Xbox Game Pass is heading for another big shake-up, according to Windows Central’s Jez Corden. Microsoft has already cut the Ultimate tier from $30 to $23, but that cheaper price now comes without day-one Call of Duty releases, and Corden says the next step could be a more flexible subscription model built around the parts players actually want. For anyone who only uses a few Game Pass perks, that could finally make the service feel less bloated and less expensive.
Quick Facts
| Publisher | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Platform(s) | Xbox Series X, PC |
| Price | $30 to $23 |
The report ties the rumored changes to Microsoft’s recent pricing move and to leaked “Duet” and “Triton” codenames found in Xbox Game Pass back-end APIs. Corden says the plan could let users build their own packages, with different add-ons changing the final price. That matters because Game Pass has spent the last few years getting more expensive and more complicated, and players have felt that in the wallet.
CoD Farming
Microsoft announced the Ultimate tier price drop yesterday, and the catch is clear: the package no longer includes any day-one Call of Duty releases. That’s a major shift for subscribers who treated Game Pass as the easiest way to keep up with new Microsoft releases, especially anyone who signed up around Call of Duty. For everyone else, the cut lands differently, because it removes one of the biggest reasons to pay for the top tier.
That move also gives Microsoft room to rethink what Game Pass actually is. The source says the service had two price increases in 2023, then hit another dramatic price hike in 2025 that raised the cost by 50 percent overnight. It also says mid-2024 brought new, confusing tiers and pricing structures that reduced the quality of the service at lower price points, which helps explain why a lot of players now see the current model as messy rather than generous.