It looks like Microsoft has made a decision on how to sell the next game in the popular Call of Duty shooter series. Today, The Wall Street Journal reported, via unnamed sources, that the 2024 edition of Activision's Call of Duty game will be a Day One release for Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
The story added that Microsoft will make that decision official as part of its Xbox Games Showcase event which will happen on June 9. If this story is accurate, this would be the biggest Day One addition to Xbox Game Pass since the service started in 2017.
The Call of Duty games are typically among the best-selling titles of the year if not the most best selling game. In 2023, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III was the second best-selling game in the US, beaten only by Hogwarts Legacy, Microsoft acquired the game's developer and publisher Activision Blizzard in October 2023.
Microsoft clearly believes that adding the latest Call of Duty game will help boost its Xbox Game Pass subscriber numbers. in February, the company revealed that the service had 34 million subscribers. There is some speculation that Microsoft could raise the prices for the service before the next Call of Duty game is released, or even that it could add a higher-priced plan that has Call of Duty included.
There's also the question of if including Call of Duty on any Xbox Game Pass plan will ultimately reduce the amount of revenue that it would generate versus just selling it as a typical stand-alone game.
Neither Microsoft nor Activision have announced the details of the 2024 Call of Duty game. In November 2023, Windows Central reported the next game will be part of the Black Ops timeline, and will be set at least in part, during the early 1990s in a storyline based on the Gulf War. The game is expected to be released in October 2024.
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