Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Drops to $23 a Month, Removes Call of Duty on Launch Day as Sharma Reverses Price Hike — What’s Next?

Starting today, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers are experiencing a price reduction after a six-month period at the increased rate of $30 per month. Under the leadership of newly appointed Xbox head of gaming Asha Sharma, the service is now available for $22.99 per month, down from $29.99. PC Game Pass is also seeing a reduction, falling from $16.49 to $13.99 monthly. This adjustment comes shortly after Sharma communicated internally that Game Pass had become too expensive for many players, signaling a shift in strategy under her leadership.

The price decrease is accompanied by a significant change in content availability: new Call of Duty titles will no longer be added to Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass on their release dates. Instead, these games will be made available approximately one year after launch, typically during the holiday season. Existing Call of Duty games already present in the service will remain accessible to subscribers. Microsoft states that this change is intended to address financial impacts from users choosing to play the franchise via subscription rather than purchasing it outright, a shift that reportedly cost the company more than $300 million in potential sales last year.

This policy adjustment follows a period of controversy after Microsoft increased Game Pass Ultimate’s price by 50% in October 2025, a move that drew criticism from consumers and industry observers. The current reduction does not fully reverse that increase, as the service remains 15% more expensive than its pre-hike price of $20 per month. Despite the rollback, Sharma emphasized that the company will continue to evolve Game Pass based on player feedback, aiming to improve its value proposition over time.