Microsoft appears to be giving subscriptions more importance than sales.
There were recent allegations that stated that executives at Microsoft had been debating for some time whether or not to include new Call of Duty games on Game Pass on day one, which is the day that they were released at the time. In spite of the fact that this appears to be something that Microsoft ought to have figured out before investing $68.7 billion on the publisher of Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard, it appears that the company has finally arrived at his conclusion. A report from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the firm would, in fact, bring the next Call of Duty game directly to Game Pass when it is released later on in this year.
If Microsoft were to take this course of action, it would likely result in the company losing hundreds of millions of dollars in game sales. This is due to the fact that each new Call of Duty release is consistently one of the most popular titles of the year in which it released. On the other hand, the corporation has had a difficult time in recent times in terms of considerably increasing the number of subscriptions to Game Pass.
There is no doubt that adding a new Call of Duty title to that list will result in the addition of new members. Additionally, Microsoft will continue to generate a substantial amount of revenue via in-game purchases, sales on other platforms (the company has committed to releasing Call of Duty titles on PlayStation, Nintendo, and other platforms for at least ten years after the Activision deal is finalized), and customers who want to purchase games directly on Xbox. All things considered, Xbox-owned games are doing well on the PlayStation platform. There is always the possibility that Microsoft will raise the price of Game Pass in order to compensate for some of the money that it is likely to lose as a result of fewer sales of the upcoming Call of Duty entry on Xbox and PC.
Prior to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, the company had, for the most part, rejected the concept of offering its games through subscription services. Although there have been instances in the past where Call of Duty games have been made accessible on services such as PlayStation Plus, this often occurs many years after the games were initially made available to the public.
Following the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard during the latter part of the previous year, the company stated that it would take some time for the titles published by the publisher to begin appearing on Game Pass. As of right now, only Diablo IV has been added to the service.
The fact that a brand new Call of Duty game would be available on a subscription service on the very first day of its release is a significant shift in strategy, albeit it is one that is consistent with recent statements made by Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. In February, Spencer stated to Game File that “our intention is that the full portfolio of games from ZeniMax, Activision Blizzard, and XGS — Xbox Game Studios — will be on Game Pass, day one.” Fans of Xbox will also be glad to learn that the long-standing practice of making all first-party Microsoft games available on Game Pass on the first day of release is likely to continue.
At Microsoft’s annual showcase on June 9, we will most certainly learn more about the company’s intentions for Call of Duty and other Activision games. This will provide us an opportunity to learn more about Game Pass. After the core display, there will be another showcase that will concentrate on a “beloved franchise,” which virtually everyone believes will be Call of Duty.