Xbox Game Pass Premium will have different rules for certain day one games after 12 months

Xbox Game Pass Premium: there are important exceptions in day one games that will arrive 12 months later.

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The debate revolves around games that include the various Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, which don’t seem to be slowing down, and for good reason. Since the changes in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, many players have been trying to understand when (and if) exclusives that arrive on Ultimate will eventually appear on Premium as well. So far, the general rule seemed simple: titles published by Xbox would be added to the lower tier within 12 months after their release. But there’s an exception that’s hard to overlook.

Xbox’s official website confirms what some users have pointed out in forums and social media: Call of Duty is explicitly excluded from this rule. In other words, while the rest of first-party titles should be available on Premium after a year, the Activision saga would, for now, be the only franchise that remains tied to Ultimate without a clear date to expand to other tiers.

Call of Duty, the only first-party franchise excluded from the jump to Game Pass Premium

According to the Xbox Game Pass comparison document, “new games published by Xbox join Premium within 12 months after release“, with an important caveat: “excluding Call of Duty“. With that line, Microsoft makes it clear that they can’t guarantee when (or even if) the annual installments of the saga will become part of the lower tiers.

For the rest of the first-party catalog, the transition to Premium after a year remains in effect. This includes games like Indiana Jones, which is now at the point where it could soon announce its arrival on that level, following the usual announcement schedule of the first or third Tuesday of the month. But Call of Duty is a different story: its multi-platform status, its own calendar, and its commercial weight have led Microsoft to place it in a special space within Game Pass.