Sony has become the target of an antitrust investigation by the Romanian Competition Council, raising concerns that the company is abusing its dominant position in the console gaming market. How exactly? According to the RCC, this is because Sony sells video games exclusively through the PlayStation Store and to block competing distributors from accessing activation codes.
shared on ResetRCC published a press release (in Romanian) describing part of the body issues thus: “These practices would have reduced the purchase options for video games compatible with PlayStation, leading to higher prices for video games of this type of console. Another effect of these practices is discouraging studios Romanian to develop video games compatible with the PlayStation”.
RCC also appears to be very serious, informing readers that it has already conducted an inspection of Sony’s European headquarters in order to get to the bottom of things. The press release states that approximately “1.3 million video game users” and “127 video game development studios” will be affected by what they say are Sony’s anti-competitive practices.
We will not pretend here to be lawyers, but our understanding of the issue is that digital game codes cannot be purchased from other retailers, which does not allow competition on price. Until a few years ago, Sony allowed this practice, so it’s interesting to see this issue rear its head now.
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