Microsoft may have quietly lost over $300 million in Call of Duty sales by adding the game to Xbox Game Pass on day one. The figure, reported by Bloomberg, shows just how much the subscription model is changing how the gaming business makes money.
According to the report, many players who would’ve bought Call of Duty separately ended up playing it through Game Pass instead. That might sound like a win for subscribers, but it also meant fewer full-price sales for one of Microsoft’s biggest franchises.
For context, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was one of the first games in the series to launch directly on Game Pass the same day it released. It was a big move for Xbox, but clearly one that came with a major financial tradeoff.
This leak comes right after Microsoft announced a 50% price increase for its Game Pass Ultimate plan — jumping from $19.99 to $29.99 a month. While that price hike upset a lot of players, this new information might explain why it happened. If Xbox really did lose that much in potential Call of Duty sales, the higher price could be an attempt to make up for some of that lost revenue.
Even with the backlash, Microsoft has been expanding Game Pass to offer more value. The service has grown from about 492 games in mid-2024 to over 830 by October 2025, and it now includes perks like Fortnite Crew membership for Ultimate subscribers. These additions seem aimed at softening the blow of the price increase.
Still, there’s a bigger concern: can this model actually work long-term? Subscription services depend on keeping users subscribed, but when they start giving away major titles that people would’ve bought, profits take a hit. The leaked $300 million figure suggests Game Pass could be eating into its own sales — especially now that Microsoft owns franchises like Call of Duty.
A former Xbox employee reportedly told Bloomberg that company leadership knows they need to “find new ways to increase profit.” That might mean introducing more subscription tiers, adding extra paid content, or leaning harder into live-service games to keep revenue flowing.
For Microsoft, it’s all about finding the right balance. Offering big releases like Call of Duty on Game Pass helps attract players and keeps Xbox competitive, but doing it too often could hurt overall sales. If anything, this leak might be a sign that Microsoft needs to rethink how far it can push the Game Pass strategy before it starts working against them.
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