Earlier today, it came to light that Microsoft is planning a Game Pass business shake-up, which will see the service going up in price, and the removal of day-one games for the standard tier subscription. The big reason behind this is the addition of Call of Duty to the library, which Microsoft is determined to make as much money as possible from. 

Following on from Microsoft's massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company has a $70 billion hole in its pocket that the Xbox brand needs to fill. To help achieve this, Microsoft is sticking with its plan to bring Call of Duty to Game Pass, but it will cost you extra. The new tier breakdown is expected to look like this:

• Game Pass Ultimate (console + multiplayer, cloud, PC and day-one games) – $19.99 per month (plus taxes in applicable states)
• Game Pass (console + multiplayer, no day-one games) – $14.99 per month
• Game Pass PC (PC only, day-one games still included) – $11.99 per month
• Game Pass Core (smaller library for console + multiplayer) – $9.99 per month or $74.99 per year.

These changes are due to go into effect in September and will likely be announced officially before the end of this month, likely around the same time as Microsoft's next quarterly earnings call, which is scheduled for July 23rd. To try and keep current subscribers from jumping ship, Microsoft is apparently planning to bring Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to Game Pass this month. According to Insider Gaming, this will be part of the first wave of Activision titles for Game Pass, which will also include the likes of the Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy.

This means Game Pass subscribers who skipped Modern Warfare 3 can jump back into multiplayer, or go back and experience the campaign, although do be warned, it is very different to traditional COD campaigns, taking place in a large open world map.

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KitGuru Says: The addition of Call of Duty will no doubt draw in some new subscribers but given that Game Pass has built so much of its branding around day-one access to games, seeing that taken away from the standard level subscription could backfire. 

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