Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is sneakily locked behind Game Pass Ultimate

If you thought your standard Game Pass subscription would give you access to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 when it releases, that sadly isn't going to be the case, as some fine print indicates Black Ops 7 is locked behind a Game Pass Ultimate subscription, and won't be available on Day One to Essential and Premium subscribers.

This seemingly small but vital piece of information may be something many gamers didn't realize when signing up for Game Pass ahead of the Black Ops 7 release, as it only states in a few places that an Ultimate subscription is required for access to the latest Call of Duty title. One place where it's stated is in a recent X post by the official Xbox Game Pass account, where it reads at the bottom of the image in fine print, "*Excludes Call of Duty titles. **Requires Game Pass Ultimate."

Why this might be confusing for some is that many gamers pick up Game Pass when a new big title releases to be able to play it at launch, as it's much cheaper to buy Game Pass than to purchase the full game. Day One releases are included in both Game Pass tiers, but Call of Duty games are excluded from the lower tiers of Game Pass and are exclusive only to Game Pass Ultimate.

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Game Pass Ultimate is priced at $29.99, which is still much cheaper than buying Black Ops 7 at full price. If you are lucky enough to be a PC gamer you can try the upcoming Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7 with the PC Game Pass, which is priced at just $16.49, as the PC Game Pass includes EA Play, which grants access to Battlefield 6 when it releases on October 10, albeit, you will only have access to a 10-hour trial of the game, as it's the basic EA Play tier.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer beta becomes available on October 2, and subscribers to the Premium tier and above will get an early access code. But remember, to play it on launch day, you will need the Ultimate tier. By comparison, if you wanted to play Battlefield 6 day-one, you can buy EA Play Pro for $16.99 directly from EA, dodging Game Pass entirely.

All-in-all, for gamers looking to try Black Ops 7 out for a month beginning at launch on November 14 will need to fork up $29.99/month for Game Pass Ultimate, while those looking to try the new Battlefield 6 when releases on October 10 can buy EA Play Pro for $16.99/month.