Take-Two CEO: Call of Duty Will Boost Xbox Game Pass Temporarily
Take-Two has no plans to bring new games to Game Pass.
Microsoft announced in May that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would be available on Xbox Game Pass from launch day on October 25th. The Xbox parent company seems to be hoping that the popular first-person shooter’s release on the service will boost Game Pass subscriber numbers. Microsoft took a big gamble by bringing Call of Duty to Game Pass, but don’t expect major third-party studios to follow suit . Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said that bringing Call of Duty to Game Pass could attract new subscribers to the service “for a period of time,” but the company has no plans to do the same with new AAA titles.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Zelnick said that including major titles like Call of Duty at launch could boost Game Pass sales for a while. “If you offer flagship titles at a premium price in a subscription service, I think that will drive consumers to that subscription service, at least for a period of time,” he said.
But the Take-Two president has no plans to put any of the company’s upcoming titles on Game Pass. “No, that doesn’t influence our decisions, because our decisions are rational,” Zelnick said .
Zelnick’s comments came after Take-Two reported first-quarter earnings, reporting net orders of $1.22 billion (Rs. 1,024.2 crore ), slightly below analyst expectations of $1.25 billion (Rs. 1,049.4 crore ) . However, the company expects net orders to rise in fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027, with the release of the highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 scheduled for next year.
the game’s release date to fall 2025 .
The company is preparing to launch its upcoming sequel, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, on October 25th. Microsoft confirmed in May that the new game would be the first Call of Duty title available on Game Pass at launch.
Days after the announcement, Xbox’s parent company increased the price of Game Pass across all tiers and regions, and introduced a new “Standard” tier that doesn’t include launch-day titles.