Microsoft Confirms That Black Ops 6 Won't Require A New Tier Of Xbox Game Pass

Just as I was saying: every single first-party game on Game Pass at launch as confirmed by Microsoft several times this year and no additional tier for Call of Duty. I don't know why the negative rumours gain so much traction and are so widely spread and believed. Of course, there will be deluxe editions and add-ons bundles like with any major release.

EDIT: Price hike is just another of the negative rumours and these rumours are pure speculation.

They can always backtrack later rather than risk more backlash now which let's face it the Xbox brand doesn't need as already struggling. You really think if COD sales numbers stall they won't screw people over.

The management have proven time and again to be rotten liars and change strategy for more cash. Just look at exclusives now going multi format while getting nothing in return for their own players.

I just hope they won’t get rid of EA Play instead.

So just a price increase then great news🥳

Great, so when gamepass gets a price hike everyone will be paying extra whether they play CoD or not. Wonderful.

I guess it makes sense to do an X1 version as Activision would be remiss to not release on PS4 where the "other half" of the PlayStation crowd still resides - and it would be pretty crappy of Microsoft to release on PS4 and not X1.

Though, I do wonder how this will affect PS5 sales as one of the biggest franchises will still be playable on PS4 and giving the annual COD/FIFA/Madden crowd another reason not to upgrade.

@oopsiezz true but by then there could be close to 20 major games in it. Plus more coming so the value is there for some players. Maybe not all and those players don’t have to subscribe. Last i checked they still sell games digitally on the store as well. So it’s not as if GP players don’t have options to get games at whatever value they see fit for them.

I get what you are saying, @Banjo-, but there were 4 differing rumours circulating when it came to CoD on Game Pass:

1. It won't enter the service day one.
2. An additional tier will be added to the service.
3. Game Pass will receive a price hike, either immediately, or soon after.
4. This years entry is a trial, and it depends on how it performs, in relation to both new console sales and new Game Pass subscriptions, as to whether subsequent iterations will follow suit.

Obviously, 1 and 2 were wrong (or at least are no longer the case, we cannot be certain). However, we've yet to see whether 3 or 4 will come to fruition, and in the case of 4, we could be waiting a year to find out.

This is seemingly good news, but in all honesty, with the way Microsoft have been playing their hand recently, I can fully believe there will be a sucker punch round in the not too distant future. This just might be a 'dead cat' scenario...

I'd prefer a new tier of Game Pass to play Black Ops 6 (or most third-party, AAA day one games, for that matter) if it meant avoiding a price increase for Game Pass.

I think this is why Microsoft have chosen to do it this way, @101Force. After all, if they had created a new price tier, they would have to have been a relatively high jump in price to make it worthwhile.

As an example; if they had charged an extra £10 for the service, and 5 million people had joined, then that's an additional £50 million. However, if you increase the price of Game Pass/Core/Ultimate by just £2, you would get a return of £70 million. A smaller increase that most would suck up, yet still making Microsoft more than having a separate tier...

I'll definitely be checking it out since I'm paying for gamepass anyways. I haven't bought a COD since black ops 2, but if they're giving it as part of my subscription ill play it for a few weeks. Black ops was my favorite series.

@Banjo-
Well that’s kept me very happy. 😃

@Fiendish-Beaver About your points, #1 and #2 were false rumours and pure speculation. #3 was denied by Microsoft in court. #3.5 is not applicable at all and is moot, because nobody should assume that a possible and future price hike of any subscription was planned one year earlier and is the result of a single factor they vaguely addressed in the past.

Otherwise, everyone would be able to say that they were right about all this speculation, because they can always say "it was considered", it was discussed", "they changed their mind", etc. The real leakers don't use vague reasoning and indefinite periods. They know specific facts, know when they will happen and they happen.

If the fourth point is the only one that turns true in the future, it doesn't mean that it's the result of any "trial" or "plan", but a business decision that considers the evolution of their whole business and competition, like Sony's decision when they increase their pricing considerably or decide to include or not first-party games in their subscriptions.

@Sifi what has Sony raising prices got to do with Microsoft putting a game on GPU?

I’d be very surprised if we don’t see a price hike for GP before COD releases.

Not sure if you misread what I wrote, @Banjo-. Rumour 4 was that the next CoD (so the one after BLOPS6) may not go on the service if this next title is not successful. Hence that one cannot be debunked until next year.

As for 1 and 2 being false, well, in the words of Phil Spencer, plans change! Yes, right now, they look (and probably are) false, but we don't know that for certain. Indeed, the rumour was that Microsoft were considering both 1 and 2, which is a lovely way for those that were spreading the rumours to say, 'well, we did say they were considering!'. Who knows? Did Microsoft consider not putting the game on the Game Pass? Most probably! When speaking of such a behemoth of a title, it would have been foolish of Microsoft to at least not consider the prospect of not putting it on the service.

And as for point 3, I'm not sure that you are correct regarding the issue of Game Pass getting a price hike having been denied either. I mean, I'm fairly certain we were seeing people say precisely that prior to Starfield entering the service, and we all felt that price hike when it arrived, didn't we.

That’s the fourth year into a new generation we got old console support.
Is it always this long with COD & FIFA.
I used to think it was about 2 years in only until they left the previous generation behind.

Good to see that the rumors weren’t true! I wish more people would take rumors and “leaks” with a grain of salt and await actual confirmation.

Any “leak” or rumor I have seen regarding Xbox, in particular the more negative ones, always are treated as real even when the person spreading the rumor isn’t credible or has an iffy track record with these things. But, some people (not all) do make up more negative leaks and rumors to either stoke the flames, get 15 minutes of internet fame and attention, or a combination of both, so it’s great to hear confirmation from Microsoft!

@Fiendish-Beaver I don't mean the minimal price hike of Game Pass before the ABK acquisition but, as you know, I'm replying specifically to your point #3 and I'm correct, because Microsoft was asked in court if they were going to increase the price of Call of Duty or the subscription because of its addition and they said no, so I'm not speculating. A price hike of any subscription, not just Microsoft's, may happen in the future and it wouldn't be the result of a lie or a plan one year earlier.

About #4, the addition of future Call of Duty games to Game Pass depending on the results of this one joining Game Pass, do you think that they will stop adding first-party games to Game Pass? Well, that's completely out of question because it has been clarified several times by Microsoft.

Although the future is unpredictable per se, all that I have written is officially confirmed, while your comments are speculation or address speculation by unofficial sources (youtubers, click hunters, "leakers", fanboys, etc.)

@Pastellioli Right! Those rumours are vague, some of the people spreading them backtrack, some of them use the sentence "it was considered/discussed" as an excuse when they are wrong, but still most of those baseless rumours are spread as if they were true, not paying any attention to the official sources and assuming that if it's on more than one website, it must be true.

COD is still going to make an absolute killing for MS and it’s very very possible that MS will make more money from COD on Xbox by having it on Game Pass as opposed to not. So it makes total sense for MS to do it exactly as they are doing it and see what the results are before making any adjustments.

Call of Duty will be successful inside and outside Game Pass. Minecraft is always on the top-selling charts on every platform, in spite of being one of the most popular titles on Game Pass. The same will happen to Call of Duty. It will also be very profitable because they don't have to include it in the $1b budget for third-party Game Pass deals, but Microsoft owns it.

The acquisition was more expensive than its market value, but if you check what ABK makes per year, it won't take many years for Microsoft to have recouped the acquisition cost. Finally, although I understand that some people aren't happy about Microsoft owning ABK and I respect that, ABK were looking for buyers before Microsoft outbid and I don't think you would have liked the other bidders more.

Now that is confirmed, I'm curious to see if having COD on GPU will have a significant number of people upgrading their Core subscriptions to the Ultimate tier.

@OldGamer999 Now you can relax and be positive about this 😁.

These rumours are not fun or innocent because they spread a lot of artificial negativity around Xbox online.

I still don't get how so many people think gamepass will ruin the sales numbers for this game. Especially with a huge new audience about to get access when the Nintendo versions start dropping.

I’d rather see a higher tier that I can avoid, rather than a price hike for everyone. Is it so hard to believe that some people don’t give two craps about call of duty?

@Banjo-
I know, but some seem sort of like they could be real.
Who spreads these silly rumours in the first place?

If the Activision merger and acquisition is cited in a future price increase, Xbox should have different tiers like Netflix or HBO Max. The highest tier would have the Activision products and equivalent to the 4k/HDR video streaming. The lower tier won't have that, but have a lower price point. They might as well throw the cloud streaming on the highest tier, but keep a lower price on the lower tier

Seriously think that people just overreact according to the games they like… rustyduck complains there are not enough FPS and too many indies and then a FPS is added and now gamers say stop adding expensive FPS and give me more AA or JRPG or the like… GP is just great value period the price….

They have made the game for the PS4 and Xbox One because 50% of gamers are still playing CoD on those platforms, @OldGamer999. It makes sense to do this really...

@AlwaysPlaying Also, "There aren't any single-player narrative games" and then complain about Hellblade II being linear and cinematic.

@Fiendish-Beaver
Yeah I know the reason business sense really.
I just can’t remember the game being last generation after four years into the new generation as well.
Thought it was usually about two years both generations old and new.
Then again this generation has been the weirdest to me so far.

I've never played COD and I don't imagine I'm going to start now, but ew, no this game should not support Xbox One. This is going to be a 10.5 year old game, with some little graphics improvements on newer devices. If I wanted to play a game that old I'd play one of the million existing COD games. People talk about the series S holding back the series X but the One still holding back everything after 3.5 years is ridiculous.

They probably wanted to release a last-gen version because many people still play on last-gen consoles. One of the unexpected outcomes of the acquisition was that Microsoft and Nintendo signed a 10-year agreement (like Sony) to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles. How will that happen? Black Ops 6 don't have a release date. Maybe they'll announce it on 9th June. It may launch in October 2024 and Nintendo Switch 2 before March 2025. So, I assume that Call of Duty will be released as a cloud version on Switch like other games. The next Call of Duty should be current-gen and not cross-gen, so it will also be a cloud version on Switch 2. 🤣

Well, yea. Won't require a new pay tier. But next year of course it will.

Fantastic news. I’m pumped for this 90s Black Ops on GP day one. Xbox need to absolutely advertise the hell out of it, maybe offer Xbox only exclusives and sell the Xbox as the way to play COD. Excited.

This is all good news! I'll be playing day one!

@Banjo- you know I've noticed the past 12 months the anti-Xbox rumors have spiraled out of control. People literally make stuff up & the certain "gaming news sites" run full fledged articles based on BS rumors. It's ridiculous and I tell people, trust me you don't want Xbox dead. If PlayStation was the sole high end console maker, the games industry would be screwed because they'd corner the market and make us pay even more than we already do.

I truly believe Xbox is on an upswing. If we look at quality releases for 2024 Xbox takes the cake. Hellblade 2 while not the best game ever is a good game. Avowed I have a feeling is going to be a lot of fun to play, Obsidian tends to make games I enjoy so I'm optimistic about it! It's also REALLY cool to see COD under the Xbox umbrella for the 1st time in over a decade. Whether people want to believe it or not COD is going to boost Xbox significantly. Half of the PSN player base is still on PS4, Xbox is in a great spot to take advantage of those gamers. Offering COD on gamepass PLUS an entry level console that outperforms the PS4 for a fraction of what a PS5 costs there's a real opportunity to get players on Xbox. I was brought back to Xbox through the Series S & since then I've gotten a Series X plus got my wife a Series S. The Xbox ecosystem IMO is superior to that of PlayStation & this is coming from a PS5 owner who enjoys PlayStation games. Anyways there's a TON of positive possibilities and opportunities for Xbox in the coming months and years and I'm excited to watch Xbox bounce back from all the negative drama.

Happy gaming, Long Live Xbox ✌️

@Master_Cthulhu70 It's a relief to read happy Xbox users posting here, because most of the "news" and threads are pure drama and anti-Xbox propaganda. Most of the comment sections have become ridiculous.

I also think that the Xbox ecosystem is the best and I don't have a single reason to leave it. There is a great number of Xbox Game Studios making games of different genres, not just shooting and racing games like before. I'm also looking forward to the next controller that is supposed to launch before October, right before the rumoured launch of Series X All-Digital Edition.

Despite those comments that compare consoles sold as if it equalled revenue difference, Xbox will be fine. As you said, Call of Duty will be a success for Xbox. Since most PS players are still playing on PS4, it's a good opportunity to get some of them on Series S|X, because Game Pass Ultimate includes online and the game. Perhaps the refresh models will help. It's also an opportunity for Xbox to be more popular as a "casual" console next generation. Sony has revealed that the console exclusives aren't selling enough and they are becoming a multiplatform publisher for not just PS but also PC and who knows what else. The charts back it up and reflect that most PS users got the console for Call of Duty, Minecraft, GTA and FIFA/Madden. The console market is limited but, in the end, all these changes will be beneficial because it will more balanced and stable and not as aggressive.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Because he can't stand it when Microsoft gets negative press. AkA fanboy. But I don't think Microsoft had any other choice. They're missing out on a ton of money by putting the new CoD on Game Pass, but they're obliged to do it. I'm curious what the future will offer. I think Microsoft itself (not Xbox) will just sell the next blanket. Simply because they really want to earn that 69 billion back. They haven't really been in the news in recent weeks and there are reasons for that.

@Kooky_Geezer Wait, what? What do you mean getting nothing in return for their own players?

I hope xbox realizes how much people hate that COD HQ app.