A report from one of the gaming industry’s most closely watched insiders has set off a significant debate around the future of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass strategy, with Windows Central’s Jez Corden revealing on The Xbox Two Podcast that the company is reportedly considering not including the 2026 Call of Duty title as a day one release on the subscription service. Corden stated that removing Call of Duty from Game Pass this year is “a possibility from what I’ve heard,” a comment that has quickly gained traction across the gaming community given how central the franchise has been to Microsoft’s pitch for its subscription tier since acquiring Activision Blizzard.
The financial logic behind such a move is not difficult to follow. A Bloomberg report from October 2025 estimated that Xbox gave up more than USD 300 million in Call of Duty sales after putting the franchise on Game Pass, based on figures from a former employee. Call of Duty sales fell by 60 percent in 2025, with the series posting historically low player counts on Steam, while the success of Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 6 further detracted from the anticipated refresh of the shooter. Corden also explained the structural tension at the heart of the current arrangement, noting that Microsoft uses a formula to charge back Game Pass revenue to the studio, meaning a game as large as Call of Duty effectively vacuums up a disproportionate share of that revenue pool, which limits the funds available for new content, while simultaneously undermining direct sales by making the game accessible at a lower subscription cost. The result, as he put it, is a situation where the franchise harms Game Pass while Game Pass harms the franchise in return.
Microsoft already raised Xbox Game Pass pricing and reshaped its subscription tiers in October 2025, with the Ultimate tier, which provides day one access to first-party titles including Call of Duty, now priced at United States Dollars 29.99 per month. That price hike was widely attributed at the time to the cost of maintaining Call of Duty within the service, making the prospect of its removal without a corresponding price reduction a particularly contentious point for subscribers. Should Microsoft proceed with pulling Call of Duty from day one Game Pass access, 2026 may be a strategically selected moment to do so, given the year’s unusually strong first-party lineup, which includes the Halo 1 remake, Gears of War: E-Day, Forza Horizon 6, and the Fable reboot. Adding to the complexity, dataminer Red PHX has reportedly discovered evidence of two potential new Game Pass tiers, codenamed Triton and Duet, both of which would focus on providing access to first-party games at a lower price point, suggesting broader restructuring conversations are already underway within Microsoft. It bears emphasis that no official announcement has been made, and Corden himself acknowledged uncertainty around the final outcome, but the weight of financial evidence and insider commentary points to a meaningful reassessment of one of Xbox’s most prominent subscription commitments.
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