Microsoft says Xbox Game Pass prices won’t go up if it buys Activision Blizzard.
Britain’s regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, released its provisional findings into the proposed deal last month, raising concerns that Microsoft may choose to increase the price of its Game Pass subscription service after including Activision’s popular content.
“Subscription prices can be easily revised, and once Microsoft adds something as popular as Call of Duty, it may have an incentive to do so,” the CMA said.
However, in its latest response to the CMA’s findings, Microsoft said that since the deal is ongoing,It doesn’t intend to increase the price of Game Pass, claiming that doing so would be counterproductive as it would lead to a drop in subscribers.
“The price of Game Pass will not increase as a result of the merger, and certainly not to the extent that it would negate the material benefit of simultaneous release of Activision games on Game Pass. Considering that Game Pass will continue to be B2P (buy-to-play) This is especially true of the limitations of
Microsoft then pointed out that it has not raised the price of Game Pass since it introduced the content of Bethesda into the Game Pass service. , “Dishonored” and other series of ownership.
“The combination of Activision and Microsoft will have a classic elimination of the double margin effect, as Microsoft will be able to acquire these games at an opportunity cost and have an incentive to distribute them more widely and increase Game Pass production to match its comparative levels.
To increase production, Microsoft needs to offer Game Pass at a lower quality-adjusted price.
This is exactly what Microsoft has done in the past by adding content to Game Pass, such as the ZeniMax deal that results in additional content but doesn’t increase the Game Pass subscription price.
Especially considering that Game Pass users are price sensitive, and a Game Pass price increase will affect all users, including those who don’t value or play COD.
Game Pass subscribers can cancel their subscription at any time after playing for a month.
Since CoD games are released on an annual basis, any impact will be short-lived, as players who lose enthusiasm for a new version of COD within a few months will leave due to the higher price. “