A new filing filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) criticizes the recent price increase for Xbox Game Pass, which the FTC says confirms “Congress’ design to temporarily halt mergers to fully assess their likely competitive effects.”
The filing argues that the price increase, which was announced on July 9, is “inconsistent” with the case it made in last year’s Xbox FTC lawsuit. In analyzing the new revised service, the FTC filing describes the new Standard tier as a “degraded product” that holds back day-one releases but still represents an increase over the original Console Game Pass tier.
“Product degradation — the removal of the most valuable games from Microsoft’s new service — combined with price increases for existing users is exactly the type of consumer harm from the merger that the FTC has alleged,” the filing says. It also notes that the price increase coincides with the addition of Call of Duty to the most expensive category.
As reported last week, the recently overhauled Xbox Game Pass will be raising the price of the Ultimate tier from $16.99 to $19.99 per month, along with a host of other changes. The price increase was described as inevitable by analysts who spoke to IGN, with some predicting that Game Pass will eventually see the introduction of ads. The changes are said to be part of an effort by Xbox to recoup some of its $69 billion investment in Activision Blizzard.
While the deal with Activision Blizzard officially closed on October 13, 2023, the FTC continues to maintain that the courts were wrong when they ruled in Microsoft’s favor in 2023. In February, the FTC also complained that Microsoft’s 1,900 gaming layoffs contradicted rulings in the antitrust lawsuit.
IGN has reached out to Xbox for comment on the FTC filing. The price increase will go into effect for existing members on September 12.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director and co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? DM her at @the_katbot.