The week experiences utter subversions of the advantage that was once granted to Game Pass for Ultimate members; two related perks have now been dropped: discounts for CoD-related DLC, including CoD Points and BlackCell sales. These removals fall amid broad changes in the Game Pass scheme, chum-giving players-that looks as if Microsoft is opting amiss their benefits since it almost recently hiked subscription pricing.
So what has been removed? Basically, an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Membership would give owners a great 10% discount on a lot of digital purchases relating to Call of Duty-from the in-game money, known as Call of Duty Points, to the premium upgrade of the BlackCell battle pass. That discount is completely and utterly gone now-all thanks to an instant sniper shot arching past your ear in Warzone.
The backlash from the community is, in the words of one popular player, …well, not so good: Players are flooding social media with complaints on the discount being removed; in fact, many called the move “greedy” and “scummy”. One user sums it all up sarcastically: “We listened to your feedback,” followed by several laughing emojis. Ouch.
Another player went on to say, “It’s offical, xbox is a joke,” as others threatened to cancel outright. Could not have come at a worse time, especially just after Xbox has raised the price on Game Pass, giving everyone the feeling of paying more for fewer benefits: “So raise the price while cutting the benefits…so glad I switched to Steam,” spilled one frustrated gamer.
With the Call of Duty discount gone, players truly start questioning all of Microsoft’s strategy. “It’s like as if they want to go out of business,” one player states, with another far more dramatically affirming, “Good, good xbox dead is inminent.” That was definitely an overstatement; you get the gist of the mood though.
Interesting in that this simply changes the value proposition of Game Pass Ultimate a bit. It actually weakened the math, thus making the service far less interesting for someone whose main-use purpose might be Call of Duty content. One commenter summed it up, “But why spend $30 a month when you could just buy the game outright? GP Is useless if you only want cod.” Without that discount on CoD Points along with those other add-ons, they do have a point-the subscription loses enough appeal for Call of Duty on its own.
The responses gotten from the community range from pure anger to the dark jokes on how they will react henceforth. “Speed running losing ALL their subs!” read a comment in jest, comparing Microsoft’s actions to a speedrun with a sole aim to lose subscribers as fast as possible. Another, in essence, said, “Xbox said go play this somewhere else,” which quite sums up what a lot of people are saying today.
There was some players even considering a full platform change. “I’m really starting to thinking I should switch to PS5 atp,” said one user, while others were dangling alternate prospects like Battlefield. The grass is sometimes greener, I guess, but once you take away what people considered perks, they’ll eye elsewhere.
One also suggested that Microsoft could replace these cuts with something else. “They likely replace it with something else wouldn’t hold my breath that it is better!” sounds pretty accurate. Rarely do companies take one thing away without at least planning an alternative course for the consumer to take, but whether that alternative is going to be of equal health as the item that was taken away is yet to be seen.
The whole situation has players wondering how they’re going to work together with Activision now that the acquisition has been completed. You’d figure owning the company that makes Call of Duty would mean more perks for Xbox players, not less. Disappearing discounts seem to be our story just as the Black Ops 7 beta is released, something that one user called “the biggest cash grab ever.”
Even naming Call of Duty’s currency was being ridiculed, with one user commenting, “COD Points (CP) is genuinely the worst possible name they could’ve chose for their currency.” When you really think about it, they aren’t wrong.
The Call of Duty discount removal is one among many recent changes in this ever-shifting Game Pass landscape. Meanwhile, Microsoft fiddles internally with pricing and benefits, and the players are left wondering what’s next. Were others losing discounts as well? Is all this going to benefit the members as a part of a more giant plan for the refocus of Game Pass?
