Microsoft may regret making the latest installments of this annual franchise available on the subscription service at launch.

After acquiring Activision Blizzard for a hefty sum, Microsoft faced the biggest question: When would their most popular product, Call of Duty, join the Xbox Game Pass lineup? Ultimately, Microsoft decided that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, would be the first game to join the lineup in 2024. The game broke records for both the series and Game Pass, but it later became clear that this wasn’t a wise decision for the franchise. According to Jez Corden, an editor at Windows Central, Microsoft may remove the 2026 Call of Duty game from Game Pass. He also said that the franchise’s presence on Game Pass is hurting both parties.

“It’d be interesting to see if they take Call of Duty out of Game Pass this year, which is a possibility from what I’ve heard. I think it’ll reveal some cracks in the strategy. Game Pass has disrupted Call of Duty‘s business model in a negative way. Microsoft has a formula called member-weighted something-or-other, with which they allocate Game Pass revenue to the studio. So, if a big game like Call of Duty is added, it will vacuum up a lot of that revenue. This eats into the money available month to month for new content. You need new content to prevent churn. Call of Duty is so big that it harms Game Pass. At the same time, the idea that you can get Call of Duty cheaper without buying it also hurts Call of Duty,” Corden said during his latest podcast.

Of course, Microsoft also raised the price of Game Pass Ultimate by 50% last October because it gave subscribers access to the new Call of Duty installment. If the first-person shooter series is removed, then a significant reduction in the price of the subscription service would certainly be justified. This would be the exact opposite of what is needed to address Game Pass’s current value proposition. A few months ago, Corden said that Microsoft was considering adding subscriptions like World of Warcraft, Fallout 1st, Minecraft Realms, and The Elder Scrolls Online Plus to Game Pass Ultimate to justify the $30 price. However, if Call of Duty is removed, there’s a good chance they’ll simply lower the price.

Corden also mentioned that data miner Red PHX found evidence of two possible new Game Pass tiers, codenamed Triton and Duet. Both tiers would provide access exclusively to first-party games, such as DOOM Eternal, DOOM 64, Dishonored 2, Fable Anniversary, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Gears 5, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo Wars 2, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Ori and the Blind Forest, Psychonauts, State of Decay 2, and The Elder Scrolls Online, as well as retro classics. Obviously, this would be an even cheaper option.

Source: WCCFTech