Next Call of Duty Game Coming Straight to Game Pass
Xbox’s desperation is showing. Last week, Microsoft’s senior public relations manager, Brian Hilderbrand, said the reason Xbox was closing some Bethesda studios and merging others was because Game Pass – the Xbox subscription service – was losing money on video game sales by allowing gamers to play them for much cheaper, and they need to make up the money spent acquiring Activision and Bethesda, which comes to $76.2 billion. Now, The Wall Street Journal (which is behind a paywall, but here’s IGN with the details) is reporting that Xbox plans to release the next Call of Duty game, which will likely be Call of Duty Black Ops 6, directly onto Game Pass instead of making people buy it. The Journal claims this will be announced at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 9, 2024; Call of Duty Black Ops 6 (unless they pull a fast one) is expected to arrive in October.
WSJ reporting that Microsoft plans to include the latest Call of Duty release on Game Pass this fall
"Microsoft plans a major shakeup of its videogame sales strategy by releasing the coming installment of Call of Duty to its subscription service instead of the longtime,… pic.twitter.com/UTwVye9nYb
— Wario64 (@Wario64) May 17, 2024
It’s easy to see the rationale behind this move. Xbox needs to drive up Game Pass subscriptions, and they now own Activision (which is one of the reasons why they desperately need money), so they’re trying to get people to subscribe instead of buying the new Call of Duty game, which will almost certainly be a huge seller. They’ll probably take a hit on Call of Duty Black Ops 6 – though probably not enough of one to sink a reliable Call of Duty game – but they’re hoping to make up for it in subscriptions. And that’s a pretty big gamble; if too many people subscribe to Game Pass instead of buying the game, Black Ops 6 could lose money. I don’t think that’s likely, but Xbox needs to strike a delicate balance if this idea is going to pay off for them. And if they do strike that balance, will the extra subscriptions be enough to make Game Pass solvent and generate enough to pay for their acquisitions? I doubt it, but I guess every little bit helps.
Comments (1)
I am not on X.
Used to like that guy, Steve Pieczenik, who used to be a guest on Infowars and was the man behind Tom Clancy and Call of Duty. I’d still listen to him if he was on streams, but he’s an operative.