Call of Duty: Vanguard is free on Xbox Game Pass as of June 17, 2026. You can download it right now on Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium, or PC Game Pass, including cloud streaming. If you have a subscription, there is nothing to buy.
Vanguard is a first-person shooter set across World War II: Pacific dogfights, North Africa, Stalingrad, and the Western Front. Sledgehammer Games built the campaign and multiplayer; Treyarch handled Zombies. A 2026 update added cross-play and dropped the Clans feature, so you will actually find lobbies now.
The game scored around 72 on Metacritic at launch. Critics liked the gunplay and visuals. The complaints were a campaign that felt like a checklist and multiplayer modes that didn't push the formula anywhere new. Those flaws are still there. But "flawed, free shooter" is a perfectly good Friday night.
The community reaction is split in exactly the way you'd expect. On r/CODVanguard, the Game Pass news pulled 563 upvotes and 140 comments. Long-time players are welcoming the new blood. Everyone else is busy pointing out that the core issues haven't changed. Windows Central called it "the most hated Call of Duty," which is not wrong, but also misses that the Game Pass crowd is not paying for it.
If you're a Game Pass subscriber who skipped Vanguard in 2021, this is the right time to try it. The cross-play update means you'll find matches. The Zombies mode holds up. Don't go in expecting a top-tier COD entry; go in expecting a solid, free way to shoot things in WWII.
Why it's blowing up right now
US search interest for Vanguard was flat from June 11 to 15, then jumped sharply on June 16 and 17 when the announcement dropped and the game went live. That's the whole story. Microsoft has been putting COD titles on Game Pass one by one since it closed the Activision Blizzard deal in October 2023, and each drop moves the needle. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 joins Game Pass on July 2, and that wave of new additions keeps the service's momentum going into summer.