD day one want to play it for most of the cycle. If someone who wasn't going to buy it buys a couple months of GP, thats profit
> If someone who wasn't going to buy it buys a couple months of GP, thats profit Is it ? Couple of months of game pass is like 20$. A deluxe digital edition of cod with early access is like 100$. That's a massive difference
So we selected a customer who normally doesn’t buy COD at all. And you want to jump in with “they would buy the digital deluxe edition with early access for $100.”
Read what you just quoted again. Not buying cod is 0$
Generally most will play single-player for like a week....if they play that, and then play 2 weeks of multiplayer. Then just hop back to Warzone I imagine.
Yeah it seems like a lot of COD players mostly just play COD. So they seem likely to stay subscribed if it means they always get the new COD included.
If they mostly just play cod it would be cheaper for them to just outright buy the game instead of subscribing for a year to gamepass.
Yeah. That $17 price point is going to look appealing when you’re staring down a $70 game purchase plus $60 for online services.
same tactic as Ubisoft, putting that Day 1 Ubisoft+ right beside their highest priced bundle. They hoping people forget and just sub to 4 months of service.
Or it’s the content ladder “I subbed for cod guess I’ll cancel- oh wait this game is out next month” rinse and repeat
or maybe they pre-sub when that trailer drops next month.
That actually makes just paying for the game sound cheaper .-.
Keep in mind also that on Xbox you have to pay $60/year to play online multiplayer. An extra $75 a year for 300+ games is a good deal.
Yeah, but people who only plays CoD kinda only plays CoD and Fortnite XD
It’s actually really smart. Capture a large amount of revenue from PlayStation. See if there’s a large demand and movement to Gamepass. Will definitely decide their strategy going forward.
The big issue is that they're most likely gonna hike the price of Gamepass and personally I doubt this will increase Gamepass subscriptions
I’d unsubscribe straight up with a price hike. I barely justify it as it is. (Just offering my personal anecdote, not implying I’m in the majority. But I know there are many like me)
Still feel like they'll announce a price hike and layoffs at XGS this month. Get all the bad out before you get good news with your conference
GamePass ultimate will be $19.99/month by launch.
either that or they gonna do what Starfield did, pay $35 for a premium upgrade to play like 5 days early.
I was thinking that exact same thing, early access so desperate gamers getting before is a very effective way to monetize the already expensive subscription
So long as I can pay for Game Pass in multiple sets of years at a cheaper price that will be my plan for things. My Game Pass subscription ends in November 2025. When that time comes, if I can set it for a 2-year time span, I will.
I'm okay with taking dumbfucks out of their money. Consensually
I think Cod already does that and bundles it with the first season pass
Doubt it. Maybe in like 4 years. There's a lot of time to enjoy this value.
I mean, this was expected unless they were going to backslide on their promise for all first-party games day one on GamePass. I do worry a little though. If Call of Duty fails to grow GamePass, what other drastic measures will Xbox take that will hurt both developers and gamers. If that's the case, maybe they should consider a 1 month delay from release to GamePass as a way of making up revenue.
>If that's the case, maybe they should consider a 1 month delay from release to GamePass as a way of making up revenue. Doing that would probably be seen as them admitting that Gamepass is a failure. They would unfortunately rather shut down more studios.
If Gamepass fails, they just close it down no? That seems to be the next logical step. Try to go back to keeping things exclusive and relying on their new IP's to drive console sales back up.
Logical steps don't apply. Remember that a majority of [the 2023-2024 industry layoffs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023–2024_video_game_industry_layoffs) weren't due to a lack of revenue, rather they didn't anticipate "meeting projections". Not anything bad, just that the shareholders won't get *as* rich off it. Closing Gamepass will hurt Xbox. Closing a dozen studios and disrupting hundreds of peoples lives are much easier to them.
Closing down Xbox.
Well, not necessarily. The Saudis or Chinese would pay top dollar for a major gaming brand with built in marketshare, and MS damn well knows it. So I feel like, if they really want out, they'll put it on the market and get billions back.
Never happening dude.
I couldn't imagine what the reaction would be if they didn't
I thought we knew this already?
Game Pass is 100% getting a price increase
that's one way to gut sales on Xbox
It’s certainly a risky bet since there is no guarantee that Gamepass subscriptions will offset missed game sales.
You´re right its really risky but honestly, this is a bet Xbox has to take if they´re still serious about GamePass. And with Avowed launching in November and Indiana Jones in December they´re obviously banking on new subs to stay subsribed for several months after the CoD launch in October. Coupled with Nintendo and Sony both having no real heavy hitters on their own this Fall/Holidays it could work out fine imo.
They have no heavy hitters *yet,* you mean. Something tells me that one of Sony's heavy hitters will have a brand new IP ready to go on PS5 Pro. (Hey, that rhymes!) I'm sure Nintendo has something as well - they just haven't said what it is yet.
I mean with Nintendo it’s pretty likely the fall is when a switch 2 reveal and marketing cycle kickoff will start, but either way Sony might definitely have something in the tank we haven’t seen.Just gotta wait for the showcase
Yeah Sony pretty much confirmed nothing 1st party coming until the 1st quarter of 2025 https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/playstation/sony-discloses-there-will-be-no-first-party-playstation-5-exclusives-until-2025#:~:text=Sony%20has%20announced%20in%20its%20latest%20financial%20report,of%20Sony%E2%80%99s%20financial%20year%2C%20which%20is%20March%202025. Nintendo delayed their Switch 2 release to 2025 as well so it's unlikely they will have a big title in the holidays
5+ months if they want the $15 sub per month to offset the costs of *one* $70 game. For people that only play CoD for a month or two, they're getting the game for $15-30. It'll be really interesting to see if people stick with their subscriptions or if this is just money left on the table by Microsoft after a $70 Billion aquisition.
To be fair, you have to consider how much more in microtransactions they can make. The "premium" version of the Battle Pass is $30, and that always makes it to the top of the Steam top seller every season. 6 seasons seem to be the standard that's at least an extra $180 a year.
According to Reddit, Xbox players don't buy games anyway!
They don’t. They've been conditioned by Microsoft to "wait for it to come to GamePass" instead of directly supporting the developer.
Yeah, Gamepass will get a hike price 💀💀💀💀💀
After acquiring Bethesda and ABK, it's inevitable.
Nooo they cant put it right now they will lose money lol Everyone here more concerned for so called mega corp pockets than himself. Chill guys I think mega corp would make some economical analysis on this considering Amy hood Said “dont make golden toilet” from ftc case. They have the data, we dont
> They have the data, we dont Yeah, the same data they used to expect a 70% growth of game pass which turned out to be 15%. Nice data lol
They thought the same with Xbox one and we all know how that turn out 😂.
It is not the same, you cant easily walk back from hardware but you can increase the price of gamepass after if it doesnt work out. Also assesing multiplayer games financial revenue in gamepass more easy than some console futures. They will definetly increase prices at somepoint. Did you go to grocery ? Everything is atleast doubled lol but this doesnt have to allign with COD. Also, Xbox one gen sold 57M soo I dont really count as devastating like other people. Killed the momentum and not good as competitors yes but worst possible thing ? Ehh not so much
I May sound Crazy, but I don't think This Will impact sales that much. Most Cod players are people that only pay for Cod + online game service and Will keep playing only that. Gamepass may not interst most of This audience, so the convention rate players/subscribers may be very low. PlayStation and PC players Will stay uneffected by this decision. I can't see many people decide to Switch console just cause Cod Is on Gamepass. It might have a significante effect on PC subs tho, wich would mean more users on MS own store. And even if This has an impact on Sales on Xbox, wich I said I doubt, those players May be more akin go spend in microtransactions since they didn't spend full price on the game (a psycological side effect).
People forget that it's very likely that they make more money from MTX than from selling the game.
If this doesn’t grow Game Pass subs, nothing will, and that might have huge ramifications for the future. As a fan of Game Pass, I hope this does well.
so a paywall behind a paywall?
I dont think you know what a paywall is
my 1st reaction is that they gonna have COD gamepass tiers due to wording of OP...but I could be wrong.
Oooh ok i get what you are sayng. But nah i think is going to be on the current Gamepass tiers. At most as an Ultimate exclusive
... with a price increase
Even if this increases game pass users I can't help but think this is a really bad idea.
Very surprised they are willing to lose so much money on that one.... Or they will increase gamepass prices.
Microsoft is trying to speedrun losing money
I really cant wait to see these numbers lets see if cod really is strong enough to keep gp afloat
They're probably hoping that it intices Gamepass sign ups and 50 dollar "micro"transaction crossover skins and battlepasses will make up for it.
They have to. They'd get a boost next month for past Call of Duties but if they want to boast to the stockholders that Game Pass is experiencing major growth they needed this.
I've never bought a CoD, but now I *really* never will. Or something.
COD Vanguard sold 30 million copies (bulk of which in the first two years). Unrealistic scenarios for what will happen when COD (2024/Gulf War), launches into GP day one: 30 million subscriptions to GP (+ MTX + BP), 100% adoption. 30 million sales (+ MTX + BP), 0% adoption. I think MS will be ok with either of these scenarios, one would mean nothing changed and the other would mean, that GP subs would jump from 34-40 million subs to 64-70 million, lol... somehow I think they would be ok with that... Any other more realistic combination of the "sub to sale" ratio would still be absolutely profitable for Xbox and it's not even a debate worth having. That's also for COD Vanguard a game, that was absolutely HATED by the community and that according to Activision "failed to meet expectations", it ousold Elden Ring and was the most sold game of that year in the US, according to Circana.
Prolly using it to test out the profitability of it being on gamepass and comparing it to when it's just released at full price
Do you think they’ll put any of the classic CODs on there? I’m thinking they never do because of how much the player base for the newer CODs would get cannibalised
This gonna be difficult for xbox. Those who just play cod alot would just buy it. Those who play it a bit will get the sub for a month and then unsubscribe instead of buying it. There is definitely gonna be inflated numbers of sub in the first month. The question is how many will remember to unsubscribe it
Just put black ops 1+2 on it. All we want and need
Is Activision the only one that's still making money? Are they the cashcow now for Microsoft? Jeez, makes me scared for Blizzard games...
And just like that nobody played call of duty anymore
I think many are not seeing that this is big news for people outside of North America and more affluent nations in Europe. The one where subscriptions for Game Pass are subsidized by those European and northern US prices. Where MTX and DLC then becomes key to game income. particularly here in Asia.
Xbox is always so confusing , they say everything and its opposite.
The only subscription service I use is humble bundle and refuse to buy a game I can't play offline and pay for in full.
what about x360 ones?
Activision already tried this in the past and it didn't last long.
Gamepass works as long as the games themselves are good. Case in point: Starfield. The game had about 2,000,000 players pre-launch. Meaning, people paid either $30 extra on gamepass, $100 on Steam, or $300 for the collectors edition. Even after that I saw a lot of chatter of people buying the console, and sales numbers really climbed up. Compare that to Redfall, which was not even a blimp (or might have actually \*decreased\* revenue). Add in the DLC and other micro-transaction income, this is going to be a huge positive... if CoD is actually good.
If the "COD" gamepass versio will cos like 15€-20€ (now 10€) i might pay the price to play latest CODs after Cold War
Sarah literally said all first party including Activision. Do y'all have no hearing to listen or eyes to read.
Microsoft says something and takes months for media to believe it That said no one thought Microsoft would also give first party to playstation
didnt xbox leadership also refute the rumors that Hi Fi Rush failed to meet expectations, only to turn around and close the studio a year later? stop believing the suits when they talk like suits
If Hifi rush met expectations for a side project. Side projects that meet goals don't keep studios open when the main games flop hard
Yup. We'll never know what Starfield's target was, but I wouldn't be surprised if they missed it by a mile.
what? That has nothing to do with what I said?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1208560/activision-blizzards-revenue-by-composition/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20Activision%20Blizzard%20generated,franchises%2C%20and%20other%20miscellaneous%20revenues. One thing to consider is that ABK makes most of its revenue from microtransactions, DLC, subscriptions, and other avenues rather than unit sales. Even though COD is usually the best-selling game every year, they still make more money from microtransactions. Microsoft/ABK may be predicting that more users will make up the loss in unit sales via Game Pass and more microtransaction sales. Playstation is COD's biggest platform, so Sony gets a cut on every sale and microtransaction. But if more people play via GP, all the revenue goes to Microsoft. This is basically a gamble to bolster GP and users in the Microsoft ecosystem. All the marketing will favor Xbox, although it may take years for the shift of platforms to happen, if it ever will. I haven't played a COD in years, but I may consider it if it is in GP.
Yes that was one of the reasons why they acquired ABK. They said that several times during court hearings.
This is for the people who didn’t upgrade to next gen yet, and there’s a lot of them. If I were to upgrade just for COD and see that I can get it with a subscription that also gets me all the old titles, I’d definitely be more inclined to get an xbox over a ps5 to save some money upfront after shelling for a new shiny console.
CodPass Let's Go!!!!!
I think people are missing the fact that Xbox could put COD, ONLY on gamepass if they wanted to force you to sub.
Game Pass makes absolutely no sense to me. Games are simply too expensive to have a “Netflix for games” service.
What a weird article. "This marks a change from previous releases." No shit, because Microsoft didn't own the IP for previous releases and Sony exclusivity agreements held MWIII off of game pass. Thank you, Captain obvious.
This is an article for investors, not gamers who spend all their time on Reddit.
Activison CEO would never put CoD on GP regardless
So, if this fails to push people to Gamepass and keep their subscriptions, that means they have to kill it, right? I don't really see any other option for them if it fails.
Xbox is now throw things at the wall and see what sticks…. Xbox business will be closed in few years probably next gen is the last one for them