Microsoft rejects that Xbox Game Pass Standard is a "degraded version" from console mode

July 22 (Portaltic/EP) –

Microsoft rejects that its new Xbox Gme Pass Standard subscription is a “graded” product, as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently described it, and accuses this American body of “focusing on the theory that it will retain” the video game Call of Duty and prevent it from reaching Sony consoles.

The FTC warned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District last week in writing that Microsoft’s rearrangement of prices and subscription plans for its Game Pass service amounts to “product degradation.”

This is because Console mode disappearswhich was priced at $10.99 per month, and add the new Standard plan, which costs $14.99 per month. This change is accompanied by increases in all existing plans, which in Game Pass Ultimate means going from $16.99 per month to $19.99.

According to the FTC, for a current console plan user, upgrading to the Ultimate plan will result in an 81 percent price increase. There is also the option to purchase the new Standard plan, but, as noted, it does not include games released on day one and does not include Xbox Cloud Gaming or EA Play services.

Microsoft has responded in another letter, which has been picked up by The Verge senior editor Tom Warren and shared on your X profile (Twitter). In it, the technology giant assures that “it is incorrect” to call Game Pass Standard “downgraded version” from console mode.

Microsoft has responded to the FTC’s filing about Xbox Game Pass price increases. It calls the FTC’s letter a “misleading, extra-record account of the facts” and says the FTC is wrong to call Game Pass Standard a “degraded” version because it includes multiplayer https://t.co/ocS9yfwSix pic.twitter.com/QXUoViUpoL

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) July 19, 2024

He argues that unlike the withdrawn plan, Standard Yes, it has multiplayer features.which does not require you to purchase it separately, which previously cost $20.98 per month. He also defends the price increase of the Ultimate plan, since it now “offers more value” with games launching on day one, including Call of Duty.

The Standard plan is currently in testing, with the intention of launching it in the coming months, a fact that the FTC has ignored, as Microsoft has reproached it, and who accuses it of “focusing on the theory that Microsoft would hold back Call of Duty” so that it would not reach Sony’s console. And it has recalled the agreement signed between both companies for ten years, which keeps this franchise on PlayStation.

Microsoft concludes by claiming that “There is no evidence anywhere of harm to competition: Sony’s subscription service continues to thrive, even though they include few new games in their subscription, unlike Microsoft.”