According to the latest public verdict of the French regulatory agency Autorité de la Concurrence, Sony is suspected of abusing their position in the gaming industry by maliciously destroying third-party controllers through system updates of PS4 consoles, directly restricting their use, so Sony will face A fine of 13.5 million euros.
The regulator fined Sony for two violations, including a 2015 system update for the PlayStation 4 console that caused sporadic disconnections in many unofficial controllers. As for another reason why they faced fines, it was because Sony refused to contact third-party controller manufacturers seeking formal cooperation to ensure that the official PS4 controller could maintain its original status. It is worth noting that the punishment is limited to controller issues in the PS4 console era, and third-party controllers of the newer PS5 console are not included. According to preliminary reports from Competition Policy International, Sony has not yet issued any response to this wave of punishments.
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Regarding the PS4 console system update released at that time, the regulatory agency determined that its purpose was to restrict or combat counterfeit products, rather than to conduct a comprehensive sweep against third-party controllers. However, it is still an inappropriate countermeasure because it will seriously affect the connection problems of some third-party controllers, destroy the user experience, and thus cause damage to the goodwill of third-party manufacturers. In addition, Autorité de la Concurrence also accused Sony of being unwilling to formally cooperate with some companies hoping to obtain official certification. Therefore, the unit determined that these two practices “seriously harmed” the market and proved that Sony abused their position in the industry and deliberately undermined the sales performance of unauthorized third-party controllers.
Although this verdict is limited to the PS4 console period, the problem of third-party controllers has not subsided in this generation. Whether it’s PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo, officially released controllers are increasingly priced. Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine why some players choose versions released by third-party manufacturers when purchasing additional controllers.
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