The Federal Trade Commission issued a letter expressing displeasure with Microsoft’s recently announced changes to Game Pass.
You may remember the Federal Trade Commission: they strongly opposed Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Of course, they lost and Microsoft was able to continue its development Rule the world Shop the publisher of Call of Duty. However, the FTC has not stopped fighting since then and is still actively appealing this decision to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. As part of this process, the FTC continues to provide more evidence, such as another letter earlier this year that discussed Activision Blizzard’s layoffs of nearly 2,000 people.
The FTC’s latest letter, published on July 18, concerns Microsoft’s announced plans to change Game Pass pricing and tiers, which will include a new “Standard” tier that eliminates day-one games. Only PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will now be able to get Microsoft games on day one, and both tiers will see price increases. The FTC disagreed with this decision, stating that “For consumers who are unwilling to pay 81% more, Microsoft is launching a downgraded product “Game Pass Standard” priced at $14.99 per month. The price of this product is higher than the console Game Pass 36%, and it won’t be released on day one.
The FTC went on to say that such price increases and downgrades of existing products “are exactly the consumer harms that the FTC alleges the merger will cause.”
Unsurprisingly, the FTC also noted that the price increase and tier changes coincided with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. [CoD] The game will be available on Microsoft Game Pass the day it launches on consoles (the service will not see a price increase due to the acquisition.)”
It’s unclear whether the FTC’s appeal of the merger will succeed or when a ruling will be made. If the FTC succeeds, the impact could be huge, especially since Microsoft is currently bringing Activision Blizzard games to Game Pass.
