Don't believe Microsoft claims Xbox Game Pass won't go up post Activision buyout
Xbox Game Pass adding Call of Duty and Diablo to its lineup won’t see the price rise any time soon, Microsoft has told the CMA in the latest bid to pass Activision deal through.
Microsoft’s attempt to have UK regulators approve its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard continues, with seemingly new details coming to light almost on a daily basis. Now, it’s been revealed that the platform holder defended the price of Xbox Game Pass back in February and what will happen to it following the buyout in future.
The CMA posited the strong likelihood that Xbox Game Pass price could increase should games like Call of Duty and Diablo be welcomed into Microsoft’s first-party family. The basic console and PC Xbox Game Pass price is currently £7.99 / $9.99 / AU$10.95. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate comes in at £10.99 / $14.99 / AU$15.95 per month, and both grant access to a generous rotating library of hundreds of games.
But, during its research, the CMA suggested that “prices for subscriptions can easily be revised, and Microsoft may have an incentive to do so once it adds content that is as popular as Activision’s”. Call of Duty is the primary piece of content of value it alludes to of course, in addition to other lesser Activision-owned franchises like Diablo, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon and others.
However, in response to the CMA’s findings, a newly published document from Microsoft's legal representatives, Weil Gotshal & Manges, shows Microsoft’s retort where it claims that “[Xbox] Game Pass prices will not increase as a result of the Merger” before saying that doing so would be counter-productive as it would lead to a drop off in subscribers. It then went on to use its 2021 Bethesda acquisition as an example, explaining that Xbox Game Pass prices didn't go up when franchises like Wolfenstein and The Elder Scrolls entered the fold.
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Just a couple of months prior to its Bethesda acquisition getting finalised in March, 2021, Xbox did demonstrate a precedent for trying to raise prices, particularly with regard to its other subscription service, Xbox Live Gold. It wanted to increase its monthly fee by $1 from $9.99 to $10.99 in the US and other territories’ “local market equivalent” before being forced to backpedal just a day later in the same Xbox Wire post following fan outcry.
Instances like this may add to the CMA’s concerns of how prices will change post-Activision buyout.
The only way is up
While it’s admirable that Microsoft is seemingly trying to keep the prices of its tentpole game subscription service, it’s no secret that Xbox Game Pass is really the only front where Xbox is winning. PlayStation and Nintendo have far more attractive and more frequent exclusive AAA game release lineups currently, so Microsoft is right in that following its Activision acquisition, it’d be silly to raise its price.
That said, we’re in an inflationary market where the cost of energy is going up, and therefore so is everything else. Microsoft is a big enough tech giant to eat the cost for now, but ultimately the temptation for the price of Xbox Game Pass prices to rise will be too strong – especially as more value is added over time, such as when Activision’s studios become first-party.
I’m not even sure if, as we saw a few years ago with Xbox Live Gold, harsh feedback from fans would be enough to make Microsoft U-turn on this decision. Before it inevitably raises the price of Xbox Game Pass, the AAA games need to come.
This finally looks to be happening with Hi-Fi Rush’s surprise release back in January, and with highly anticipated titles like Redfall and Starfield also coming this year. As the list of Xbox Series X|S exclusive games steadily grows, so will the temptation for Microsoft to up the price of its premier service.
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