French regulator fines Sony over third-party controller practices

Sony has been fined 13.5 million euros by France’s antitrust regulator, after it was deemed to have abused its market position for the supply of PlayStation 4 controllers.

Autorité de la Concurrence announced the fine last month (via CPI), which it said was due to two primary infractions.

Firstly, it said Sony implemented technical measures in 2015 to combat counterfeiting, which inadvertently affected the proper functioning of third-party controllers, making them disconnect during system updates.

Secondly, it said that rival companies were impeded from joining PlayStation’s licensing program, with access only granted through Sony’s partnership program.

Autorité de la Concurrence said it uncovered that Sony refused to communicate the program access criteria to manufacturers upon request, claiming that the criteria were applied at Sony’s discretion.

“Sony applied the criteria in a discretionary manner, even though access to the program was the only way to avoid disconnections,” the body said in its announcement.

According to the body, these practices significantly damaged the brand image of third-party manufacturers and impeded their market expansion. Sony has not yet publicly responded to the fine.