These are days of rumors for the Xbox world which, after the closure of four studios, sees journalists and leakers very ready to look for the latest news on what is happening behind the scenes. For example, The Verge has discussed among others that Microsoft is thinking about whether or not to include Call of Duty in Xbox Game Pass.
In reality, however, it could be one much less important choice than expected.
Call of Duty attracts millions of players every season, between the free to play version and the most recent premium game. Obviously the free to play version has no connection with Game Pass and can be removed from the discussion.
What we’re really interested in is next fall’s premium game and its potential launch addition. An arrival months and months after publication would still be important, but it certainly wouldn’t have the same weight.
In the end, what changes if Call of Duty arrives on Game Pass?
A “D1” release on Xbox Game Pass of Call of Duty Black Ops Gulf War (this is the name according to the rumors, let’s use it for simplicity) on paper has advantages and disadvantages. Speaking of the latter, there is always the doubt that this could lead to a loss of earnings. All those players who are subscribers to GP Ultimate could avoid investing the canonical €80 for the shooter and get the game within the amount they already spend monthly. Obviously it is not for them that Microsoft would insert CoD on the service, but for those users who have not yet subscribed. This is the positive side: bringing new users to the service.
The question clearly is how many would actually be interested. Those who play CoD on Xbox already have to pay €6.99 per month for Pass Core to have access to online and, on paper, going up to €14.99 for Ultimate (€8 more) is convenient, also considering that you have other advantages . In practice, ten months of Ultimate subscription is equivalent to the purchase at launch of Gulf War + 10 months of Pass Core.
The problem is that among those players there are for sure users who are almost exclusively interested in Call of Duty and a few other handful of free to play or the classic game that arrives every many years (GTA 6 will be next, so to speak). This type of user might turn up their nose at the idea of paying for a subscription for months and months, just to use Call of Duty. Paying for a service with hundreds of games to use just one is annoying, and many may prefer to simply have their own CoD, plus the least expensive version of the subscription to play online. It’s not a question of money, often, but just “I’m using everything I paid for and I’m not wasting anything.”
The real advantage would be to attract that specific slice of players interested in buying Call of Duty as well as other games, but who tend to they wait for discounts so as not to invest large sums in one go. This user target would be the best for Microsoft, because it would be attracted to the not excessive expense of Game Pass Ultimate thanks to the presence of Call of Duty. Giving them access to Black Ops Gulf War at launch would therefore not lead to a loss of revenue but instead an increase and potential new long-term customer on the service. How many these players are there? More or less than those who are already subscribers and who could avoid paying full price for CoD? Are earnings increasing or decreasing? We don’t have this data and probably not even Microsoft has such precise figures to be able to arrive at a definitive answer.
However, we suspect that in the middle of total Call of Duty players across all platforms, is a number that is not that significant, neither positively nor negatively. Call of Duty can in fact also count on PlayStation, on non-Microsoft PC platforms (Steam first and foremost) and in the future on Nintendo (remember that Call of Duty should arrive on Nintendo consoles, yes?).
The truth is that the addition of Call of Duty on Game Pass would have weighed much more before the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft. If that were the case, Xbox would also gain the potential benefit of moving some users from other platforms to Xbox. Right now, however, Microsoft is the publisher of the game on all platforms and, despite having to pay its share to Sony, Valve and in the future to Nintendo, it doesn’t have all that interest in moving these users.
The gains are there in any case and right now Call of Duty could be a small mountain of gold that transforms the fiscal reports from improvable to positive (it has already happened) and allows growth of the Xbox division regardless of the short-term result of Game Pass, which is not growing and – if we want to think positively – needs more time to do so. The enormous earnings of Call of Duty may be what gives this time and its introduction on Game Pass could be secondary, more of an image choice and a choice designed to keep investors and the market happy.
This is an editorial written by a member of the editorial team and is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
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