Those recent Xbox Game Pass changes are “exactly the sort of consumer harm” the FTC warned the Activision Blizzard deal could lead to, it claims

You remember those recent changes Microsoft made to Xbox Game Pass, both in terms of tiers on offer and pricing? Well, the FTC definitely isn’t confused about how to feel about them. In fact, it’s now claimed that they represent “exactly the sort of consumer harm” it was trying to prevent coming to pass last year.

If by some miracle you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, first of all, your Xbox Game Pass subscription is probably gonna be more expensive the next time you get your bill than it was before you went under the rock, thanks to those changes that we learned about last week (we’re sorry to break this to you). Secondly, you might have missed the lengthy court battle The Federal Trade Commission had with Microsoft over the effects its aquisition of Activision Blizzard might have.

Now, The FTC has filed a new letter in its ongoing appeal of the deal in which it claims that those recent Game Pass changes represent exactly the kind of negative consequences for consumers that the body alleged could come to pass in its scrutiny of the acuisition last year.

“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”, it wrote, “Microsoft’s price increases and product degradation—combined with Microsoft’s reduced investments in output and product quality via employee layoffs, see FTC’s February 7, 2024, Letter — are the hallmarks of a firm exercising market power post-merger.”

It then cites a statement Microsoft made during those court proceedings last year, which saw the company suggest that Xbox Game Pass’ price would not be increased as a direct result of Activision’s games being added to the service.

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

The body concludes by stating: “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.”

If you’re still trying to digest what those Game Pass changes mean for you, check out our helpful attempt to outline them in not confusing fashion.