Microsoft Responds to FTC Complaints About Xbox Game Pass Price Increase

Highlights

• Despite backlash, Xbox Game Pass price hikes stand.
• Microsoft stands firm on Game Pass changes, dismissing FTC criticism as misleading.
• Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard under FTC scrutiny.

Microsoft has responded to the FTC’s pushback on Xbox Game Pass’ price hikes. When Xbox Game Pass launched in 2017, there was some initial apprehension, but players have grown to appreciate the service as a genuinely good deal. Recently, Microsoft has implemented a wave of changes that have proven controversial, not just among gamers, but also with the Federal Trade Commission, which has had its eye on Microsoft’s gaming division for a long time.

After Microsoft raised the price of Xbox Game Pass, much to the dismay of fans, the FTC voiced dissent, calling the new version of the subscription a “degraded product”. Game Pass is removing its $10.99/month Console Game Pass tier and leaving customers who want to continue their membership with the much pricier $19.99 Game Pass Ultimate tier or the new $14.99 Game Pass Standard tier. The FTC believes Game Pass Standard is a “degraded product” because it gets rid of many of the games people are buying the service for while allegedly harming customers through an all-around price increase.

As Tom Warren reports, Microsoft has doubled down on its choice to implement price hikes for Game Pass, calling the FTC’s letter on the matter “misleading” and stating that the FTC’s judgment is simply incorrect. Microsoft asserts that Game Pass Standard is not a “degraded” version of the product because it includes multiplayer. Many have been quick to point out that initially, Game Pass Ultimate included multiplayer at a price of $14.99, but now the service has jumped to $19.99 for Standard. Many are struggling to understand Xbox’s logic that this is anything but a worse version of the deal from before.

About two years ago, Microsoft initiated its acquisition of Activision Blizzard and King as a move to ensure it had high-end studios ready to make and prioritize games for its systems and services. The FTC was quick to signal its disapproval of the deals Microsoft was making, suggesting that the nearly $70 billion dollar merger was anticompetitive, ultimately harming smaller businesses within the market as well as its consumers.

A lot has changed since then and the merger ultimately went through, as Microsoft triumphantly announced with a trailer in 2023, but it appears it can’t help but continue to draw the concern of the FTC. Gamers have further pointed out that since the merger has closed, The concern is that Microsoft is following through on the things that the FTC feared it would do if left unrestrained. Several smaller businesses have closed because Microsoft felt they were no longer commercially viable. Bethesda studios have begun to unionize, and workers are pushing for better practices. Xbox continues to defend its practices, but the FTC continues to make compelling cases.