Call of Duty Might Be Removed From Day One on Xbox Game Pass, Insider Claims

Microsoft may be reconsidering one of Xbox Game Pass’ biggest selling points, and it revolves around Call of Duty. A recent claim from Windows Central’s Jez Corden suggests the franchise might not stay a guaranteed day one release on the service.

Call of Duty day one on Game Pass could change

In a recent episode of podcast XB2+1 Show, Corden was heard saying that Microsoft is internally exploring the idea of not bringing Call of Duty to Game Pass on day one. Just to be clear, this is not confirmed, but it is reportedly being considered. In fact, he also added that Call of Duty being on Game Pass is equally harmful for the game and the service. Here is the exact words from Corden from the podcast:

“It’d be interesting to see if they take Call of Duty out of Game Pass this year, which is a possibility from what I’ve heard. I think it’ll kind of reveal some of the cracks in the strategy, possibly… Game Pass has disrupted Call of Duty’s business model in a pretty negative way. Microsoft has a formula, it’s called a member weighted something or other, with which they charge back Game Pass revenue to the studio. So if a big game like Call of Duty goes in, it is going to vacuum up a lot of that revenue, which kind of eats into how much money you’ve got month over month to actually get new content. And you need new content to prevent churn. So CoD is so big that it sort of harms Game Pass. But at the same time, the idea that you don’t have to buy Call of Duty and get it for cheaper kind of also hurts Call of Duty in reverse.”

To catch you up, Microsoft has been pushing Game Pass heavily around major day one launches. After the Activision Blizzard deal, Call of Duty was expected to be a long-term pillar for the service. With Corden’s claim, that assumption now appears less certain.

The concern reportedly comes down to money. Call of Duty is a massive seller every year, and putting it straight into Game Pass may be affecting direct sales more than expected. That’s not all; big titles like Call of Duty can dominate attention and resources inside a subscription model, which may limit how other games perform within the same ecosystem.

That does not mean Call of Duty disappears from Game Pass entirely. It may release later, or be tied to higher pricing tiers. As of now, nothing is finalized. All that said, if the rumor turns out to be true, it will be interesting to see whether pulling Call of Duty from day one weakens Xbox Game Pass, or make the business model more realistic going forward?