Because Sony’s anti-piracy measures ensured that controllers from other manufacturers did not work as well as they should have, Sony now has to pay millions.
Why does Sony have to pay? In France, the local competition authority has fined Sony one million. This followed a complaint from the French controller manufacturer Subsonic.
Subsonic reported Sony for issues with compatibility and lack of communication while trying to participate in the licensing program.
In response, the French competition authority launched an investigation, resulting in Sony having to pay a fine of 13.5 million euros.
Last year, Sony announced some new games; you can see which ones in the video.
Sony caused the competition to suffer
Why did the competition suffer? The controller manufacturer Subsonic reportedly had recurring issues with controllers not reconnecting after console software updates. As a result, users of third-party controllers had to reconnect them repeatedly.
Additionally, the controller manufacturer allegedly had difficulties joining Sony’s licensing program because Sony was unwilling to share information about it. This is said to have hindered the development of the controllers.
What did the French authority find out? The French authority was able to attribute the connection issues to Sony’s anti-piracy measures. These measures caused the controllers to need to reconnect repeatedly.
These measures have been in place since 2015, which is a considerable time during which Subsonic had to struggle with these issues.
Furthermore, the authority found misconduct on Sony’s part regarding communication within the licensing program. The authority determined that Sony had indeed previously refused to communicate conditions and criteria for participating in the licensing program.
These circumstances led to Sony now having to pay a fine of 13.5 million euros. While this is not a large amount for the company, it creates a precedent that can show other companies that such actions against third-party providers are not allowed. Not only in France but also in the USA, lawsuits are being filed against Sony regarding controllers.
