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FTC accuse Microsoft of breaking promise not to raise Game Pass prices after Activision Blizzard dealThis is “exactly the sort of consumer harm” they said the deal would lead to
This is “exactly the sort of consumer harm” they said the deal would lead to
Image credit:Microsoft
Image credit:Microsoft
The US Federal Trade Commission have slammed Microsoft’srecently announced Game Pass price hikesas “exactly the sort of consumer harm” they claimed would result from the Xbox publisher’snow-completed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard.
Microsoft unveiled global price increases for their console and PC subscription business earlier this month. Amongst other jumps, the price of a PC Game Pass has risen from $9.99, €9.99 or £7.99 per month to $11.99, €11.99 and £9.99. They’ve also canned the Xbox Game Pass For Console package in favour of a new Standard tier for console users, which doesn’t include day-one access to new games, such as the forthcomingCall Of Duty: Black Ops 6. The FTC argue that this latter move, in particular, is evidence of Microsoft using the ActiBlizz deal to strongarm their existing subscribers into paying more.
The letter concludes that “Microsoft’s post-merger actions thus vindicate the congressional design of preliminarily halting mergers to fully evaluate their likely competitive effects, and judicial skepticism of promises inconsistent with a firm’s economic incentives.” It’s not clear when the court might respond to the letter, or what the outcome might be.
