Microsoft has responded to the US Federal Trade Commission’s claim that the tech giant is now offering an “inferior” version of its Game Pass service, which amounts to “the exact same type of consumer harm” that the FTC warned about ahead of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
No, says Microsoft, which called the FTC letter “a misleading and inaccurate statement of facts.”
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that the price of PC Game Pass was increasing from $9.99, €9.99, or £7.99 per month to $11.99, €11.99, or £9.99. It’s also introduced a novel “Standard tier” of Xbox Game Pass for console players, which is cheaper but doesn’t include day-one access to novel games. That’s what the FTC means when it talks about a decline in the quality of the experience.
“Calling this a ‘downgraded’ version of the discontinued Game Pass for console offering is a misnomer,” reads Microsoft’s response letter, which was first spotted Tom Warren from The Verge“This discontinued product did not offer multiplayer functionality, which had to be purchased separately for an additional $9.99/month (for a total cost of $20.98/month). While the price of Game Pass Ultimate will increase from $16.99 to $19.99/month, the service will offer greater value with many new games available “overnight.” Among them is the upcoming Call Of Duty release, which has never before been available as part of an “overnight” subscription.
Microsoft’s letter also argues that the FTC did not choose to make the subscription service the linchpin of its argument in the lawsuit, instead focusing on the possibility that Call Of Duty could be pulled from a competing platform, thereby harming competition. Microsoft points out that this is not the case, as Call Of Duty “is not being denied to anyone who wants it”. They also claim that PlayStation’s own subscription service “continues to thrive, even if they introduce few new games to their subscription service day in and day out”.
I can’t legally comment on this public brawl, but I personally think the higher price — or lower price without the day and date feature that is clearly a cornerstone of Game Pass — is a degradation of the consumer experience. That’s not compensated by the fact that multiplayer is included at a lower tier, because, well, I play on PC, where access to multiplayer isn’t usually circumscribed by any subscription beyond the cost of internet. That’s why there’s no lower tier for PC Game Pass; it’s just more high-priced than it used to be for essentially the same service. Boo, I say.