Microsoft reportedly planned to use revenue from the Activision Blizzard acquisition, particularly the Call of Duty franchise, to offset declining profits in its Xbox division. However, this strategy appears to have backfired after the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 resulted in what is described as a weak year for the franchise. This is reported by Windows Central journalist Jez Corden.
According to the journalist, adding Call of Duty to the Xbox Game Pass subscription model led to internal revenue cannibalization. As players avoided the $30 price tag, the service failed to financially compensate for the lost direct sales across the wider audience.
The model reportedly became unsustainable, forcing the company to roll back pricing to a lower tier, effectively eliminating more than a year of potential growth. The situation was further worsened by Xbox’s inability to significantly grow console sales to attract new Game Pass subscribers, which previously served as a key subsidy engine for other parts of the business.
These developments are unfolding amid major structural changes within Xbox throughout 2026. Despite positive momentum following the appointment of Asha Sharma as CEO of the Xbox brand, leadership has been forced to take difficult measures — mass layoffs are already scheduled for July 2026. At the same time, the brand is facing rising memory component costs, prompting Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball to confirm a revision of the next-generation console strategy under the codename Project Helix.
Reminder: Monte defeated PV and moved to a 1–1 record at IEM Cologne Major 2026.