Tech and games giant Microsoft has replied to the US Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) complaint about the increased costs of its Game Pass subscription service.
In a letter from its lawyers, the Xbox giant said that the government body's complaints were "misleading", saying that the FTC's most pressing concern – that the new standard tier comes with fewer features than the console tier it is replacing – is false, saying that it actually boasts more features due to fact it comes with access to multiplayer.
“It is wrong to call this a ‘degraded’ version of the discontinued Game Pass for Console offering. That discontinued product did not offer multiplayer functionality, which had to be purchased separately for an additional $9.99/month (making the total cost $20.98/month).
“While Game Pass Ultimate’s price will increase from $16.99 to $19.99/month, the service will offer more value through many new games available ‘day-and-date.’ Among them is the upcoming release of Call of Duty, which has never before been available on a subscription day-and-date."
Microsoft continued, saying that subscription was not a part of the FTC's objections against the company's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
“While the FTC has now tried to shift focus to its alleged subscription market, its letter does not map onto its arguments below," the Big M continued.
“Setting aside that it is common for businesses to change service offerings over time, the FTC case in all of its alleged markets has always been premised on Vertical foreclosure, that Microsoft would withhold Call of Duty from rivals and therefore harm competition.
“But even in the alleged subscription market, Call of Duty is not being withheld from anyone who wants it. And there remains no evidence anywhere of harm to competition: Sony’s subscription service continues to thrive, even as they put few new games into their subscription day-and-date, unlike Microsoft.
“The transaction thus continues to benefit competition and consumers—exactly what the district court correctly found.”
