Play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Day One with Xbox Game Pass

Xbox Wire: “We're excited to confirm that Game Pass members will be able to jump into Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on day one.”

[ThinkThink]

Here's hoping for a drop of all 19 of the other cod games on gamepass. That would be a wild trip down memory lane.

[1Victor]

Rip Xbox 😭 this will be the point when you can say it was Microsoft biggest mistake that cost Phil head to roll when the investors expect to see a billion on sale and get 1/3 only from PS.
Anyway congratulations to all those CoD players that have game pass.
Edit: never mind is black ops 6 but if they do this for the main cod it’s goodbye Phil

[VenomUK]

I'm not sure how this move will play out but I do think it could devalue the Call of Duty brand Microsoft paid so much for.

Also, if after the release Microsoft compares sales revenue of the game on Xbox compared to last year, and then logically it will be less as Xbox gamers will be able to get it for 'free'. If it then looks to see if Game Pass new subscriber revenue makes up for the loss profits - if it doesn't It could potentially be the nail in the coffin for the Xbox console business and Game Pass.

[crazyCoconuts]

So normally I'd just buy COD every year. Now if they keep the prices the same, I might get PC GamePass. The way I see it, I get GamePass for a difference of $50/year. And they would get $50 from me that maybe I would have otherwise not spent with them. It's not obvious to me whether it's a bad move or not

[Cacabunga]

WTF
So now Xbox doesn’t even care about the millions of sales the title would generate on Xbox and PC?
Most will sub for a month, play the crap out of it (if it’s any good) and go back to normal.

Do these people even have a brain?

[outsider1624]

I wanna see how this will fare with ps players. Do they buy the game on console? Will this day 1 GP finally move xbox consoles?

[ocelot07]

After being burnt with MW3 (really enjoyed mw2019 and MW2 (2022) as well as cold war). Guess I can give it ago on pc GP for a month. If I like it buy it on PS5 or PC or don't if I don't like it. I may dislike gamepass. But since it's Microsoft who potentially looses out on my money I don't mind.

[Andrew336]

They aren't gonna "loose" out on your money.

[darthv72]

There is nothing to dislike about Gamepass. People can dislike the company behind it but fundamentally the service is excellent. I truly do not care about the politics behind it... I just like what it offers.

[ocelot07]

That's fair. I just don't like how it's pretty much killed Xbox as a platform. Because of it and in my honest opinion Xbox is now a service rather than a platform. Say what you will about the Xbox one it didn't do as well as the PS4 but before gamepass at least people where paying for the games. Now it's ill just rent on gamepass and if it ain't on gamepass I'll wait untill it's on gamepass.

[shinoff2183]

It's changed a whole bases buying power. It's not good no matter how you look at it. Sure your looking at it as a consumer but when it goes under, no more consumer

[ThinkThink]

Should probably just buy it on xbox with the 20% gamepass discount otherwise you'll be giving Microsoft more of your money twice.

[ocelot07]

If the game is good then I have no issues paying for it on my preferred platform.

[Obscure_Observer]

Nice!

All those rumors were dead wrong and COD fans will be able to play Black Ops 6 day one on Gamepass!

[rippermcrip]

This doesn't prove or disprove anything about the rumors of either a price increase or a new tier.

[darthv72]

...true, but those were separate rumors. The one OO is directly referring to was the idea that CoD would be coming to GP as a result of the merger. To which we can put that one to bed now with this news.

[VenomUK]

@Obscure_Observer There's nothing wrong with being a consumer and being delighted that you be able to play it for free. But like with the many Xbox YouTubers who celebrated the ABK purchase by Microsoft who didn't consider the possible negative consequences for the console platform they enjoy most, I wonder if you have considered this could be a damaging move for the Xbox ecosystem? It might not be, it might turn out to be a genius move! It could be Phil Spener's last hurrah. Come Christmas when it is bundled free with new Xboxs via a Game Pass trial it will definitely shift units - but will it be enough to move PlayStation-exclusive owners to buy it and significantly boost the Xbox Series S/X market share?

[Obscure_Observer]

@rippermcrip

"This doesn't prove or disprove anything about the rumors of either a price increase or a new tier."

You can ask Geoff Keighley about that:

"Microsoft has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be playable on Xbox and PC for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass for Console members.

"BTW per Microsoft, the pricing on tiers is:

Game Pass Ultimate - $16.99 USD/month
Game Pass for Console - $10.99 USD/month
PC Game Pass - $9.99 USD/month
Game Pass Core - $9.99 USD/month OR $59.99/year"

https://x.com/geoffkeighley...

[PhillyDonJawn]

I can see gamepass ultimate being $20.99 (the price of core and GP individually together) and GP solo $13.99 GP PC $11.99

[Redgrave]

Hey man. Nice to see you, been missing you in the articles about XBOX lately. Nobody quite like you to have discussions about the latest proceedings.

Now, might I ask you, do you believe that the quality of BLOPS 6 will be hindered in any capacity through a day one launch on GP? It's a blockbuster release after all, and MW3 left a long bitter taste in a lot of people's mouths.

Do you think it would be the same game on terms of quality and quantity if they delayed releasing it on Gamepass, by say 3 months or so? Get all those Xmas sales while the piping's hot?

[Obscure_Observer]

@Redgrave

Hey man, how are doing?

"Now, might I ask you, do you believe that the quality of BLOPS 6 will be hindered in any capacity through a day one launch on GP?"

Not at all. According to Digital Foundry, Hellblade II is the most technical advanced game of the current generation, which is nothing but proof that both Gamepass and Xbox Series S aren´t hindered games development at Xbox Studios at all.

"It's a blockbuster release after all, and MW3 left a long bitter taste in a lot of people's mouths."

All I can say it´s being developed by other/different studios, whether Black Ops 6 will deliver on people´s expectations now they´re under MS, really remains to be seen. You see, I´m not the right person to give you a proper answer regarding COD games quality on a personal level since I´m not a COD fan or player. I can only hope that Treyarch will deliver a good game for you guys.

"Do you think it would be the same game on terms of quality and quantity if they delayed releasing it on Gamepass, by say 3 months or so? Get all those Xmas sales while the piping's hot?"

That would be a great idea and great revenue for MS. On the other hand, it would be against their own policy of *all* Xbox first party games day one on Gamepass.

That said, I got a question for you too: Do you believe that the quality of Gears of War 6 will be hindered in any capacity because of Gamepass?

[Obscure_Observer]

@VenomUK

Hey VenonUK

"but will it be enough to move PlayStation-exclusive owners to buy it and significantly boost the Xbox Series S/X market share?"

No. I don´t think so. MS is not even making an effort to distinguish the Series X from the Series S despite the gulf in power between the two machines aiming potential customers.

I think MS is fine with that douchebag Aaron Greenberg still running the show when comes to marketing. So it´s their loss.

[Einhander1972]

This didn't age well.... Oof

@rippermcrip

"This doesn't prove or disprove anything about the rumors of either a price increase or a new tier."

You can ask Geoff Keighley about that:

"Microsoft has confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be playable on Xbox and PC for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass for Console members.

"BTW per Microsoft, the pricing on tiers is:

Game Pass Ultimate - $16.99 USD/month
Game Pass for Console - $10.99 USD/month
PC Game Pass - $9.99 USD/month
Game Pass Core - $9.99 USD/month OR $59.99/year"

[Obscure_Observer]

"This didn't age well.... Oof"

I said:

"This doesn't *prove* or *disprove* anything"

Still... didn´t aged well regardless. XD

Guilty as charged. ;)

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

So Microsoft is willing to take a financial hit? Could have done that with Tango. This was the correct move. Any other move would have piled on what happened recently whether it be, price increase, new tier, or not releasing it on GP at all.

[darthv72]

What happened with Tango, while unfortunate, was done at the discretion of Bethesda. We don't know what the conditions of the MS/Bethesda merger are but can assume there is still some semblance of autonomy where they can make certain decisions without the approval of MS.

On the flip side, its a shame that MS was not inclined to offer TG a place under their own direct management like NT has. As for this CoD deal... that too could be under some special consideration by ABK as part of their merger as well. MS looks to benefit either way due to possible increased subs/sales of GP/XB as well as sales to PC/Ps users.

[shinoff2183]

Where'd you read that darth

[badz149]

"We don't know what the conditions of the MS/Bethesda merger are..."

LOL what merger? MS outright bought them, so MS owns Zenimax, thus, Bethesda as a whole!

[Lightning77]

If they grow gamepass because of COD, have Another paid tier and selling the game on PS5 and last gen consoles.

Especially if this COD is the best one in ages, which equals more sales I have a hard time seeing how this game will take any financial hit. Whatever potential loss would pay itself back 10 fold.

[Huey_My_D_Long]

Hmmm, I think they will announce a price hike in between now and BO6 coming out.

[MrDead]

I wonder who's for the chop to pay for this if no price hike? We'll find out on the next quarterly report, Tango was just the beginning.

[RNTody]

Pending price increase and tiers.

And the beginning of the end of Call of Duty as an industry giant.

[darthv72]

...remains to be seen. We can surmise that the majority of the CoD player base is not privy to the likes of sites such as this. so, they likely do not even know of impending and unannounced potential pricing changes.

[Eonjay]

What if they didn't increase the price? Yes, they would be taking the hit, but if GamePass is going to work, it needs to have a lot more subscribers. Perhaps this is the play. The lost sales can be made up for by releasing COD on Switch or whatever Nintendo's next console is. This mixed with whatever they get out of new subs should be enough to turn a nice profit. It will definitely hurt at first but in the long run I think there is a good financial result for COD at least.

[purple101]

I feel if they were going to increase price, they would have announced new tier at the same time, as thats only fair, otherwise you are trying to attract people with this new offering, at a price they have in their heads already, only to find them self on the sign-up landing page at a higher price, this would almost, almost classed as false advertising,

then again, this is microsoft were talking about

[Berenger]

@Eonjay Correct. They will subsidize sales by releasing those games multiplatform. Will either make a ton of money on competing platforms, greatly increase Gamepass subs or both.

[RNTody]

Call of Duty made $1 billion in a mere 10 days from sales with Modern Warfare 2 in 2022. Who knows what its final revenue total was? I'd love to see the picture of how this series remains as profitable or as gigantic when you can sub for 3 to 12 months to play it, depending on how long you stick with CoD annually, on Xbox and PC and as usual PlayStation will have to carry sales for Xbox, because at least PC players buy games too. Every result will cause a worse product, from more monetisation, to shorter campaigns like Modern Warfare 3, to less content, to whatever else is going to reduce costs on the game. It's a decline that is inevitable, hence my comment.

You just cannot go from a billion in sales with a game that was free to charge more than other titles, to day one on Game Pass and expect things to be exactly as they are. That's delusional. It might not happen immediately with Black Ops 6 as most people out there won't be aware of day one Game Pass until word of mouth spreads, but it certainly will happen just like Game Pass has changed all Xbox gamers buying habits.

How many more subs do you imagine Game Pass to get? Even an additional ten million won't turn the same revenue, and that's generous AND assuming those subscribers stick with the service for the full year and beyond. Microsoft may benefit, Call of Duty won't.

[VersusDMC]

You will definitely need to buy a 30 dollar season pass to get early access now on all platforms as well.

[Berenger]

@RNTody I'm not sure who you were responding to but the point is the ONLY way MS makes any money is to be sure their games are multiplatform because no one buys games on Xbox to a large degree. They are literally using their competitors to fund their own games. Previous PlayStation CEO Shawn Layden stated you will need North of 500 million subscribers for a subscription service to be profitable if you release games Day and Date. There is absolutely NO WAY Xbox ever gets there, considering Netflix is only halfway there.
So Xbox will release on everything at full price but advertise "Get it "Free on Gamepass"" through Xbox systems.
They're leeching until they can buy enough studios before they are no longer allowed.

[RNTody]

I agree with you 100%, Hiro, I was responding to Darth and Eonjay. Must have clicked reply on the wrong comment xD I've echoed your view, Microsoft is looking to earn off ownership of key IP and have a passive revenue stream from Games Pass, but it's going to put most major IPs in decline under their banner because Games Pass is not a sustainable model and Microsoft has a proven track record of being unable to manage big games.

They have no desire to grow studios or invest in risky new IP or big games. They're in the empire business and it's terrible for gaming.

[Goodguy01]

Sweet. I'll finish the campaign then drop game pass lol.

[purple101]

Got to get those subs in, before GTA6 drops

Cos then, no one is buying any other game
It will take 75% of the game spend per household, I reckon

Could be last year of cod dominating Xmas sales periods.

We haven’t seen a gta for 10 years and somehow gta5 stays in the charts.

It’s almost unfathomable what will happen to game use / spend / engagement on other games when it hits

[gold_drake]

daaamn, missing out on alot of sales.
but hey, what do i know haha.

[REDDURT]

Long live gamepass!!!

[Hedstrom]

Will be interesting to se Game pass subscription rise compared to COD sales decline with this move. Feels like the final test for Game pass to see if its viable in the long run.

[Sonic1881]

COD is about to lose a lot of money and profit. This is going to be interesting 👀 😁

[garos82]

this game coming out also on xbox one and ps4? lmao good luck with that

[MrBaskerville]

Problem with Gamepass lack of growth is that they might be potentially be scraping the barrel for what's possible without a larger installbase. It will be interesting to see the effects. I can't imagine it will make people buy xboxes in droves. I guess they need Cod to make an impact on GP growth, what happens if that fails? Cause the it will without a doubt just lead to lower Cod numbers and less money earned.

[Berenger]

I agree 100% RNTody

[ChasterMies]

This won’t mean much to the 1M PlayStation owners who only play Call of Duty. A $70 game is less than $204/year for GamePass Ultimate. But Microsoft gets their money either way.