The FTC has concerns about Microsoft's recent Xbox Game Pass subscription fee hike.
It is believed that Microsoft has gained improper benefits by taking advantage of its market advantage after acquiring Activision Blizzard.

In response to Microsoft's recentXbox Game Pass subscription price hikeThe U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)Q & AMicrosoft gained profits by acquiring Activision Blizzard to gain market advantages, but this was detrimental to market consumers.

Prior to this, the FTC had raised numerous questions about Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, arguing that the deal would affect market competition and consumer rights. Consequently, it had repeatedly requested that the court block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. However, the court ultimately rejected the FTC's request to block the acquisition, arguing that the FTC had failed to prove that the acquisition would affect market competition.

However, Microsoft recently announced that it will increase the subscription fee for the Xbox Game Pass service in most regions around the world, and even cancel the Console Game Pass plan, which originally cost only $11, and replace it with the Xbox Game Pass Standard plan, which costs $15 per month. Although it can play more games than the Xbox Game Pass Core plan, it cancels the service of playing games on the day of launch and playing games through cloud streaming. Therefore, the US Federal Trade Commission believes that after Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, it began to use its market advantage to gain profits and forced players to pay higher fees.

In particular, regarding the newly added Xbox Game Pass Standard plan, since games cannot be played through this plan on the day of release, the US Federal Trade Commission questioned Microsoft's actual purpose of adding this plan to coincide with the price increase and induce more consumers to spend more money to subscribe to higher-priced plans, thereby gaining profits.

The U.S. Federal Commission even alleged that when Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, it promised that games released after the merger would be playable through Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass service on the day of release, and that service fees would not be increased due to the acquisition. However, Microsoft is now clearly using its market advantage to try to gain more benefits after completing the acquisition.

However, Microsoft has not yet responded to this.