Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is now available as part of the Xbox Game Pass for Console, PC Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Its arrival on the service coincides with the launch of the game’s fifth season of live service content which introduces a new Battle Pass, adds additional weapons and maps, and more. This is the first time that a Call of Duty title has been available as part of Xbox Game Pass following the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of developer Activision Blizzard late last year.
Subscribers will be able to experience the full game, including its single-player campaign, co-operative open-world zombies mode, and all multiplayer content. The company also plans to make the next entry in the series, the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers when it launches on October 24.
Analysis: But at what cost?
The addition of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 might seem like a huge win for existing or potential subscribers, letting them play one of the most popular first-person shooter (FPS) games right now on PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, or Xbox One, but it comes at a time where the service is under increased scrutiny from consumers and regulators.
Microsoft recently announced a wave of price increases and changes to its tiers which has brought the price of one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate up from $16.99 / £12.99 to $19.99 / £14.99. A new Xbox Game Pass Standard tier is also being introduced, which will cost $14.99 / or roughly £12.99. This tier will not include access to the latest 'day one' releases, which presumably includes Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which initially opposed the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, responded to this announcement by calling this new Xbox Game Pass tier “product degradation” and “combined with price increases for existing users” an example of “the sort of consumer harm from the merger the FTC has alleged.”
Of course, there is no way to say for sure whether the price hike is the result of the addition of Call of Duty games to the service at this time. Still, it seems very plausible that Microsoft would want to hoover up as much cash as possible from those eager to play Black Ops 6 in order to reduce impact of any potential lost sales thanks to its inclusion on a lower-cost subscription.
