Microsoft calls FTC's claims "misleading" over increased Xbox Game Pass prices for Call of Duty

Microsoft has responded to US FTC's claims after the agency called increased Xbox Game Pass prices for Call of Duty a consumer harm (Image via Activision)

A day after US FTC called the hike in Xbox Game Pass prices ahead of a new Call of Duty game's release a "consumer harm", Microsoft has responded to the agency's claims in its new filing in the court. While mentioning FTC's claims as "misleading", Microsoft tried to clear things up on its recent decision of increasing Game Pass subscription prices alongside introducing a new monthly tier.

For those unaware, the US FTC had recently filed a new appeal to bring the court's attention to Microsoft's decision to shoot up Game Pass prices just before this year's Call of Duty's debut on the subscription-based service.

Microsoft defends increased Game Pass prices and new "Standard tier" ahead of Call of Duty Black Ops 6's launch

In its filing, Microsoft wrote that FTC's claims over Xbox Game Pass prices getting increased and the new monthly plan of Game Pass Standard being a "degraded product" are misleading and give an "extra-record amount of the facts."

This year's CoD game, Black Ops 6, is set to launch on October 25 on Game Pass (Image via Activision)

Here's an excerpt from Microsoft's response to the Federal Trade Commission:

"The FTC's letter presents a misleading, extra-record account of the facts and is a continuation of the agency’s attempts to reinvent its case on appeal."

Moreover, the company mentioned that the decision to announce a change to Game Pass subscription prices was taken to offer consumers valuable options at different price points.

"Microsoft is offering anew service tier, Game Pass Standard, which offers access to hundredsofback-catalog games ‘and multiplayer functionalityfor S14.99/month. 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)."

Black Ops 6 is going to arrive on Day One for Game Pass service along with its full-priced release (Image via Activision)

While justifying the increase in price for the most expensive Game Pass tier, Ultimate, Microsoft wrote that the monthly plan offers various features like day-and-date access to the upcoming Call of Duty game Black Ops 6 alongside providing more games to play.

"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."

It will be intriguing to see if the legal tussle between Microsoft and the FTC will take a new turn this year. The former already won the case against FTC last year while closing the $68.7 billion deal with CoD publisher Activision in October 2023.

For more news and latest updates on CoD franchise, keep following Sportskeeda.

Edited by Ritoban "Veloxi" Paul