Microsoft, Xbox Blasted Over 'Degraded Product' in New Standard Game Pass

Microsoft and Xbox are once again facing criticisms from the Federal Trade Commission as it scrutinized the game publishers for releasing a "degraded product" in their new Standard Game Pass.

In a US Court of Appeals filing on Thursday, the FTC accused the new Game Pass subscription tier as "hallmarks of a firm exercising market power post-merger."

The FTC claimed that Microsoft violated earlier promises to make future Call of Duty games available to Game Pass on release day without any service price hikes after it acquired the CoD publisher Activision-Blizzard.

This is in addition to discontinuing its Console Game Pass subscription, which costs 36% less than the Standard tier while locking previously accessible services as exclusives in its $20 per month Game Pass Ultimate tier.

The complaint came after Xbox issued price hikes for both console and PC Game Pass subscriptions, raising charge for Ultimate from $16 per month to $19.99, a 17% year-to-year increase.

New Xbox Game Pass Face Players Criticism

The FTC is not the only one scrutinizing the recent price hikes on Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.

Many Xbox and PC players have earlier expressed dismay over the new price adjustments, especially when other subscription services have also started charging their customers more.

It did not help that the game publisher, who also owns several developer studios, has been rumored of planning new games exclusive to Game Pass to encourage players to afford its premium subscription services.

Microsoft Faces FTC Scrutiny Over Major Acquisition Deals

The complaint is only part of the FTC's growing criticisms against Microsoft over its recent acquisition and merger deals as the commission ramps up crackdowns on market monopolies.

Earlier in June, the anti-trust regulators was reportedly opening an investigation into Microsoft's recent AI deals after the company mass-hired startup Inflection's employees rather than acquiring the company to avoid acquisition fees.

This is in addition to a separate FTC probe on Microsoft's investments in OpenAI reported earlier in part of Chair Lina Khan's promise to scrutinize deals that " enable dominant firms to exert undue influence" to undermine competition.