Sony finds itself in deep trouble in Europe following an investigation by one of the member countries. What to expect legally speaking?

This time it is not Microsoft which is accused of anti-competitive practices (in the context of the acquisition of the publisher Activision Blizzard) but rather Sony. More specifically, a member country of the European Union is looking into the case of PlayStation. What destabilize the manufacturer?

PlayStation and Justice

Simply put, the Romanian Competition Council (RCC) has opened an antitrust investigation against sony for restricting the sale of PlayStation digital games to its PS Store . This is not the first time that Sony has been investigated for this type of practice. Indeed, the company had already faced similar lawsuits in the United States last year for the same reasons, one of which was dismissed. Sony had denied the practices en bloc and had asked the Californian courts to dismiss the lawsuit. This motion was accepted unconditionally.

As well-known forum user ResetEra Idas mentions, the Romanian government body RCC claims that Sony may have violated Romanian competition laws by forcing gamers to purchase digital games through the PS Store, the only solution. for consumers. The icing on the cake, the authority believes that Sony may have abused its dominant position in the console market by banning the sale of games through competing distributors. Not bad is not it ?

Romania looks into the Sony case

The notorious RCC claims that Sony has reduced purchasing options for gamers, allowing it to charge high prices for games. Of course, like Apple, when everything remains in-house on the same store, the owner can apply the prices he wants without any competition. Except that it doesn’t seem to happen in Romania. Note also that Sony/PlayStation is the only console manufacturer that does not authorize the sale of digital game codes via third parties. Currently Romania is carrying out inspections at Sony’s European offices to find more evidence on the matter. It remains to be seen now what will come out of all this, it is hard to imagine PlayStation having to pay something as much as it does not seem to pose any problems elsewhere in Europe.

What do you think of this revelation about Romania and Sony? Do you thinks on your side that the manufacturer has anti-competitive practices ?