Xbox Removes $1 Game Pass Trial As Black Ops 6 Launch Looms

You keep encouraging people to join Xbox GPU along with your over expensive 1tb discless series x at £429.99.

Totally expected....this is the subscription maker!

@OldGamer999 Would you rather pay $450.00 for a digital only PlayStation that doesn't offer GamePass and still driveless?

So I guess Xbox is the best way to go.

Good they didn't remove the 100% free option

Totally expected because I was looking to see if black ops 6 is play anywhere and it isn't so on note recouping the costs is necessary I suppose.

In fairness, @OldGamer999, Xbox would make vastly less money if it were to allow people to join for just £1 right now. If people are going to join Game Pass just to play CoD, then it is better that they pay full price, like the rest of us that are long time subscribers. I'd prefer that Microsoft make money from these people joining just to play CoD, than increase the cost of GP because loads of people joined having paid just £1, and then left after their £1 trial was over. After all, if CoD doesn't make money on Game Pass, all that will happen is prices will go up, yet again, to make up the shortfall. Why should people get to play the game for £1 when the rest of us Xbox loyal players are paying full price for our subscriptions...?

I have 'zero' issue with this...

I doubt that its strictly down to the addition of CoD, although that is likely to be the biggest (in terms of player numbers) but its also likely to make the most money with Season Passes and all the bundles/MTX's they'll also sell. Its also a game that MANY will play for more than 2wks/1month too.

I would think its also a game like Indiana Jones - which is also a Licenced game so likely needs to 'sell' more to be 'profitable' for both. Add in Flight Sim 2024 and Stalker 2, its arguably the most 'packed' Game Pass couple of months that a $1 deal could hurt more than when their line up is lacking, when there is a Lull in Big releases. Not only that, a Lull in releases is likely to coincide with a lull in new Subscribers so it makes sense to offer some 'deal' like a $1 trial.

Surprised they hadn't got rid of it sooner! Makes no sense at all to let people join for £1 when their biggest release is coming up.

Entirely understandable but also entirely a short term profit motive rather than a brand building one.

Game Pass subs stagnate and you pull the offer to get people in the door....

I agree with @Major_Player and @Fiendish-Beaver. It's still cheap to pay one month of Game Pass for the latest Call of Duty, but Call of Duty keeps topping the Game Pass and Xbox software charts many months after launch (same on the other platforms). Modern Warfare III is on second place on Xbox right now, just behind free-to-play Fortnite. I guess that it's a long-term investment and definitely profitable after the acquisition; but that doesn't mean that anyone should be allowed to play it for the same price as a rubbish mobile game. Besides, the engagement (active users and subscribers) of Xbox users is high, so it's working for Microsoft.

Whilst I agree with your assessment, @Medic_alert, though the likelihood is that those that buy a subscription to play CoD will not stay beyond that first month (or whatever the term of their subscription is) so it's better that Microsoft make much more money out of them, rather than let them play for a month for just £1 and then leave.

The £1 offer is best utilised when the offerings for Game Pass are lean (so much of this year, in truth!). However, with the first-party line-up that is coming over the next few months, it is the right time to try and maximise those profits, especially if people would simply join, play CoD, or play Indian Jones, and then leave after just one month having paid just £1. There has to be a level of fairness to existing subscribers that are paying full price too...

Besides what have been posted above, on Sony's subscription, first-party games take a long while to join the service, and that means more value on Game Pass. Offering a first-tier release on day one for one pound/euro/dollar is just ridiculous. They already have a free-to-play Call of Duty.

@Banjo- GamePass Ultimate is undoubtedly worth every penny, as it will save you money on Call of Duty but also on every game available on right now and beyond.

@Fiendish-Beaver I disagree with that assessment. As long as you can reach those who play COD for a large part of the year and not just the campaign you could potentially have a perpetual subscription- assuming the game is good.

You see it in second hand game stores where the old Cod suddenly piles up just before the new one drops.

I mean, this is all conjecture but I suspect if Xbox were clever and could drop little extra incentives to keep playing on there it could have been a very profitable little endeavour indeed.

@themightyant Exactly and I'd be willing to bet the Majority of the dedicated CoD players will 'buy' the game. I cannot see PS5 CoD gamers jumping to Xbox now MS has it in Game Pass either so I still believe the 'majority will choose to 'buy' anyway. And like I said, its a game most CoD gamers will play 'all year'.

If you only play Campaign, chances are you haven't really been part of the 'CoD' community. You aren't buying the game at launch and if/when you do buy, its often years later in a sale or even used. So if you do 'jump in' because of Game Pass - that's a 'win' too. That person likely wouldn't have bought or contributed to its 'profitability' during its 'year' of support. Of course MS hope that now hey can play when its 'current', they may go on to spend money on it too (season passes, CoD points, bundles etc).

I'd 'imagine' it would take ALL the CoD gamers on PS5 to suddenly opt to pay $1 to play on Game Pass on PC for example - not buy Season passes etc and then quit after their deal is up. Therefore they don't get the Sales (even on 3rd Party Platforms), don't get the Subs or sub fees over the year and the game itself 'dies' due to lack of players.It supposedly makes more money on PS5 for Sony on just 'extras' than it costs to make and its likely to increase the sales of 'extras' on Xbox as more people will play it on Xbox - more Seasonal content sold over the 'year'.

Indiana Jones, with its 3rd Party License will likely have a much smaller 'profit margin' as that is split between MS as the Publisher and LucasArts/Disney as the IP holder. Couple that with Game Pass and the fact its not likely to be a game that 'sells' a lot of additional content (let alone units if its on Game Pass), a long with games like Flight Sim and Stalker 2 as well, then these are more likely to be why the price went up and/or no $1 deals. Besides that, if they don't sell subs to play those games, they'll still sell them and I expect CoD to 'sell' as its cheaper to buy and play all year (and beyond) than Sub for a year even with a $1 deal...

@Major_Player except you are wrong.

He was quoting UK.

Ps5 digital is sub £400 (there’s a sale reducing further currently)

Series X digital is £430

Regarding the US I can see ps5 digital is around $450

Obviously the S is slightly cheaper. (But the X and 5 are closest spec wise)

So I see MS being more expensive??

@themightyant I don't totally agree with the idea that people subscribing to Gamepass for CoD is an automatic win for Microsoft. A one month digital code for Ultimate is currently $16.99 on Amazon in the US (3 months codes are on sale at $45). I wonder how many people out there buy CoD day one and play it a ton, but are essentially done by around New Years Day. That would really only require 2 or 3 months of subscription. People who would normally pay $70 accessing the game for $30 or $45 through Gamepass then dropping and moving on would be a loss.

There is absolutely a risk that this backfires for Microsoft, we'll just have to see how it plays out.

@Major_Player
Hang on we are UK here.
Series x 1tb discless £429.99
PS5 1tb discless £389.99.

Also you have an option to add the a disc drive latter if you wish to the PS5 discless console for £99.99.
With series x 1tb discless you cannot.

You really need to do your research first.

Whatever you or I think which is cool.
Console sales world wide say it.

Totally shocked and surprised 😛

Very interested if the GP needle will move at all with COD on the service. People who play that game every year, probably buy it anyway but ... maybe a % of those players will not buy COD, use it on the service, and start to dabble in other games and maybe like it more than expected?

I mean, there are some interesting other games until the end of the year to try out ...

@OldGamer999 It still works out far cheaper and better to own an Xbox than a PS5.
From Sonys overpriced add on read only proprietary drive, to being locked into their expensive store for Everything Digital, an almost total lack of AAA First Party game releases for years now , poor games even on their most expensive subscription service, being made to look even worse now Microsoft are getting into the swing of being able to yearly release multi AAA games Day One of release to Gamepass. 'Play Anywhere' games on Gamepass only having to buy the game once but also being able to play it elsewhere effectively being BOGOF, 'EA Play'.
Sony Not allowing backward compatibility with older consoles instead making you pay for a top tier subscription just to play some random PS1 and 2 games even if you bought the games before!
I mean seriously Sony even make you pay for a subscription for cloud saves lol which are FREE on Xbox.