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[SJRB]

What a time to be alive.

 

[Portugeezer]

Really do not see how this is sustainable. Its all very well saying this will create x more subscriptions when its going to gouge a huge chunk out of launch revenue and in the final analysis is just a value-add to GP.

They at least have to try with COD.

Then we'll talk.

 

[midnightAI]

Its the people who mainly play the campaign or those who get tired of it after 2 months, now they can get COD out of their system for the price of a couple months of Gamepass

And then they'll report best engagement ever, they wont report its gone down after a couple of months though

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

And then they'll report best engagement ever, they wont report its gone down after a couple of months though

Totally agree we will see a headline saying most played COD ever and never see actual sales numbers

It will still sale a truckload on PS though

 

[MayauMiao]

Do people still buy and play annual cod? Are these games evolving and having better mechanics with yearly iterations? What happens to last year mp?

I don’t get the hype. In the older days, our mp games purchases last longer.

Kind of like those Madden games.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

I just think they'll make enough money from PS and PC that it wont really matter,

It'll be on PC Gamepass, surely?

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Do people still buy and play annual cod? Are these games evolving and having better mechanics with yearly iterations? What happens to last year mp?

I don’t get the hype. In the older days, our mp games purchases last longer.

I think that digital buying has changed the visibility, but for as long as I can remember when a new COD was released, the used section of Video Game stores was full of last year's COD. I don't see why that'd be any different now, players jump from iteration to iteration.

 

[twilo99]

If COD doesn't boost Game Pass subscriptions, then the service will be on a timer.

Same thing was said about Starfield

 

[Physiognomonics]

This is the beginning of the end for COD golden era. This game (and a few others) will probably be fine, but being on gamepass day one will have an impact on future sales, profitability then eventually quality of the games. From AAA quality it will become AA / Mobile quality. Sorry HeisenbergFX4 !

 

[twilo99]

My ps4 is so rdy

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

This is the beginning of the end for COD golden era. This game (and a few others) will probably be fine, but being on gamepass day one will have an impact on future sales, profitability then eventually quality of the games. From AAA quality it will become AA / Mobile quality. Sorry HeisenbergFX4 !

I just wonder how much of their profit actually comes from sales vs in game purchases

Could have a little different effect as people buy a few more bundles in the store

Going to be curious to see what happens in a year or two thats for sure

And no need to apologize I will still buy it even having Gamepass as I want it on the PS5 Pro this year

 

[FewRope]

Genuine curiosity how this suppose to fix Gamepass

 

[deriks]

There's a fifth one?

 

[Gaiff]

Same thing was said about Starfield

Starfield sucks. If it had been Skyrim in space, Game Pass numbers would have gone up.

COD has been a consistent top performer for over 15 years. It’s a known quantity.

 

[adamsapple]

There's a fifth one?

Black ops Cold War

 

[Little Chicken]

Game Pass slays, others pay

 

[Little Chicken]

Yeah, but I just meant that mathematically I cannot see this working out. The reality is that its going to cost sales, and even a small percentage drop on such a big selling franchise is a lot of money. And to what end? Hooking people into the Xbox ecosystem... how's that going to look when the business model utilized with CoD is based on long-term spending specific to its own inbuilt storefront? Its like a subscription inside of a subscription!

And then of course there's the overall impact on the economics of GP generally. The idea is that the revenue gets divided up amongst all titles on the service, how does sticking CoD in there front and centre impact that? Its a service franchise ffs.

Sorry, but this seems like a recipe for disaster to me.

CoD is coming to Nintendo platforms now, which will more than make up for any "lost" sales.

 

[adamsapple]

Game Pass slays, others pay

 

[Clear]

They at least have to try with COD.

Then we'll talk.

Let me put it this way: If the plan was to offer CoD as its own mini-GamePass offer, I can see it maybe working for them.

The sticking point for me is marrying it to GP, even on a higher price tier it seems like a bad idea because it doesn't especially benefit the upsell of either.

 

[Kings Field]

Cool. I’ll tap it for a month.

 

[LordCBH]

Dreadful business decision really. But that’s on them. If they wanna keep speed running the death of their console that’s their business.

 

[Portugeezer]

Let me put it this way: If the plan was to offer CoD as its own mini-GamePass offer, I can see it maybe working for them.

The sticking point for me is marrying it to GP, even on a higher price tier it seems like a bad idea because it doesn't especially benefit the upsell of either.

Is that confirmed? I know there was a rumour and I'd agree, if true, that wouldn't be a great sell for GP.

 

[ManaByte]

This is the beginning of the end for COD golden era. This game (and a few others) will probably be fine, but being on gamepass day one will have an impact on future sales, profitability then eventually quality of the games. From AAA quality it will become AA / Mobile quality. Sorry HeisenbergFX4 !

COD has a four year dev time now. BLOPS6 is the first to be made under that.

 

[Portugeezer]

CoD is coming to Nintendo platforms now, which will more than make up for any "lost" sales.

You should never assume the next Nintendo console will be a huge success.

 

[Little Chicken]

You should never assume the next Nintendo console will be a huge success.

 

[Mattyp]

Going to be interesting seeing the ABK numbers the quarters after.

Largest ever.

 

[RoboFu]

Will be interesting to see if subs and console sales spike. IMO if MS were smart they would go all in a make all main DLC free for game pass subs as well. But of course the anti monopoly lawyers and agencies all have their microscopes out right so there is only so much MS can do.

 

[Topher]

Largest ever.

Could be. Ultimately the quarterly/annual financials are what will determine if this was a smart move or not. ABK was the bright spot for Xbox's last quarter. I said before, putting Call of Duty on Game Pass is a Rubicon moment for Phil Spencer.

 

[Pancakes and Sausage]

Is Microsoft going to add another tier to gamepass to play games day one?

 

[Topher]

Is Microsoft going to add another tier to gamepass to play games day one?

I think that is a distinct possibility.

 

[DJ12]

Target has 3 month cards on sale recently. Stacked to 2027.

Won't do you any good if they introduce a new tier.

 

[GHG]

Going to be interesting to see what the outcome of this is.

Phil right now to all his studios:

 

[King Dazzar]

I think that is a distinct possibility.

I just wonder around the timing though. If you announce it now as part of existing tiers. Then not sure how they change it all up prior to release, without causing blowback... i.e I'd have thought you announce GP structure changes at the same time. Maybe existing tiers just stay as is and a price increase comes further down the road.

 

[Mr.ODST]

100% only going to be available to GP Ultimate subscribers, good for me as I already have 3 years so this is a huge bonus for me

 

[Mattyp]

Could be. Ultimately the quarterly/annual financials are what will determine if this was a smart move or not. ABK was the bright spot for Xbox's last quarter. I said before, putting Call of Duty on Game Pass is a Rubicon moment for Phil Spencer.

I think combined with last years 'off year' CoD release, success that Black Ops always has, a four year cycle of development and cooking this I hope is one of the greatest multi that is.

Any 'lost' revenue I feel gets made up in the extra DLC of players that don't typically pick it up every year but when they already have a gamepass sub... and keeps people subbed longer as well. Hoping they drop the entire CoD back catalogue close to launch on there.

 

[The Cockatrice]

God, for such a cheap price, cheaters on PC will be massive. gamePass.

 

[adamsapple]

I think combined with last years 'off year' CoD release, success that Black Ops always has, a four year cycle of development and cooking this I hope is one of the greatest multi that is.

Any 'lost' revenue I feel gets made up in the extra DLC of players that don't typically pick it up every year but when they already have a gamepass sub... and keeps people subbed longer as well. Hoping they drop the entire CoD back catalogue close to launch on there.

It's also, reportedly, going to kick off CoD games coming to future Nintendo consoles (whenever they launch) so that's adding a whole another layer of revenue on top.

 

[LordCBH]

Is Microsoft going to add another tier to gamepass to play games day one?

Either that or Ultimate will be needed for CoD and they Jack the ultimate price up to $19.99 or $24.99

 

[DaGwaphics]

Really do not see how this is sustainable. Its all very well saying this will create x more subscriptions when its going to gouge a huge chunk out of launch revenue and in the final analysis is just a value-add to GP.

I'm sure they assign X value to it and a cost to match against GP. They can't operate the subscription without purchasing content for it. That's where 65 to 70% of all the media based subscription revenue works out. It can't all be about growth, they do have to add content for the existing subscribers or they lose those customers.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Same thing was said about Starfield

I think this is the crux of it.

Starfield's a good game, but it didn't get those "must buy a console to play this!" reviews. But, now Xbox and Gamepass offers you that good game, and COD, and Indy and Avowed.

If those other games get good reviews, then the scales start to tip a bit more. I think you have to look at the package as a whole - as stated repeatedly, taking out a one year sub to play one game obviously doesn't work.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Setting a precedent, people will expect day one on Gamepass with future releases too.

I think it says a lot about them they feel the need to do this .

 

[Darsxx82]

It's also, reportedly, going to kick off CoD games coming to future Nintendo consoles (whenever they launch) so that's adding a whole another layer of revenue on top.

And you can add the important discount that no one remembers...... MS will now include 100% of XBOX users (game, microtransactions, battle pass etc.) while ABK before only included 70%.

That is to say, that extra 30% can help to amortize when it comes to XBOX part... because the rest of the income from other platforms is maintained and the Switch 2 version will soon be added.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

oh boy, they are going to apply the switcheroo

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Setting a precedent, people will expect day one on Gamepass with future releases too.

I think it says a lot about them they feel the need to do this .

It's literally what Gamepass is - first party games day one. That's the product.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

To think that this was in doubt speaks volumes about the lack of trust Xbox owners have in the managing team. Whatever the loss in sales is it’d be worst if they didn’t do it.

It was only ever in doubt to the perpetual haters who have been desperately predicting the end of GamePass and Xbox for years. “CoD is never coming day one to GamePass” was just another handful of shit they threw at the wall hoping for it to stick.

Hell, there was that Bond thread recently where she said the entire slate of first party games is coming day one to GamePass and some of these people tried arguing that “entire slate” was double speak and meant no CoD

On topic, now that this is out of the bag, where is the ABK back catalogue?

 

[DenchDeckard]

If this doesn't work. Nothing will l

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Setting a precedent, people will expect day one on Gamepass with future releases too.

I think it says a lot about them they feel the need to do this .

Sarah Bond said this was happening to all their games, no precedent here its the whole idea of Gamepass

Gamepass expansion isn't over yet

 

[adamsapple]

Setting a precedent, people will expect day one on Gamepass with future releases too.

I think it says a lot about them they feel the need to do this .

That's .. literally been the case since the service launched for first party games. CoD is a first party game now, so not having it on the service day 1 would be the exception, not the norm.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

It's literally what Gamepass is - first party games day one. That's the product.

I think you are being kind calling it a product. I have a few other choice words for it…

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Sarah Bond said this was happening to all their games, no precedent here its the whole idea of Gamepass

Gamepass expansion isn't over yet

I see. My mistake then.