Besides a “return to Xbox” and seemingly pushing some much-needed quality-of-life for Achievements, Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma is also reportedly focused on Game Pass. More specifically, as an internal memo obtained by The Verge notes, she expressed concern about the service and how it’s currently “too expensive for players.”
“Game Pass is central to gaming value on Xbox. It’s also clear that the current model isn’t the final one. Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation. Long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system, which will take time to test and learn around,” says the memo.
While Sharma didn’t outline any immediate plans, she will allegedly “go deeper” with employees next week. Interestingly, “online chatter” about Game Pass potentially changing its pricing is something she’s apparently aware of.
Game Pass came under fire last October when Microsoft announced a revamp of the tiers and increased the price of Ultimate to $30 monthly. It also revealed that Premium, the second-highest tier, would receive Xbox-published titles within a year of launch (excluding new Call of Duty titles).
Microsoft has allegedly explored other options for the service, such as removing Call of Duty as a day one launch (which could happen this year). A subscription could be offered for cheap, thus fulfilling Sharma’s purported goal of better value. There may be some substance to the Triton tier recently unearthed by dataminers, which reportedly includes only first-party Xbox games.
Whether that means new Call of Duty games will be included in a brand new tier or removed entirely remains to be seen. As for the next game in the series, it’s allegedly Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and launching in October.
