LogInSony is accused of limiting third-party PlayStation 4 controllers.
Image credit: Calin Stan/Shutterstock
Recently, Sony received a big fine of €13.5 million (around $14.8 million) from Autorité de la Concurrence after the latter had revealed violations committed by the company. The first one involved Sony implementing technical measures in 2015 to combat counterfeiting, inadvertently affecting the functionality of third-party controllers and causing them to disconnect during system updates.
The second infraction centered on rival companies having difficulties with joining PlayStation's licensing program, with access only granted through Sony's partnership program. According to Autorité de la Concurrence, Sony refused to communicate the program access criteria to manufacturers upon request, claiming that the criteria were applied at its own discretion.
"The Autorité considers that the combination of these two practices significantly damaged the brand image of the third-party manufacturers affected, with regard to both players and distributors, slowing down their expansion in the market and leading to their possible foreclosure," stated the trade body.
As for now, the company has provided no comments on the matter.
In December, the company shared that the PS5 hit a new milestone of selling over 50 million copies and was trailing behind the PS4 in terms of sales by just one week.
Read the source here and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.