Xbox Game Pass has had an interesting end to the year, to say the least. Microsoft has drastically restructured its popular business model, and in doing so, caused confusion about the status of many games coming to Xbox Game Pass—Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 included.
On October 1, Xbox declared it was raising Game Pass Ultimate prices by 50%. We don’t need to tell you how this move was received by the industry and players. It was even more damning when we all started getting Xbox Game Pass Ultimate ads being shoved in our faces, and then when Microsoft tried to defend the Xbox Game Pass Price increase.
It’s not been a good time. So, we’re here to see if you can still get Black Ops 7 for free on Xbox Game Pass, despite the changes.
Is Black Ops 7 Free on Game Pass?
Thankfully, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a free benefit if you have an active Xbox Game Pass subscription.
The Black Ops 7 Cross-Gen Bundle is a free addition to Game Pass. Unfortunately, neither Microsoft nor Activision is kind enough to throw the Vault Edition in for good measure. But you can save yourself a lot of money if you have Game Pass, as you don’t need to pay for the FPS title’s normal edition.
With games getting more expensive by the second, it’s not the worst deal in the world. On the other hand, the Xbox Game Pass changes mean a rather icky caveat—Game Pass doesn’t give a discount on Call of Duty add-ons anymore.
How to Play Black Ops 7 on Xbox Game Pass
You need to have a working Game Pass Ultimate subscription to play Black Ops 7 for free, and the game, obviously, needs to be installed on the console and ready to go.
The key factor is having Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. $29.99 is much steeper than it used to be, but if you are subscribed, you get BLOPS 7 included.
Let’s walk through the steps if you want to know how to play it:
- Head into your Xbox account.
- Check your Xbox Game Pass status.
- If you haven’t already, subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate.
- Make your way to the Xbox Store.
- Enter Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 into the search bar and click on the Cross-Gen Bundle.
- Select the game page.
- Download the title once the preload is live—keep checking back to Insider Gaming as we’ll let you know once the date is announced.
- When Black Ops 7 is eventually installed, you can play it for free.
The number of Xbox Game Pass subscribers is expected to drop off due to the price increase. Are you retaining your Game Pass subscription? Does getting Black Ops 7 as part of the service make the price jump more bearable? Let us know all your thoughts on Game Pass through the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Black Ops 7 guides and content, check out how to get and redeem Black Ops 7 Beta Codes if you don’t know already.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
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