Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Drops to $22.99, Future Call of Duty Launches Leave Day One

Price cut starts April 21

Xbox cut Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 a month on April 21, 2026, according to an Xbox Wire post. PC Game Pass also dropped from $16.49 to $13.99 a month, with Microsoft noting that regional prices may vary.

The same update changes the value calculation for subscribers who use Game Pass mainly for Call of Duty. Beginning in 2026, future Call of Duty releases will no longer enter Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. New Call of Duty games are instead scheduled to join those plans during the following holiday season, roughly a year later. Existing Call of Duty titles already in the catalog remain available.

What remains in Ultimate

Microsoft says Ultimate still includes hundreds of console and PC games, current Call of Duty titles, in-game benefits, online console multiplayer, unlimited Xbox Cloud Gaming, and major day-one releases outside the revised Call of Duty rule. The company frames the change as a response to subscriber feedback rather than a full plan reset.

• Game Pass Ultimate: $29.99 to $22.99 per month.
• PC Game Pass: $16.49 to $13.99 per month.
• Future Call of Duty: no day-one Game Pass; expected the following holiday season.

The practical read is that Microsoft is separating two audiences that had been bundled together: players who subscribe for a broad rotating catalog, and players who treated the service as the cheapest way to play the newest Call of Duty every year. The lower monthly price helps the first group immediately. The second group now has to compare a discounted subscription plus a separate Call of Duty purchase against the old all-in bundle.

Community signal

The r/Games thread was created on 2026-04-21 and reached about 2,479 upvotes and 725 comments during this crawl. Top comments focused on the tradeoff: a lower monthly bill for users who do not need day-one Call of Duty, but a weaker bundle for players who used Game Pass as their annual Call of Duty access point.

Primary source: Xbox Wire.