A concerned US Senator, Kevin Cramer, has penned an open letter to Sony’s CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida, requesting information about the company’s game exclusivity deals. Senator Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, expressed worry about Sony’s anti-competitive behavior and its potential impact on economic development opportunities in his state.
In the letter, Senator Cramer highlighted North Dakota’s efforts to lead the nation in computer science and cybersecurity education, with a focus on preparing students for careers in gaming. He expressed concern that Sony’s dominance in the gaming console market may hinder competition and limit choice for players and developers.
US Senator Wants Sony to Disclose PlayStation Exclusive Deals
Senator Cramer further accused Sony of engaging in exclusionary practices, including allegedly paying game publishers not to distribute their games on rival platforms. He also pointed out Sony’s opposition to Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard as an example of anticompetitive conduct. Senator Cramer found it particularly troubling that Sony’s lobbying of regulatory agencies coincided with its own acquisition of Bungie.
Towards the end of his letter, Senator Cramer respectfully requested unredacted copies of certain documents from Yoshida. He specifically asked for:
- All agreements that grant Sony exclusive distribution rights for third-party games.
- All agreements between Sony and third-party publishers that restrict them from releasing their games on other gaming systems.
- All internal company documents that outline the strategic rationale behind Sony’s decision to acquire Bungie.
- All correspondence, including emails and letters, between Sony and US government or regulatory agencies pertaining to video game competition.
I sent Sony Corporation a letter regarding its anti-competitive behavior and to request information on the company’s acquisition agreements. https://t.co/9hRkuw5JFF
— Sen. Kevin Cramer (@SenKevinCramer) April 13, 2023
Senator Cramer emphasized the importance of obtaining these documents to gain a better understanding of Sony’s business practices and their potential impact on competition in the gaming industry. He thanked Yoshida in advance for providing the requested information in an unredacted form.
Senator Cramer’s letter adds to the growing chorus of US lawmakers who have accused Sony of anti-competitive behavior. Last month, both Republican and Democrat members of Congress sent letters to US trade representatives, calling for action on Sony’s alleged exclusivity deals. They urged for the issue to be raised during trade talks with Japan.
Read more article from Ayyadana Akbar on Gitecc via this link. You can also comment on this article via Facebook below.
Also check our LIST and Guide for more exciting original articles.
If you’re english speaker, you can check our english page on this link. This page is only host some news and not LIST or Guide. Beware that some of our english articles will use machine translation and manual editing since this website is built for Indonesian readers.
Please disable your Adblocks since our website solely live by ads, we promise would not show disturbing ads to you.
