The Romanian Competition Council is currently investigating Sony and PlayStation for alleged anti-competitive practices in Europe. According to the organization, PlayStation abuses the power it has in the industry to sell its digital content only through the PlayStation Store and not in third-party stores.
The authorities consider that this affects consumers and competition in the sector. For this reason, they recently made an inspection at Sony’s offices in Europe, in order to obtain information and documents to reach a conclusion and clarify the matter.
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Romania investigates PlayStation and Sony for allegedly harming the competition
Through a statement, the Romanian Competition Council reported a possible infringement of competition rules by Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe and its various subsidiaries, including PlayStation.
The agency says that Sony has abused its dominant position in the market “by selling online PlayStation-compatible video games exclusively through the PlayStation Store platform” and by prohibiting “the sale of activation codes for PlayStation-compatible video games for part of competing retailers.
From his perspective, this decreases the purchasing options players have and allows PlayStation to control prices. The Competition Council believes that these practices somehow help Sony to “dissuade Romanian studios” from “developing PlayStation-compatible games.”
The authorities revealed that PlayStation is the leading brand among Romanian gamers, so it is necessary to regulate any anti-competitive practices. Mainly since bad practices could harm 127 development studios in the region.
As of this writing, the agency has not reached any conclusions. He has only collected the information and material to be able to advance the case.
“The inspections are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents necessary to clarify the possible anti-competitive practices investigated. The inspections do not constitute a prior judgment on the guilt of the companies”, clarified the Competition Council of Romania
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