Sony fined in France for blocking third-party PS4 controllers

During the PS4 generation, it was well known that Sony did not approve of third-party controllers. In fact, we haven’t seen for a while DualShock 4 alternatives beyond the offerings of world famous brands. Well, in France they decided that this situation should not be forgotten and fined the Japanese giant.

PowerThe French competition regulator concluded that Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited, Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. KK and Sony Interactive Entertainment France, subsidiaries of Sony Corp., They abused their market power by banning third-party PS4 controllers for over four years.. So the parent company of PlayStation will have to pay fine of 13.5 million euros ($14.8 million).

On the other hand, it is important to note that the Sony audit began after subsonicFrench video game accessories maker will file a complaint with authorities over Sony’s obstruction.

“At the direction of Subsonic, a French game controller manufacturer, the agency fined Sony for abusing its dominant position in the PlayStation 4 game controller market for more than four years.

Authority.

How Sony blocked third-party controllers

According to an investigation conducted by the regulator, Sony has resorted to two anti-competitive practices to block third party PS4 controllers.

First, he implemented a number of technical measures whose goal was to combat piracy of original PS4 accessories. Using software they could call disabling third-party control when the console updated its operating system. While the regulator acknowledges that the measure was aimed at combating counterfeit products, they also believe that Sony abused its system to block unlicensed control.

Similarly, Sony launched unclear policy about how a third party can obtain permission to manufacture and sell PS4 controllers. This made it easier for Sony to exclude smaller companies from participating in its licensing program. This explains why over the years we have only seen controllers from well-known brands on the market. Razer, Scuf and Nacon, to name just a few examples.

“By refusing to communicate licensing program access criteria to manufacturers who requested them, Sony applied them at its own discretion when access was the only way to avoid blackouts.”

Authority.

According to Autorité, these two practices “significantly damaged the brand image of the affected third-party manufacturers in the eyes of both consumers and distributors, slowing their expansion in the market and causing their eventual exclusion.”

A fine too, of course. warning for sony in case you’re doing the same with third-party controls for the PlayStation 5, the current generation console. It remains to be seen whether manufacturers from other countries will also rely on the relevant authorities to file a complaint similar to Subsonic’s…