Last week, Microsoft announced a host of changes coming to Xbox Game Pass. Each tier will increase in price, and Game Pass for Console will be replaced by a new Game Pass Standard tier, which won’t include access to day-one games. The FTC says the Xbox Game Pass price increase is the “consumer harm” it attempted to stop when battling against the Activision Blizzard acquisition.The Federal Trade Commission calls the new Game Pass Standard tier a “degraded product”The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has submitted a new filing as part of its ongoing appeal against Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October, 2023, highlighting the changes Microsoft recently announced for Xbox Game Pass. “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 filing reads. “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.”Beginning this month, new Xbox Game Pass subscribers will need to pay more to join the service, while current members will see the prices increase in September. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate increases from $16.99 / £12.99 to $19.99 / £14.99 a month, PC Game Pass goes from $9.99 / £7.99 to $11.99 / £9.99 a month, and 12 months of Game Pass Core jumps from $59.99 / £49.99 to $74.99 / £55.99. Alongside those price changes, Microsoft is retiring the Xbox Game Pass Console tier, which was priced at $10.99 a month, with plans to replace it with a new Game Pass Standard tier in the “coming months, priced at $14.99. The biggest difference between the two tiers, other than the obvious price increase and the inclusion of online multiplayer, is that Standard subscribers won’t be able to play day-one releases.”Microsoft’s price increases coincide with adding Call of Duty to Game Pass’ most expensive tier, and discontinuing the Console tier will happen shortly before releasing CoD’s newest game,” the FTC says. “Microsoft promised that ‘the acquisition would benefit consumers by making [CoD] available on Microsoft’s Game Pass on the day it is released on console (with no price increase for the service based on the acquisition).'”Microsoft has announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will launch into Xbox Game Pass in October, but according to the changes, only Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers will be able to play it as part of their subscription. If you do want to check it out, however, Game Pass subscribers can play the Black Ops 6 early access beta.
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