After weeks of rumors and internal memo leaks, Xbox is officially dropping the price of its most expensive Game Pass tier.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Price Drop
Xbox Game Pass shocked many gamers in October 2025 when prices rose for select tiers of the service. Game Pass Ultimate, which was once considered the best deal in gaming by many console owners, climbed a staggering 50%.
Today, Xbox is rolling things back a bit and dropping the price of Game Pass Ultimate down to $22.99. The change was officially announced in an email sent to subscribers.
“Today, we’re dropping the price of Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99. Player feedback has made it clear that gamers want this tier to be the best value in gaming, and that aligns with our vision.”
This change seems to align with reports of Asha Sharma’s goal to make the service more affordable for gamers. Of course, a drop in the price also means that one of the key perks of the service is also going to be changing going forward.
Changes to Game Pass Ultimate
Coming out of the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the Call of Duty franchise was one of the most profitable items. Considering how well the game’s annual installments sell, it was frankly shocking that Xbox decided to make it a Day One inclusion for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. The inclusion of CoD was used to help justify the massive price jump in October 2025, but it seems that experiment is coming to a close just half a year later.
Xbox announced the following change along with the price drop:
“What’s changing: Beginning this year, future Call of Duty titles won’t join Xbox Game Pass Ultimate at launch. New Call of Duty games will be added to Ultimate about a year later, while existing Call of Duty titles already in the library will continue to be available.”
This likely stings for the subset of gamers who were already Game Pass Ultimate subscribers and also purchased Call of Duty every year, but for many gamers this could still be a better deal. Game Pass Ultimate subscribers who don’t care about playing Call of Duty on Day One can get a lower subscription fee and still play CoD a year later. There are also many CoD fans who don’t necessarily care about the other games included in Game Pass Ultimate and can now safely drop the subscription service and just purchase the game on its own.
“What’s staying the same: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will continue to have access to hundreds of games on Xbox console and PC, including current Call of Duty titles, in-game benefits, online console multiplayer, and major day one releases, plus other benefits…”
This seems like the kind of change that has potential to win a lot of goodwill with Xbox gamers, so it will be very interesting to see how it is received. This is one of the first major public-facing strategy changes under Asha Sharma’s era of leadership, so it is certain to cause waves.
The post Xbox Just Dropped The Price of Game Pass Ultimate – And Dropped A Huge Franchise From Day One Access appeared first on VICE.
