Microsoft's unpopular Game Pass price increase has former Federal Trade Commission (FTC) head Lina Khan concerned.Lina Khan took to social media on Friday to once again criticize Microsoft's acquisition of "Call of Duty" developer Activision Blizzard.
"When big companies become 'too big to care,' they can let customers suffer without fearing the consequences," she said a day after Game Pass Ultimate increased to $30 a month.
It was the FTC, led by Linda Kahn during the Biden administration, that filed a lawsuit against Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard in an attempt to block the $70 billion deal.The regulator argued that further consolidation in the gaming market would harm consumer interests and ultimately took the case to court.The judge ultimately ruled in favor of Microsoft, but that didn't stop Kahn and others from criticizing the outcome for years.
She posted a chart on X showing that Game Pass prices have doubled since the court ruling ended: "Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been followed by massive price increases and layoffs, to the detriment of players and developers alike. As we've seen across multiple industries, market consolidation and price increases often go hand in hand."
When Microsoft raised prices last year, the FTC wrote in its appeal of the merger: "Microsoft's price increases and decline in product quality—combined with Microsoft's reduction in investment in output and product quality through layoffs—are typical of the post-merger exercise of market power by a large company."
Microsoft promises regulators Game Pass won't increase price
Kahn isn't the only one saying "I told you so" after this price increase.As news of the Game Pass price increase was announced, gamers began retweeting Microsoft's old refrain from the Activision merger.The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also tried to block the takeover over price concerns.
Microsoft publicly stated in 2023: "The price of Game Pass will not increase as a result of the acquisition, and certainly will not increase to the extent that it offsets the significant benefits of adding Activision games to Game Pass on a day-by-day basis."
However, now Microsoft seems to have done the exact opposite: Although the "Call of Duty" series of games has been added to Game Pass, the price has also increased.
Microsoft may decide that $30 a month is a reasonable price to pay for a subscription to Black Ops 7 and hundreds of other games.But we can't know for sure because Microsoft stopped disclosing most of its Xbox financial data years ago.What we do know is that Microsoft has said Game Pass is profitable and was generating $5 billion a year before the price increase.
Nowadays, most of COD’s sales are on PlayStation. No wonder Microsoft still allows COD to land on PS after the acquisition.
