Microsoft Removes the 14-Day $1 Game Pass Subscription Option Before the Release of Black Ops 6
The launch of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is scheduled for next week, and its release on Xbox will have a different flavor this time as it will be the first Call Of Duty game to arrive on Game Pass Ultimate on day one. However, if you are new to Game Pass and plan to take advantage of Xbox’s offer of $1 for the first 14 days in preparation for the arrival of Black Ops 6, we have some bad news.
Most subscription services offer potential customers a free trial or a discounted price to give them a taste of what they can get permanently for a monthly fee. For Xbox, it offers new subscribers the first two weeks of Game Pass Ultimate for $1, then charges $19.99 monthly thereafter. However, Microsoft seems to have preempted the release of Black Ops 6 and realized that many players would take advantage of this offer to play the game for just $1, so it secretly removed the option for a 14-day Game Pass trial for $1.
To prove this, a screenshot was posted showing the available Game Pass options and the $1 trial option already missing. A quick check of the Game Pass store page confirms that Xbox will no longer allow you to trial the service at a discounted price.
The timing of the removal of the trial seems deliberate. Xbox is relying on a lot of new subscribers who will flock to the service in the next two weeks as the audience of the title that plays Call Of Duty every year will subscribe to Game Pass instead of spending $70 on a new game.
Naturally, Xbox will want these potential new subscribers to pay $20 instead of just $1, and get Black Ops 6 for two weeks, then opt out of keeping Game Pass and thus not start paying $20 monthly to Xbox. While many Call of Duty fans will continue to play Black Ops 6 until the next CoD game is released a year from now, there are those who are more interested in playing the story mode, so 14 days will be more than enough time to do so.
The removal of the trial is another controversial move for Xbox when it comes to pricing Game Pass in a year that has already seen many criticisms. There were concerns that new Call of Duty games would require a separate, more costly Game Pass tier. However, this did not happen, and now you need Ultimate to play it because other Xbox Game Pass tiers no longer include day one releases, and the monthly price for Ultimate was increased in September.
Just ahead of Black Ops 6’s launch next week, Microsoft has removed the option to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass for $1 for 14 days.
Now, there’s no free trial available. Just full price subscription per month. pic.twitter.com/zpJSR95dXB
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) October 15, 2024
