Ever since Xbox announced that they would be acquiring Activision/Blizzard, the internet has run rampant with speculation on what that might mean for their subscription service "Xbox Game Pass". Many speculate that the addition of games like "Call of Duty" will increase the cost of the service, whilst others feel like it's an indication that they're going to move away from the Day and Date promise that Game Pass is built upon.
Whilst all these fears are understandable, the reality is that there isn't any evidence towards any of that happening. There is however a huge opportunity that many people aren't considering (potentially including Xbox), that would massively move the needle on Xbox Game Pass Subscriptions.
Adjusting the Price Point for Xbox Game Pass but in the Other Direction
In June of 2023, Xbox announced that they would be increasing the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate from $14.99 to $16.99. Many were annoyed by this decision but ultimately understood why they were doing it due to Covid 19 the years before making the cost of living increase. However, with fears of another price increase happening due to Call of Duty, there is a massive opportunity for Xbox to revert the price back to $14.99 or even closer to $9.99 that PC Game Pass users get to enjoy. This would most likely result in the following effects for Xbox.
1. A Huge Boost in Game Pass Subscriptions
Naturally, assuming the price decreased due to Call of Duty it would make the decision to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass significantly easier. People ultimately want to be able to play with their friends and decreasing the entry barrier on consoles would make many on the PlayStation and Xbox Console players alike think of subscribing to Game Pass the cheapest and easiest way to join in the fun.
This would naturally be a huge risk of losing millions of dollars for Xbox, however it also could have a potentially huge reward of making tens of millions more from people joining the subscription service and engaging in the microtransactions or season passes that Call of Duty will most likely have.
2. Regaining the Goodwill of the Public
It's no secret that many in the media as well as social media are always focusing on every piece of negative news that comes to Xbox. Some of it deserved like with Xbox closing studios like "Tango GameWorks", and a lot that's undeserved like certain media outlets claiming that Xbox is dying because they allowed a small amount of their titles to go to other platforms. Naturally however, due to all the negative outrage (deserved and undeserved), many people are unsure on whether to invest in the future of Xbox and there's a general negative emotion that comes out of a lot of people when they talk about Xbox.
To break this negativity cycle and to assure gamers that the Xbox is somewhere that is worth their investment. Lowering Game Pass prices would flip the negative media headlines to much more positive ones. Rather than "Xbox raising Game Pass prices despite saying they wouldn't", we would be reading more articles saying things like "The best place to play Call of Duty is Day one on Xbox Game pass following price decrease". This would not only have people talking about how good it was for Xbox to reduce the cost but would have a lot of people going back to the mindset of Game Pass being the best value in gaming.
3. Repositioning Xbox for the Future
Lowering the price of Game Pass now to allow more subscriptions to come in the service as said previously has the risk of initially costing the company millions of dollars. However, it also allows Xbox to position themselves differently and allow them to increase the price back to $16.99 a few years down the track when they have 10s of millions of more subscribers. In the short term it is extremely beneficial for them to lower the cost of Game Pass with the introduction of Call of Duty and other Acti/Blizz titles.
The reality is they are a business and the cost of living is increasing for everybody. So increasing the cost of Gamepass in say 3 years or so, after gaining the extra subscriptions from Call of Duty back to the original cost of $16.99. They would stand to make significantly more and would take a lesser blow to their reputation as they would, as previously stated, built up their goodwill over the previous years.
Conclusion
Ultimately what Xbox decides to do is completely up to them, but if they want to give themselves the best chance they have to capitalize on this huge opportunity. They will need to consider lowering the cost of Xbox Game Pass and continue to market themselves as the best value in gaming.
