Microsoft is still embroiled in a battle with the United States Federal Trade Commission that has been continued to poke and prod at its merger with Activision-Blizzard. Now, after Microsoft raised Game Pass prices, the battle is only heating up as the FTC argues the company is harming customers.
Microsoft, in a recent response to the FTC’s claims, denied such notions and called the commission’s arguments “wrong,” saying it hasn’t “degraded” the previously available Game Pass for Console option through the new Game Pass Standard tier (as reported by The Verge). The company added how Game Pass for Console didn’t offer multiplayer while Standard does, alongside “hundreds of back-catalog games.” Lastly, Microsoft stated how it believes the new price increase is justified since it will provide “more value” with day one releases and the addition of Call of Duty to the service.
The FTC has been after Microsoft since the company announced its merger with Activision-Blizzard, one of the biggest gaming publishers. Most recently, it argued that Microsoft’s moves with Game Pass are “hallmarks of a firm exercising market power post-merger.” The FTC alleges Microsoft is actively engaged in “product degradation” through the removal of certain games from its Game Pass service and that, when paired with the increase in prices, this is “exactly the sort of consumer harm from the merger.” The “removal of games” likely has to do with Microsoft transferring day-one releases to its higher tiers.
The Xbox Game Pass has recently underwent a massive restructuring, with some tiers, such as the Game Pass for Console, being completely disabled, while others saw a price hike. Microsoft also introduced the so-called Game Pass Standard that includes most of the Game Pass catalog, but without day-one releases. This means that if players want to play these games early, or ever for that matter, they will have to fork over almost twice as much money for the Game Pass Ultimate bundle that went up to $19.99.
