Summary
- Microsoft won the case against the FTC for acquiring Activision Blizzard, but the FTC is now calling out Game Pass price increases.
- The FTC has accused Xbox of "exercising market power" post-merger, calling Game Pass changes "product degradation" and pointing to recent studio closures.
- It has also called Microsoft actions "inconsistent" with its claims in court, accusing the recent price increases to Game Pass of being driven by Call of Duty's imminent addition.
Cast your mind back to the summer of 2023, and you'll more than likely remember the court battles between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Microsoft regarding the acquisition of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Activision Blizzard. Despite the FTC's best efforts to get the entire thing called off, Microsoft fi🐠nally won the case a little over a year ago - quickly completing its acquisitﷺion afteℱrwards - but it was an issue that the FTC was never truly able to let go of (probably for good reason).
It's been hyper critical of Microsoft ever since the Activision Blizzard acquisition got over the line, and now it's back to join the ongoing pile on surrounding Xbox's recent Game Pass price increases. Earlier this month, it was revealed that the price of Game Pass Ulti🦹mate would be increasing, w💖h🥀ile Game Pass on consoles would be replaced with a new service called Game Pass Standard, which will cost more than the current service and will also stop providing day one releases.
Thanks, Xbox, I'm Never Subscribing To Game Pass Again
Game Pass doesn’t liꩲve ꦅup to its USP of good value for day one, first-party exclusives anymore.
Xbox was accused of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:being deliberately confusing and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:downright nefarious, with people 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:rushing to places like CDKeys to stock up on subscriptions, and now the FTC has joined in to call the entire debacle "product degradation" in a new filing in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the filing shared by Tom Warren from The Ver🧜ge, the FTC has described these recent price increases and the shuttering of studios like Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin as the company "exercising market power post-merger."
Xbox Has Been Accused Of Game Pass "Product Degradation" By FTC
In particular, the FTC points to the removal of the existing Console Game Pass service and replacing it with the more expensive and slightly worse Game Pass Standard service and says it's "exactly the sort of consumer harm" that it has alleged in the past during its court battle with Microsoft.
It also claims that Microsoft's actions at the moment are "inconsistent" with its claims in court, claiming that these price increases just so happened to coincide with the release of this year's Call of Duty on Game Pass's most expensive tier. One of Microsoft's big points about the merger is that it would be beneficial for customers as Call of Duty would be available on Game Pass, but the FTC claims that Microsoft did not mention that the price of the service would increase with the introduction of the series to Game Pass.
Of course, there's nothing much that the FTC can do now that the acquisition is done and dusted, but this will likely be used in future court cases surrounding anticompetitive studio acquisitions, especially concerning Microsoft. It's important work that the FTC does, and if you're angry that it's having a pop at Microsoft yet again, just remember that the agency's only job is to protect your consumer rights. Not exactly something to get mad about, right?
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Star Wars fans never engaged with T🌱he Acolyte, they just went in looking for any ex༒cuse to be angry.
