Last December 2023, the Autorité de la Concurrence, a French government agency, accused Sony of abusing its position in the market for the supply of controllers. PlayStation 4. now, It was revealed that the company lost the case, and was fined one million dollars.
total, Sony will pay €13.5 million, or $14.8 million, to France’s antitrust regulator. The Autorité de la Concurrence revealed two major violations committed by the Japanese company, resulting in a significant fine. First, in November 2015, the company implemented technical measures to combat piracy, which inadvertently affected the proper functioning of third-party controls produced without Sony’s official license.
According to the regulator, Third-party controls are disconnected during OS updates of consoles due to Sony’s system, which is considered incompatible. Second, it was noted that rival companies were barred from joining the PlayStation licensing program and that access was only granted through Sony’s partnership program.
The regulatory authorities found that Sony declined to communicate access criteria to the program that manufacturers requested, claiming that the criteria were applied at Sony’s discretion The Competition Authority commented:
“Sony applied the criteria on a discretionary basis, even though access to the program was the only way to avoid disconnection.”
The combination of these practices, according to the Antitrust Agency, significantly damaged the brand image of third-party manufacturers and hindered their expansion in the market, which could lead to their foreclosure. For its part, Sony has yet to publicly respond to the fine. However, the decision is expected to impact the industry as a whole, sparking debate about fair competition and the responsibilities of dominant players in the market.
We can only wait to see how Sony responds, But how will Nintendo and Xbox react after the outcome of this case is announced?. In related matters, Sony plans to make multiple layoffs at PlayStation. Likewise, these games are coming to PlayStation Plus in January.
Editor’s note:
Third party controls are very important. Not everyone can afford an official controller that costs the same as a game, so having options is important to the market. I can’t believe that even today, with the PS5 already on the market for three years, a PS4 controller still costs so much. I hope this will change in the future.
Through: VGC
