Microsoft has revealed that it will take 12 months for Xbox Game Pass Standard subscribers to receive some of the biggest games that drop day one on the Ultimate tier, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it would be changing the structure of its subscription service, meaning specific big releases would no longer be available to Game Pass Standard users on day one. Instead, users would have to upgrade to the higher Ultimate tier to get day one launches.
Microsoft revealed on a recent Xbox Wire post that users currently subscribed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will still receive all the big upcoming releases on day one like Black Ops 6, though those subscribed to the Standard tier will have to wait upwards of 12 months or longer to get the games. This follows the company’s massive $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which surely inspired the Game Pass price hike and changes.
“Some games coming to Game Pass Ultimate (day one games or other game entries) will not be immediately available with Game Pass Standard and may be added to the library at a future date (can be up to 12 months or more and will vary by title),” Microsoft explained in the new post. “We’ll continue to share with all Game Pass members when games are being added and available to play for each plan.”
Despite the price increase, Xbox has only added a handful of Activision-published titles to the Game Pass library such as Diablo 4 and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy. Some players are still questioning whether the price hike and changes were justified considering how steep the price increases were in some regions, including South Africa. The company faced backlash when it made the changes to Game Pass, even getting the FTC involved again which accused Microsoft of “consumer harm” with the subscription cost hikes.
Source: Xbox Wire
