Activision: US FTC claims "consumer harm" after Microsoft raises Xbox Game Pass prices for Call of Duty

US FTC claims "consumer harm" after Microsoft raises Xbox Game Pass prices for Call of Duty

US FTC has claimed that Call of Duty going to Microsoft — Call of Duty to Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass service at an increased subscription price is a huge consumer harm after the acquisition of Activision. (Image via Activision)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States has claimed that Call of Duty going to Xbox Game Pass after an increase in subscription price, as revealed by Microsoft in a recent decision, will harm consumers. Additionally, the agency has also alleged that the removal of Game Pass Console tier alongside a price hike for subscription service, ahead of this year's CoD game Black Ops 6, is anti-competitive.

It is worth noting that Microsoft had mentioned last year that it would not increase Xbox Game Pass prices after acquiring Call of Duty publisher Activision.

Xbox Game Pass price increase coinciding with Call of Duty Black Ops 6 release, according to US FTC

A few days ago, Microsoft announced a price hike for Xbox Game Pass service. As a result, the Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass PC tiers have been pushed to a monthly fee of $19.99 and $11.99 from $16.99 and $9.99, respectively.

US FTC has called out Microsoft for increasing Xbox Game Pass prices and introducing a degraded new tier of Game Pass Standard ahead of a new Call of Duty game's release. (Image via Activision)

Moreover, the Game Pass Console tier, available for $10.99/month, has been removed completely. It will be replaced by a new subscription tier called Game Pass Standard, priced at $14.99.

The US FTC observed these changes by Microsoft and filed a new court appeal. While claiming that Microsoft has broken the promise of not increasing Game Pass prices after securing the $68.7 billion Activision deal, the Federal Trade Commission wrote:

"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 that the FTC has alleged."

The FTC emphasized "consumer harm", as mentioned in the excerpt above, as a result of the Microsoft-Activision merger.

Microsoft-Activision deal, worth almost $70 billion, closed successfully in October 2023. (Image via Microsoft/Activision)

Furthermore, the agency claimed that Microsoft had the intention of bringing Call of Duty on Game Pass with an increased price for monthly plans. And that the decision to do so has come at a time when Black Ops 6, the next FPS premium in the franchise, is set to launch in October 2024.

"Microsoft’s price increases coincide with adding “Call of Duty” (CoD) to Game Pass’s most expensive tier, and discontinuing the Console tier will happen shortly before releasing CoD’s newest game."

It will be interesting to see how the current situation proceeds and if Microsoft will come forward with a response to FTC's new appeal in the court.

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