The crux of Microsoft’s argument is that despite raising prices on the higher Game Pass tiers, the restructuring improved value for gamers. The new $14.99 per month.
In context: The FTC is once again looking into Microsoft’s conduct following its Activision acquisition. The regulators filed a motion flagging its recent price hike and service restructuring as “hallmarks of a firm exercising market power post-merger”, calling the new Game Pass Standard tier a “degraded” product. Microsoft has now fired back in a letter to the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The crux of Microsoft’s argument is that despite raising prices on the higher Game Pass tiers, the restructuring improved value for gamers. The new $14.99 per month “Game Pass Standard” subscription provides access to a library of older game titles and online multiplayer functionality – a feature previously requiring a separate $9.99 monthly subscription.
“It is wrong to call this a ‘degraded’ version of the discontinued Game Pass for Console offering”, the company stated in its letter to the court.
