Microsoft jacking up Game Pass price prompts FTC response

Microsoft plans to raise the price of its Game Pass subscriptions significantly – and one US watchdog isn’t amused.

Earlier this month, the Windows giant announced it would be making some modifications to Game Pass, which is essentially Netflix for video games and allows users to pay monthly to get access to hundreds of games on Xbox and PC.

Starting in September, the top-tier Game Pass Ultimate subscription will cost $19.99 a month, up from $16.99 a month, while PC Game Pass is set to rise to $11.99 per month, a two-buck boost. Microsoft will also be shutting down the console-specific version of Game Pass, while introducing a new tier called Game Pass Standard.

The kicker is that, while the doomed console Game Pass was just $10.99 a month, Game Pass Standard is $14.99 and doesn’t let gamers play new titles on day one of their release, which is now exclusive to the premium Ultimate subscription. The US FTC says that jump, from the console Game Pass to the Ultimate plan, is an unfair 81 percent cost increase for gamers.

The regulator directly confronted Microsoft about this in a letter [PDF] on Thursday.

“Product degradation — removing the most valuable games from Microsoft’s new service — combined with price increases for existing users, is exactly the sort of consumer harm from the merger the FTC has alleged,” the consumer watchdog wrote.

“Microsoft’s price increases and product degradation — combined with Microsoft’s reduced investments in output and product quality via employee layoffs — are the hallmarks of a firm exercising market power post-merger. Product degradation, combined with price increases for existing users, is exactly the sort of consumer harm from the merger the FTC has alleged.”

The FTC says Microsoft’s actions “vindicate” its efforts to apply substantial scrutiny to the IT goliath’s purchase of Activision-Blizzard. The regulator is appealing the merger in the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and while many commentators think the appeal is a long shot, the FTC has had similar successes in the past.

The FTC repeatedly attempted to block Microsoft from acquiring and merging with Activision-Blizzard in a $69 billion deal that granted Redmond access to the game studio’s massive catalog of games and franchises.

Included in those games is the Call of Duty series, an extremely popular first-person shooter that has historically been released on Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation consoles. The FTC points out that Microsoft promised future Call of Duty titles would be playable on day one for Game Pass subscribers.

However, because Game Pass Standard no longer adds games like Call of Duty on the day that they launch, the cost to get the franchise’s next entry – which releases in November – is now $19.99 a month, the agency complains.

The Register reached out to Microsoft for comment. The FTC declined to comment further. ®