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Sony faces Romanian antitrust probe over PlayStation dominance abuse

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Found this news - which was originally posted by Idas on the other forum - interesting so I decided to share it here:

Sony is the target of an antitrust probe by the Romanian Competition Council.

They have concerns about Sony abusing its dominant position in the console gaming market through PlayStation, for example for selling online video games exclusively through the PlayStation Store and for banning competing distributors from accessing activation codes.

The second issue makes a bit more sense than the first one. But it’s going to be an interesting case to follow.

It’s clear that third party stores in “walled gardens” is going to be a point of contention for the majority of players (no matter the device) in the coming years.

The press release (in Romanian).

A (machine) translation:

The Competition Council has launched an investigation into a possible infringement of the competition rules by Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited and its subsidiaries, Sony Interactive Entertainment Network Europe Limited and Sony Interactive Entertainment Direct Europe Limited - together referred to as Sony - in the video game distribution market for PlayStation consoles.

The competition authority has indications that Sony may have abused its dominant position in the video game console market both by selling online video games compatible with PlayStation consoles exclusively through the PlayStation Store platform and by prohibiting the sale of game activation codes video compatible with PlayStation consoles by competing distributors.

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 discouraging of Romanian studios from developing video games compatible with PlayStation.

Sony's PlayStation brand consoles are preferred by Romanian gamers, according to public information, in Romania there are approximately 1.3 million console video game users and 127 video game development studios that would be affected by this possible anti-competitive practice of Sony.

As part of this investigation, the Competition Council carried out inspections at Sony's premises in Europe to gather information and evidence.

The inspections are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents necessary to clarify the possible anti-competitive practices analyzed. Doing so does not prejudge the companies' guilt.
 
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lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
Ehh why?
More choices is better for consumer. If companies like Microsoft and Sony would be obliged to provide vouchers for digital games inside other stores you could have competition that would drive price down.
Why would you be against that?
I mean the exclusive game part
 

jm89

Member
Does romania have third party psn credit sellers?

In the UK at least this hasn't been a problem for me personally, as you can get a pretty decent discount on psn credit through sellers like shopto.

But yeah digital game resellers would be nice. It will make me a bit more welcoming of the digital future.
 
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Dr.brain64

Member
Sony's PlayStation brand consoles are preferred by Romanian gamers, according to public information, in Romania there are approximately 1.3 million console video game users and 127 video game development studios that would be affected by this possible anti-competitive practice of Sony.
 
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Roufianos

Member
"PlayStation is bad for selling digital PlayStation games only through the PlayStation Store."

So fucking stupid.
The issue is the fact they don't allow alternative means of purchase, not that they simply sell games. For example, on Xbox you can buy redemption codes for various games.

All the people shitting on investigations like these will be the same ones bitching when physical is dead and Sony, one of the company's that pioneered the £70/$70 price point, are free to charge whatever they feel.
 
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Godot25

Banned
I mean the exclusive game part
Well. It's true. Currently, you can't buy digital game for PlayStation outside of PlayStation Store. Which is a point of this probe.
Only way you can "circumvent" this is to buy PS Credit with voucher and then buy game on PlayStation Store. Which is not a great solution.

As I said. It would be great for consumer if both Microsoft and Sony had to provide vouchers with games into stores or ability to buy a code from third-party side, like you can for Steam. It would drive prices of digital games lower and would be a win for consumers.
 

dDoc

Member
Didn't some entity/person already raise this matter to court against Sony?

Anyone aware of the result of that attempt?

Sony not allowing vouchers to be used on it's store should not be a thing for the benefit of the consumer. :)
 

The Cockatrice

Gold Member
Romanian here. Im assuming with the rise of digital future, having multiple cheaper selling options is a good thing for everyone. U can certainly buy steam games from a lot of third party key sellers for cheaper prices and you have more options when it comes to sales, you dont have to wait for a steam sale to pick a game cheaper, you can just go on humble, cdkeys or whatever else and get it when its on sale there. Playstation doesnt allow that. Is it anti-consumer? Eh, not really, doubt the council will succeed but in our poor ass country where the average income is extremely low, we do rely on sales/cheaper keys which is what probably started this.
 

Mr Branding

Member
Romanian here. Im assuming with the rise of digital future, having multiple cheaper selling options is a good thing for everyone. U can certainly buy steam games from a lot of third party key sellers for cheaper prices and you have more options when it comes to sales, you dont have to wait for a steam sale to pick a game cheaper, you can just go on humble, cdkeys or whatever else and get it when its on sale there. Playstation doesnt allow that. Is it anti-consumer? Eh, not really, doubt the council will succeed but in our poor ass country where the average income is extremely low, we do rely on sales/cheaper keys which is what probably started this.
Hai noroc
 

Moses85

Member
Who in the world gives a fuck about romania

Michael Jordan Lol GIF


A country full of thieves and currupt people
 
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reksveks

Member
Didn't some entity/person already raise this matter to court against Sony?

Anyone aware of the result of that attempt?

Sony not allowing vouchers to be used on it's store should not be a thing for the benefit of the consumer. :)
There was one that was dismiss I think but there is still one I think active in California.

 

reksveks

Member
It essentially boils down to how digital market act is gonna be implemented. Gaming market will be affected sooner or later. That's why it was stupid for Sony to defend their "high performance home console" market.
I am still wondering how much ps/orbis os users need to grow to be caught by the DMA.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Seems we may be entering a new era where ecosystems are more regulated than before. Not entirely against the idea really. But if they are going after something then prioritize Sony's shitty refund policy (or lack thereof) over activation codes.
 

Perrott

Member
The issue is the fact they don't allow alternative means of purchase, not that they simply sell games. For example, on Xbox you can buy redemption codes for various games.

All the people shitting on investigations like these will be the same ones bitching when physical is dead and Sony, one of the company's that pioneered the £70/$70 price point, are free to charge whatever they feel.
I mean, why would they? They'd earn less money that way.

I feel this is more of an issue of retailers being unable to compete in today's climate of digital media dominance, but oh they are getting what they deserve. Remember the used physical games debacle from a decade ago? That was all on them, hell, that whole shitshow even played its part in driving the old THQ out of business, killed a bunch of promising franchises and planted the seed for the over saturation of open-world games that we saw during the last generation of consoles, so fuck them.
 
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Astray

Member
It essentially boils down to how digital market act is gonna be implemented. Gaming market will be affected sooner or later. That's why it was stupid for Sony to defend their "high performance home console" market.
That depends on a lot of things imo.

Also the FTC came up with the high performance thing, not Sony.
 
That depends on a lot of things imo.

Also the FTC came up with the high performance thing, not Sony.
But Sony agreed with them (and aggressively pushed for it claiming that Nintendo was for children, had no violent games and so on), unlike Microsoft who tried to argue that Nintendo was also part of the market (everybody remembers those funny slides with Bayonetta and so on).

Anyway, as high performance home console market now exists as a real entity, Sony might find itself in a position where MSFT was in 90s...
 
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Three

Gold Member
If this gets any traction it would mean Google play and Apple app store would need to introduce app specific vouchers instead of the store credit they sell in retail stores.

It makes no difference anyway because they get the same percentage of the store credit they sell. It just prevents having to manage individual code inventory for every app or game.
 
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Unknown?

Member
Romanian here. Im assuming with the rise of digital future, having multiple cheaper selling options is a good thing for everyone. U can certainly buy steam games from a lot of third party key sellers for cheaper prices and you have more options when it comes to sales, you dont have to wait for a steam sale to pick a game cheaper, you can just go on humble, cdkeys or whatever else and get it when its on sale there. Playstation doesnt allow that. Is it anti-consumer? Eh, not really, doubt the council will succeed but in our poor ass country where the average income is extremely low, we do rely on sales/cheaper keys which is what probably started this.
Then they should also sue all three for digital only allowing you a license to play games and not actually own a copy of the software.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
"PlayStation is bad for selling digital PlayStation games only through the PlayStation Store."

So fucking stupid.

You could buy digital codes for PlayStation 4 games off other retailers. Still mandatory activation on PSN, but at least you had options where to put your payment details or could use gift cards etc.

Sony stopped that in 2019


So no, it’s not ‘stupid’.
 
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