Romania’s antitrust authority said it has launched an investigation into a potential violation of competition rules by Japanese conglomerate Sony’s European subsidiaries in the video game console distribution market.
The authority has indications that Sony may have abused its dominant market position by selling PlayStation-compatible video game consoles exclusively through its own online store and prohibiting other distributors from selling PlayStation-compatible video games, the Competition Council said in a statement. the press.
Sony needs to explain
This has led to an increase in the prices of video games for these consoles. The investigation concerns a number of Sony’s European subsidiaries – Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited, Sony Interactive Entertainment Network Europe Limited and Sony Interactive Entertainment Direct Europe Limited.
These practices would have reduced the purchasing options for PlayStation-compatible video games, leading to higher prices for video games for this type of console. Another effect of these practices is the discouragement of Romanian studios from developing video games compatible with PlayStation and 127 video game development studios that would be affected by this possible anti-competitive practice of Sony, states the Competition Council.
The Competition Council carried out inspections at Sony premises across Europe to gather evidence for the investigation. As a reference, in Romania there are approximately 1.3 million users of Sony PlayStation consoles, according to the Competition Council.
The inspections are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents necessary to clarify the possible anti-competitive practices analyzed.
Last year, the gaming sector did not keep pace with its exceptional performance from 2020 – 2021. The industry faced various issues, from worsening macroeconomic conditions, a post-pandemic demand slowdown, ongoing supply issues, changes to the privacy framework of mobile devices and significant increased legal and regulatory focus.
