Microsoft cut Game Pass prices after losing millions of subscribers, but the tradeoffs are significant: Call of Duty lost day-one access and third-party game deals are reportedly frozen. Xbox’s 100-day reset plan will shape the service’s future.
Xbox Game Pass lost millions of subscribers following a 50% price hike in October 2025, and Microsoft is now restructuring the entire service under new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. Game Pass Ultimate dropped from $29.99 to $22.99 per month in April 2026, but the price cut came with a major concession: new Call of Duty games will no longer launch into Game Pass on day one. Now, reports from late June 2026 suggest that Microsoft has paused third-party Game Pass deals entirely, raising serious questions about the service’s content pipeline.
How the October 2025 Price Hike Backfired
In October 2025, Microsoft raised the price of Game Pass Ultimate from $19.99 to $29.99 per month, a 50% increase. PC Game Pass went from $11.99 to $16.49. In Europe, Ultimate climbed from £14.99 to £22.99 in the UK and from €17.99 to €26.99 in the Eurozone. The hike was positioned alongside bundled extras like Ubisoft+ Classics and Fortnite Crew, but the value proposition didn’t hold for a large portion of subscribers.
At Summer Game Fest 2026, Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball confirmed that Game Pass “shed millions of subscribers” within just a few months of the price increase. The service’s last confirmed subscriber count was 34 million as of February 2024, and by mid-2025 its annual revenue had reportedly approached $5 billion. The exact post-hike number has not been disclosed, but Sharma herself acknowledged in a May 2026 memo that “growth slowed and customer churn increased.”
What Changed in April 2026?
Under Sharma’s leadership, Microsoft reversed course with a significant but not complete price reduction. Effective April 21, 2026:
| Tier | Old Price (Monthly) | New Price (Monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| Game Pass Ultimate | $29.99 / £22.99 / €26.99 | $22.99 / £16.99 / €20.99 |
| PC Game Pass | $16.49 / £13.49 / €14.99 | $13.99 / £10.99 / €12.99 |
| Game Pass Premium | $14.99 | $14.99 (unchanged) |
| Game Pass Essential | $9.99 | $9.99 (unchanged) |
As industry analyst Christopher Dring noted, the Ultimate tier is still roughly 35% more expensive than it was two years ago. This is a partial rollback, not a return to pre-hike pricing. The lower tiers (Premium and Essential) were not adjusted at all.
Call of Duty Is No Longer a Day-One Game Pass Title
The most consequential change alongside the price cut was the removal of day-one Call of Duty access from Game Pass. Starting in 2026, new Call of Duty releases will only be added to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass approximately one year after launch, during the following holiday season. Existing Call of Duty titles in the library, including Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, remain available to subscribers.
This reverses one of the headline perks that Microsoft introduced after its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition in 2023. Call of Duty was the single biggest subscriber magnet for Game Pass. The 2024 launch of Black Ops 6 was the first CoD to arrive on Game Pass on day one, and it was a central selling point for the service’s premium tier.
All other first-party Xbox games will continue launching into Game Pass on their release date. The EA Play, Ubisoft+ Classics, and Fortnite Crew benefits also remain intact in their respective tiers. Call of Duty is now the only first-party exception.
Why Are Third-Party Game Pass Deals Being Paused?
In late June 2026, reports surfaced that Microsoft had frozen new third-party Game Pass publishing deals. Fernando Rizo, a partner at Kaboodle Games, revealed on The Business of Video Games podcast that multiple developers he spoke with at the First Playable trade show in Florence, Italy (June 10-12, 2026) had their ongoing negotiations abruptly halted.
“Loads of people who were in the frame for Game Pass deals, nothing was inked yet, but the deals were in advanced discussions. Everybody got the rug pulled out from under them,” Rizo said. He characterized the situation as a “pause” rather than a permanent shutdown, suggesting that Xbox’s new leadership is reassessing its strategy before committing to new spending.
Windows Central’s Jez Corden investigated the claims and reported that a trusted source told him there are “no blanket plans to end funding for third-party games on Game Pass.” The frozen discussions appear tied to Microsoft’s fiscal year ending in June and the broader Xbox “reset” strategy rather than a permanent policy change. At least one publishing figure pushed back on the reports, calling them “not remotely accurate.” Microsoft has not publicly responded.
What This Means for Indie Developers
Game Pass deals have served as a crucial revenue safety net for independent studios. Smaller developers used these agreements to offset market risk, guarantee a baseline income, and benefit from Game Pass’s discovery engine, which surfaces indie titles to a massive subscriber base. If the freeze extends beyond a temporary fiscal-year pause, the pipeline of indie and mid-tier third-party games arriving on Game Pass 12 to 18 months from now could thin significantly.
In the first half of 2026, Game Pass added 47 more games than it removed, a 51-game improvement over the same stretch in 2025. The short-term catalogue remains healthy because deals arranged months or even over a year in advance continue to deliver. However, data from January 2026 departures showed that the average stay for third-party titles had dropped to roughly 10 months, suggesting shorter deal terms overall.
Asha Sharma’s 100-Day Reset: What Has Changed So Far?
Asha Sharma took over as Xbox CEO in February 2026 after Phil Spencer’s departure. In a memo obtained by The Verge, she acknowledged that excluding Activision Blizzard King, Xbox had spent over $20 billion on content, platform, and hardware subsidies over five years while annual revenue actually declined by nearly half a billion dollars during that same period.
The 100-day reset has produced a rapid series of moves:
- Game Pass Ultimate price cut from $29.99 to $22.99
- PC Game Pass reduced from $16.49 to $13.99
- Day-one Call of Duty access removed from Game Pass
- Xbox Series console hardware price increase of $100-$150 planned for August 2026
- Approximately 1,000 Xbox employees laid off
- Third-party Game Pass negotiations temporarily frozen
Sharma stated that after an eight-month decline, Game Pass has returned to growth with “expanding revenue retention.” She also described the current model as “not the final one” and said she envisions evolving Game Pass into “a more flexible system,” though structural changes will take time.
Games Leaving Game Pass in 2026
Throughout 2026, Game Pass has continued its regular cycle of catalogue removals. Notable departures include Rise of the Tomb Raider, Slay the Spire, Payday 2, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and Unpacking at the end of June. In May, high-profile titles Metaphor: ReFantazio and Persona 4 Golden left the service. Grand Theft Auto V departed in April 2026.
Game Pass subscribers can purchase departing titles at a minimum 20% discount before they leave. Some games receive deeper discounts during concurrent Xbox Store sales. While removals are a normal part of any subscription service’s rotation, the combination of regular departures and a potential slowdown in new third-party additions has raised concerns about long-term catalogue diversity.
Is Game Pass Still Worth It?
For players who regularly explore multiple games, Game Pass remains a strong value proposition. At $22.99 per month, Ultimate provides access to over 400 games across console, PC, and cloud, including day-one first-party launches from studios like Bethesda, Obsidian, Playground Games, and others. Upcoming titles like Gears of War: E-Day and Fable are expected to launch directly into the service.
The calculus has shifted for subscribers who joined primarily for Call of Duty. Those players now face full retail prices (typically £70/$80 for new releases) and will only see new CoD titles on Game Pass about a year after launch. For this group, the price reduction may not offset the lost benefit.
The Premium tier at $14.99 offers over 200 games and gets first-party titles within a year of release rather than on day one. The Essential tier at $9.99 covers online multiplayer and a smaller selection of 50+ games but includes no new releases.
What Players Want to Know
Will first-party games still launch on Game Pass day one? Yes. Every Xbox-published game except Call of Duty will continue arriving on Game Pass on its release date. This includes upcoming titles from Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and other Microsoft-owned studios.
Is the third-party deal pause permanent? Current evidence suggests it is temporary, tied to Microsoft’s fiscal year transition and Xbox’s strategic reset. However, Microsoft has neither confirmed nor denied the reports, so the duration remains unclear.
Will Game Pass prices drop further? Sharma has described the current pricing as “a good first step” and hinted at a “more flexible system” in the future. Whether that means further reductions, new tier options, or structural changes has not been specified.
Are existing games being removed because of the freeze? No. Regular catalogue rotations are a standard part of Game Pass and are governed by pre-existing licensing agreements. The reported freeze affects new deals being negotiated, not titles already contracted to appear on the service.
Could a higher tier with day-one Call of Duty return? There has been chatter about a potential premium add-on or higher-tier plan that would restore day-one Call of Duty access, but Microsoft has not announced anything official.
The Bigger Picture for Xbox Game Pass
Microsoft positioned Game Pass as the gaming industry’s answer to Netflix, a subscription model that could reshape how people buy and play games. The $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition was meant to supercharge that vision with the world’s biggest shooter franchise. Instead, the financial weight of the deal, combined with aggressive pricing that backfired, has forced a fundamental rethink.
Under Sharma, Xbox is pivoting toward profitability over growth at all costs. The price cuts are welcome, but the removal of Call of Duty’s day-one access and the uncertainty around third-party content represent real tradeoffs. The next few months will be decisive: if the third-party deal freeze lifts quickly and new agreements resume, Game Pass could stabilise with a healthier cost structure. If the pause stretches on, the service risks losing the content diversity that made it compelling in the first place.
