Microsoft is cutting the price of Xbox Game Pass just six months after raising it, dropping its top subscription tier by nearly a quarter as new Xbox chief Asha Sharma moves to reset the gaming business.
According to CNBC, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will cost $22.99 per month instead of $29.99, a 23% reduction. PC Game Pass is also getting a price cut, falling from $16.49 to $13.99.
The move comes after Sharma, who replaced longtime Xbox boss Phil Spencer in February, reportedly told employees that the service had simply become too expensive.
The change lands at a critical moment for Xbox. Microsoft has spent the past month using Game Pass to roll out major additions, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Hades II, and EA Sports NHL 26.
Behind the scenes, the company also appears to be preparing even more Call of Duty titles for the service. A recent Microsoft Store listing hinted that Call of Duty: Vanguard could be next, continuing Xbox’s larger push to fold Activision’s catalog into Game Pass.
But there is a catch. Future Call of Duty games will no longer arrive on Xbox Game Pass at launch. Instead, new entries in the franchise will be sold separately at full price—currently $69.99—before older installments are added to the service months later.
Microsoft framed the shift as a response to player feedback, saying in a blog post, “Our players cover a wide breadth of geographies, preferences, and tastes, so while there isn’t a single model that’s best for everyone, this change responds to a lot of feedback we’ve gotten so far.”
The rollback marks a sharp reversal from October, when Microsoft increased the cost of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate by $10 per month. At the time, the company was leaning heavily on the momentum from the Activision Blizzard acquisition and the day-one launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Since then, however, Microsoft’s gaming division has hit turbulence. Gaming revenue fell about 10% year over year, hardware sales dropped 32%, and the company scrapped high-profile projects, including Everwild and Perfect Dark.
Microsoft’s finance chief, Amy Hood, also said Xbox content and services revenue missed internal expectations.
