Japan watchdog warns Sony unit over price controls
Tokyo, Jan 20: Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog on Tuesday ordered Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, a unit of Sony Corp, to stop controlling the retail price of software for its hugely popular PlayStation games console.The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said Sony Computer violated Japan's anti-monopoly laws by requiring retailers to sell software for the PlayStation machine at a fixed price. But a company spokeswoman said Sony Computer had not done anything wrong and would not accept the FTC's order. ``We are confident that our business practices did not violate anti-monopoly laws and we do not plan to accept the FTC's order,'' she said. Sony Computer had also been asking retailers not to sell second-hand software for the PlayStation, the FTC said. Software for the Playstation is produced by independent game companies in cooperation with Sony. The FTC said Sony restricted retailers by requiring them to sell its software only to consumers, while making wholesalers sell only to retailers. If a client did
not comply, Sony Computer stopped shipments to it or terminated its business contracts, the FTC said. Sony Computer must respond by January 30 on whether it intends to follow the FTC's order. The PlayStation game console has enjoyed huge success in Japan since it was launched in December 1994. A wide selection of available software helped the 32-bitgame console to capture the largest share of the Japanese market for new home game machines shortly after its launch. The FTC said PlayStations had a 48 per cent share of the game machine market in 1996/97 and PlayStation-compatible software had 46 per cent of the software game market.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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