For many months, we have been watching the dispute between Microsoft and Sony unfold. The Japanese oppose the merger of the Redmond giant with Activision Blizzard for fear that it monopolizes the gaming market. Meanwhile, US politicians are drawing attention to an interesting side of the issue.
Meanwhile, the Japan Trade Commission Approved Acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoftas reported by, among others. Verge reporter Tom Warren.
It turns out that antitrust proceedings can be a double-edged sword. As the fierce months-long legal battle rages over the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, the Xbox maker’s biggest competitor, Sony, is accused of breaking the same rules in its own “backyard”. Members of the US Congress have pointed out the huge advantage of PlayStation consoles over the company’s devices from Redmond in Japan.
The diseased domination of Sony in Japan
The case was publicized by 11 Republican congressmen. It all started a few days ago, when Senator Maria Cantwell pulled out the big guns during a chat with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, describing Sony as the dominant player in the “high-end console” market.
According to the politician the Tokyo-based company controls up to 98% of the Japanese market, preventing Microsoft from facing healthy competition. They sent the relevant documents to the aforementioned Trade Representative and Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, hoping for a straight answer.
Are the Japanese breaking the law?
The materials contains opinions that Japanese politicians deliberately do not bring criminal charges against Sony, which should have a direct impact on Microsoft’s financial losses.
Xbox in Japan has never had it easy; Source: YouTube/BREAKIFIER
Additionally, politicians citing market violations by Sony in Japan cite Article 8 of the 2019 U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement in their documents. It speaks of “non-discriminatory treatment of digital products”.
Here, however, there is a problem: while video games can be considered a product included in this document, it is quite difficult to consider consoles as such.
And Mario and company?
It is also interesting to note that The documents produced by the 11 Republicans made no mention of the company which, at this point, overtakes both Microsoft and Sony in console sales. We are of course talking about Nintendo..
With Switch, the Kyoto-based company overtakes Xbox and PlayStation sales, but its name pops up in discussion, helped by its use of the tagline: “high-end consoles”. It can be concluded that members of Congress are primarily interested in hitting Sony and, so to speak, to retaliate against that company’s attacks on Microsoft.
Positive reaction from the Redmond giant
It doesn’t change the fact that it’s a nice change of pace for Microsoft. After all, the company has long been accused of antitrust violations. In such a position, it is not surprising that the deputies reacted positively to the initiative of a group of Republican politicians.
Microsoft spokesman David Cuddy in an interview for Axios said that a discussion is needed on Sony’s unfair behavior in the Japanese market and expressed satisfaction that the issue was raised. He further added that his government affairs team discussed the documents with members of Congress.
For its part Sony has not commented on the issue at this time.. Time will tell how the issue evolves and whether the arguments of Republican politicians will find applause from members of the Joe Biden administration.