French authorities have fined SONY 13.5 million for abusing its market position in controllers.
Regulatory authorities in France have slapped SONY with a hefty fine of 13.5 million dollars. The company is accused of abusing its market position when supplying its PlayStation 4 controller.
The punishment was imposed in December for two main reasons.
SONY is said to have taken technical measures in the fight against counterfeits as early as 2015. However, legitimate functions of third-party controllers were also affected by being disabled during system updates.
Another accusation is that it prevents competing companies from participating in the PlayStation licensing program. Access is only possible through the SONY partnership program.
According to the French authorities, SONY refused to provide manufacturers with access criteria when requested. Instead, they stated that they applied these criteria at their own discretion.
The authority sees these practices as causing significant damage to the brand image of third-party manufacturers, which also prevented market expansion.
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