Sony and PlayStation are currently under investigation by the Competition Council in Romania for allegedly
having anticompetitive practices in the European country. According to the entity, PlayStation might be abusing the power it has in the industry by only selling their content and devices through the PlayStation Official Store, and not allowing other minor distributors to sell their products. A part of the statement, translated from Romanian language, reads:
The Competition Council has found that Sony may have abused its dominant position in the video game market by selling their consoles and titles exclusively on the PlayStation Store platform, as well as through the ban of activation codes for video games compatible with PlayStation consoles for their smaller competitors. This affects the pricing of the products, and also discourages Romanian studios to develop PlayStation games.
In this sense, the situation makes purchase options for users a lot more difficult and puts Sony and PlayStation in a much more advantageous position, as it grants full control over the prices they offer. Later on the report, the Romanian Competition Council revealed that PlayStation is the best-selling brand among the Romanian consumer, so it becomes imperative to regulate any anticompetitive practice coming from the multinational company.
In consequence, further inspections were carried out in the offices of Sony located in Romania, with the objective of getting information and files that allow for a prompt resolution of this situation. However, there has not been any final statement at the moment and authorities have only collected information to study the case, at least so far.