The soap opera over Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard may be over – thank goodness! – but it’s clear that the Federal Trade Commission The United States (FTC) has not been satisfied with it: it reacted in record time to the price increase of Game Pass on Xbox consoles through A text filed with the Court of Appeals in which it defined the new Game Pass Standard plan as a “degraded product.” A day later, Microsoft responds and clarifies with the same subtlety.
Through its legal representatives, Microsoft has issued a statement that calls the FTC letter a “misleading account of the facts” which, in addition to being off the record for the appeal they have after the purchase resolution, intentionally omits a key element of the new Game Pass Standard plan for Xbox consoles: new releases like Call of Duty are lost, but in the process online multiplayer is included which, until the change in Game Pass plans, had to be contracted separately.
The letter, which has been shared by Tom Warren de The Verge and which we have transcribed right after, not only justifies the new price of Game Pass Standard and Game Pass Ultimate (which does include the launch games plus PC subscriptions, EA Play or cloud gaming) but directly counterattacks the FTC itself by making it clear that until now its concern was the exclusivity of Call of Duty and that the imminent installment will be released on all platforms, including PlayStation.
“The FTC’s letter presents a misleading and off-the-record account of the facts and is a continuation of the agency’s attempts to reinvent its case on appeal.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced changes to its Game Pass gaming subscription service to provide consumers with valuable options at different price points. Microsoft is offering a new tier of service, Game Pass Standard, which offers access to hundreds of catalog games and multiplayer functionality for $14.99 per month.
It’s a mistake to call this a “downgraded” version of the discontinued Game Pass offering for consoles. That discontinued product didn’t offer multiplayer functionality, which had to be purchased separately for an additional $9.99 per month (bringing the total cost to $20.98 per month).
While the price of Game Pass Ultimate will increase from $16.99 to $19.99 per month, the service will offer more value through many new games available “at launch.” Among them is the upcoming release of Call of Duty, which has never before been available at launch on a subscription.
In fact, in the last part of the writing Microsoft questions FTC’s intentions and its way of changing the focus of its appeal, given that during the entire blockage of the purchase of Activision Blizzard it based a good part of its strategy on the consequences for the video game market of converting the saga Call of Duty exclusively for Xbox consoles.
“The FTC barely mentioned the subscription in its trial, focusing instead on the theory that Microsoft would withhold Call of Duty from Sony’s console. The district court correctly rejected that theory, which is now further eroded by Microsoft and Sony’s decade-long agreement to keep Call of Duty on the PlayStation — a contract Sony was “excited” to enter into.
While the FTC has tried to shift the focus to its purported subscription market, its letter does not focus on its arguments below. Leaving aside the fact that it’s common for companies to change service offerings over time, the FTC’s case in all of its purported markets has always been based on vertical foreclosure — that is, that Microsoft would be holding Call of Duty back from rivals and thus harming competition. But even in the purported subscription market, Call of Duty isn’t being withheld from anyone who wants it.
At the time of writing, it is not known whether the U.S. Court of Appeals will consider the FTC’s brief or will consider Microsoft’s reply and dismiss the case, but three things are clear: Call of Duty Black Ops 6 It will be released on Game Pass, but not for all Xbox subscribers; the game will be available for purchase – as always – on all systems starting on October 25, 2024 And, despite the fact that its creators are now fully integrated into Microsoft, the FTC does not seem to have any intention of giving up or ending the soap opera.
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