Microsoft Hopes to Convert Gamers into Subscribers with New Call of Duty

Microsoft is putting its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard to the test by putting the new installment of Call of Duty on the tech giant’s cloud-gaming subscription service, Xbox Game Pass.

The Big Picture: Microsoft sees cloud gaming as the next era of the industry, allowing people to stream any game on any number of devices without the need to ever purchase an Xbox console. Gamers are still on the fence because of several concerns, so if the most popular franchise out there can’t convince them, nothing probably can.

Between The Levels: Can Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 be to Xbox what House of Cards was to Netflix?

• The game launched Friday for streaming and downloading on Game Pass, which costs $19.99 per month. The game is also available to purchase for $69.99.
• Microsoft hopes there will be a major increase in Game Pass sign-ups as people look to avoid shelling out a big, one-time fee.
• That turns players into recurring subscribers, which will equal the costs of a purchase in four months. But as gamers start playing the other games available, they’ll get locked in for the long haul. That’s the hope, at least.
• That could potentially be a lot more revenue per gamer, especially as most people typically only purchase a couple of new titles a year.

Closing Credits: Microsoft has a lot riding on its gaming ambitions — it’s now the tech giant’s fourth-largest business. By putting Black Ops 6 on the Game Pass, it’s positioning the game as a loss-leader — new Call of Duty games sell an incredible average of 25 million units annually —  to change people’s habits. If gamers sign up for just a month or two to play the game and then churn, that’s a lot of money that Microsoft is leaving on the table.

Game Pass had 34 million subscribers as of January 2022, and Microsoft hasn’t reported new numbers since that disclosure. Whether or not Black Ops 6 is a long-term success for its streaming ambitions, expect enough of an uptick that the company will tout its new subscriber growth at the next quarterly earnings report. Staying silent would essentially be game over.