Microsoft: It’s wrong to call Game Pass price hikes “degradation”

Microsoft has denied Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allegations that recent Game Pass price hikes are hurting consumers, especially after completing its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The company says the new pricing actually provides better subscription options .

Image source: Activision

In a lawsuit filed this week as part of an appeal of Activision Blizzard’s purchase decision, the FTC took aim at the company’s new Game Pass Standard plan, which does not include same-day game releases, as a “degraded product,” VGC reports. The regulator also pointed to the increase in the price of Game Pass Ultimate, arguing that these changes are “precisely the type of consumer harm” that the FTC is trying to prevent.

Microsoft responded by saying that the new Standard plan, offered for $14.99 per month, replaces Game Pass for Xbox, which did not include online multiplayer. Previously, users had to pay an additional $9.99 per month for this feature. “It is incorrect to call this a degraded version of the discontinued Game Pass for Console offering,” Microsoft said in a statement. It emphasizes that Game Pass Ultimate, despite increasing its price to $19.99 per month, now offers more benefits, including access to new games like Call of Duty on launch day.

Microsoft accused the FTC of trying to shift its focus to the game subscription market after the regulator’s concerns about Call of Duty’s Xbox exclusivity were allayed by a ten-year agreement with Sony to keep the game on PlayStation, and stressed that the game would still be available to everyone.

«The FTC made little mention of the subscription during the trial, focusing on the theory that we were removing Call of Duty from Sony’s console. However, the trial court rightly rejected this theory,” the letter states.

The company also insists that the deal with Activision Blizzard continues to benefit consumers, not the other way around, and that the changes to Game Pass are a natural evolution of the service.