Let’s talk about Call of Duty and GamePass

The conversation around Call of Duty coming to GamePass has, for some reason, been a point of contention online. From people upset that it’s happening or thinking it’ll ruin or improve the industry going forward, it’s at the very least a talking point as we look ahead. Xbox has long said since the inception of GamePass that all first-party titles would launch on the service. Now that Xbox has more than doubled its number of studios and has a larger grasp on the gaming landscape, does making those moves still make sense in the grand scheme of things? When the single largest money maker, one of the top-selling games year after year since 2007, breaks the cultural zeitgeist that’s broken beyond the oftentimes walled garden of gaming, people notice a change. When that title becomes part of a subscription service and part of its initial revenue streams from outright purchasing are gone, what does that mean for its overall success? Let’s take a little closer look and give our own personal opinions of Microsoft’s overall strategy and how it may play out for them.

For what feels like the fifth time so far, it’s been officially announced that Activision’s next entry in the Call of Duty series, Black Ops 6, will be launching on GamePass. This, at least to me, has oddly been up for debate since the court filings last year. People seemed to think that giving up that much money up front to a subscription service would be detrimental to both Xbox and Call of Duty’s image. Sure, if you had told me years ago that one of the largest titles in the world would be launching essentially “free” into a subscription service, I would have called you crazy. Now though? Times are changing, and the direction gaming is heading is vastly different from what we’ve grown used to over the past few decades. Raising costs of production on both the hardware and software sides and stagnant growth in playerbases overall all play a factor in where companies are investing in the long run.

While obviously yet to be seen, putting Call of Duty into a subscription service sounds wild. Even compared to streaming services for movies, there’s usually a delay between launching in theaters and then being on the streaming service. Personally, I feel Microsoft (because, let’s face it, since the court cases last year, Xbox leadership doesn’t have the power they used to) is banking on a mixture of a few things happening to make this successful in the long run. Now that Xbox has a wide range of studios under their belt, the discussion around whether GamePass can be sustainable will be tested more than ever. Let’s take a look at some possible outcomes Microsoft could be eyeing down the road.

Bump GamePass subscriptions by any means possible:

This one’s pretty straight forward; in today’s time, it’s not that the goal posts for success have moved, but more so the way they view success. It’s not simply about selling the most units anymore; now we’re focused on MAU's (monthly active users) and how we can keep players involved in our ecosystem for the longest period of time. Microsoft’s not reporting console sales anymore but instead how many GamePass users they have and MAU’s as a sign of growth during investor meetings. A marquee title like Call of Duty is bound to get more people in that door, taking away a $70 buy-in cost and undoubtedly getting more users subbed if even for a month to try it out with the hope they stay active and keep a monthly subscription occurring. But how do you get into the GamePass service? This conveniently goes into my next assumption about this plan, which is...

Hardware sales could use any life support available:

Let’s face it, Xbox has been fighting an increasingly steep uphill battle for years to gain any market space. At this point, I feel they would take any win they could get, no matter how small; this includes digging out any sort of hole in the hardware space. Phil has said before that he feels that just by making great games, they won’t suddenly sell a ton of units. Maybe not, but they could push a decent amount to help change the perception of Xbox as a brand. Xbox has long carried the “little engine that couldn’t” moniker from media outlets. Call of Duty could pay a toll in changing the tides here. We’ve seen in the past the drastic impact that Call of Duty marketing and branding can have on swaying player numbers. With that initial buy-in out the window and Xbox being pushed as the place to be, I could see a decent chunk of CoD players looking into the Xbox ecosystem. We’ve seen during the Activision court case last year that over a million players on PlayStation in 2021 exclusively played or purchased Call of Duty. Plus, with the long-rumored, ever-nearing Xbox handheld just over the horizon, we could see a decent increase in hardware sales. What if this move doesn’t bring people to the ecosystem through hardware, though? What does Microsoft bank on doing then? Well, one word for you:.

MICROTRANSACTIONS!!!

If all else fails, we at least have tried-and-true microtransactions. With the barrier of entry removed for GamePass members, they may be more open to exploring the online store and purchasing cosmetics. Gaming ain’t cheap, and taking away a $70 price tag to get invested in a game is a huge deal from a player perspective. Over time, if someone spends months or even years putting time into this year's COD, they may end up spending more than that in the store. It may sound like a far stretch, as $70+ on cosmetics sounds wild, but when bundles are about $20 a pop, it adds up rather quickly. If Microsoft is looking to have a consistent cash flow over time, this is the best way to go about it. Microtransactions and battle passes have long been a meme in the community, but when every game is fighting for your time and investment, you have to make some income back after extended periods. We don't have to wait a long time to get a glimpse of their plan, as the 2024 Xbox Showcase is live streaming tomorrow.