The Federal Trade Commission has expressed disapproval over the recent price increases for Xbox Game Pass.

Microsoft's recent alteration of Xbox Game Pass pricing has received criticism from the Federal Trade Commission.

In correspondence with the U.S. Court of Appeals, the FTC expressed concerns over Microsoft's inconsistency with prior statements about pricing, deeming it harmful to consumers, as detailed in their letter.

The impending changes, effective from September 12, will see hikes across existing Game Pass tiers and the introduction of a new tier that excludes day-one releases.

Additionally, Game Pass for Console will be phased out. Current users will keep their subscriptions until expiration but can only extend up to 13 months from September.

The FTC highlighted that abandoning the console tier forces users to shift to Game Pass Ultimate at an increased cost of 81%. Furthermore, the new Game Pass Standard is 36% pricier than the console version and lacks launch-day titles.

These price adjustments coincide with the addition of Call of Duty to Game Pass Ultimate and are scheduled just ahead of the next installment's release.

Microsoft previously assured last year that integrating Call of Duty into Game Pass upon its console release would incur no additional costs, as reported by PCGamesN.

The FTC's letter asserted that Microsoft's recent moves underscore the importance of preliminarily halting mergers to scrutinize their competitive impact thoroughly.

Earlier incidents include the FTC's accusation that Microsoft contradicted its goal of a "limited-integration studio" by terminating 1,900 jobs in its games sector, which encompassed Activision employees.

Microsoft defended itself by stating that Activision's layoffs were planned before the acquisition.

Last year, although the FTC attempted to block the Microsoft-Activision deal, it failed. Following the deal's completion, the FTC appealed the decision but remained unsuccessful, and the acquisition was finalized, as noted by GamesIndustry.biz.