Sometimes, if you want people to buy more of something, lowering the price can be an effective way of making it happen. You might already be familiar with that theory of economics but for those who are not, a real life example: In an internal memo shared with The Verge, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said lowering the price of Game Pass seems to be working out pretty well.
Sharma said in April that Xbox needed "a better value equation" on Game Pass, the price of which had jumped significantly in October 2025: The top-tier Game Pass Ultimate saw a 50% hike, from $19.99 to $29.99 per month. A week after Sharma's declaration, those prices were reduced: They stayed higher than they were prior to that October 2025 increase (Game Pass Ultimate went down to $22.99 per month, for example), and there was a cost: Call of Duty games will no longer be available on Game Pass at launch, but will instead be added about a year later—so, about the time that the next annual CoD shows up.
