The U.S. government didn’t let Microsoft acquire Activision Blizzard without a fight, even though the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit to block the merger ultimately failed. Earlier this month, the FTC took aim at Microsoft again, filing a document in federal court claiming that the new Xbox Game Pass tier was a “downgraded product.” Now, Microsoft is fighting back.
Microsoft responded to the FTC via the game developer, filing a court document with the FTC that was posted online by The Verge’s Tom Warren. In short, Microsoft admits that the new Game Pass Standard Edition is more expensive than the discontinued Game Pass Console Edition, but it also offers multiplayer features that were previously sold separately. Furthermore, the company believes that the price increase for Game Pass Ultimate is justified because the service will be launching more new games over time.
Essentially, Microsoft claims that the FTC is trying to “reinvent” the case against the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard and “calls it a ‘downgraded’ version of Game Pass for the discontinued console.” The filing also noted that the FTC “barely mentioned subscriptions at trial” and reiterated that Microsoft signed a 10-year deal with Sony to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation as part of the original conditions of the merger.
So far, federal courts have not weighed in on the FTC filing or Microsoft’s response. The Activision-Blizzard merger seems unlikely to be easily undone at this point. But it remains to be seen whether the courts will take sides in the latest battle.
