The next Call of Duty will launch on Xbox Game Pass on day one, according to The Wall Street Journal.
This would be a major change for the massively popular military shooter series, which has only ever been sold as standalone, full-priced titles. The WSJ reports that Xbox will bring the game to Game Pass as well as sell it à la carte. As part of Microsoft’s 10-year deal with Sony, this year’s Call of Duty will also launch on PlayStation, where Game Pass isn’t available.
While Microsoft has expressed its intention to bring Activision Blizzard’s catalogue to Game Pass, there hasn’t been an explicit mention that new Call of Duty games would debut right on the service. The Wall Street Journal says Xbox will make a formal announcement of the next Call of Duty at its Xbox Games Showcase on June 9th, aligning with previous rumours.
Interestingly, though, The Verge says there’s quite a bit of internal debate at Xbox regarding putting new Call of Duty games on Game Pass. After all, each entry in the annualized series generally sells tens of millions of copies (which now cost $90), so there’s a lot of money to be had there. On the flip side, this would easily be the biggest launch on Game Pass besides last year’s Starfield. Microsoft is likely banking on people wanting to consistently subscribe to Game Pass to keep playing COD.
The Verge notes that Microsoft has also been floating around a Game Pass price increase, which could take effect to coincide with Call of Duty coming to the service. WSJ, for its part, doesn’t specify any changes to Game Pass itself.
In terms of this year’s Call of Duty, rumours suggest it will be called Black Ops 6, following the fifth entry in the series, 2020’s Black Ops: Cold War. The game is said to be set during the ’90s Gulf War and is reportedly targeting an October release.
For now, though, we’ll just have to wait until June 9th to clear up all of this. In addition to a Call of Duty-focused presentation, the Xbox Games Showcase is rumoured to unveil Vancouver-based The Coalition’s next Gears of War game and release dates for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, among other announcements.
Image credit: Activision
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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