Sony has become the target of an antitrust probe by the Romanian Competition Council, which has raised concerns that the firm is abusing its dominant position within the console gaming market. How exactly? According to the RCC, it's because Sony sells video games exclusively through the PlayStation Store and for banning competing distributors from accessing activation codes.

Shared on ResetEra, the RCC has published a press release (in Romanian) which describes part of the body's issues thusly: "These practices would have reduced the purchasing options for PlayStation-compatible video games, leading to higher prices for video games of this type of console. Another effect of these practices is the discouraging of Romanian studios from developing video games compatible with PlayStation."

The RCC is apparently quite serious, too, informing readers it's already carried out an inspection of Sony's European HQ in order to get to the bottom of things. The press release states that approximately "1.3 million console video game users" and "127 video game development studios" would be affected by what they say are Sony's anti-competitive practices.

We won't pretend to be lawyers here, but our understanding of the affair is that codes for digital games can't be purchased from other retailers, which doesn't allow for competition on price. Up until a few years back, Sony did allow the practice, so it's interesting to see this issue rear its head now.



Posted: Jun 03, 2023 11:14 am
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/05/sony-under-fire-for-allegedly-abusing-its-dominance-in-the-industry