• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Axios: 11 members of Congress argue Sony is unfairly hurting Xbox in Japan

Arubedo

Arubedo

Unshakable Resolve
Member
Dec 24, 2018
1,088
Morocco

View: https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1640465809448534017?s=20


Driving the news: Policymakers raised concerns last week to Biden officials, saying Sony's business practices in its native Japan are blocking U.S. companies from competing in that country's gaming market and could be running afoul of U.S.-Japan trade deals.

What they're saying: "Today, we write to bring to your attention the imbalanced Japanese video game market, which we are concerned may be a result of a discriminatory trade practice that could violate the spirit of the U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement," states one of the letters, signed by four Republicans from the House, including Carol Miller (R-W.Va.) and Mike Carey (R-Ohio).

"Sony's anti-competitive tactics deserve discussion, and we welcome further investigation to ensure a level playing field in the video game industry," Microsoft spokesperson David Cuddy told Axios.
 
ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

DF Deet Master
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
61,987
MS trying to Admiral Perry those games onto Xbox

or are just being ridiculously petty
 
LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
This reeks of insane desperation from Microsoft for any kind of Japanese market share they can muster. oof
 
Plinkerton

Plinkerton

Member
Nov 4, 2017
6,061
Short of starting a trade war, what can the US government do about market competition in another country?
 
Fatmanp

Fatmanp

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,439
Oh Sony look what you did. By having the high power console market defined as Xbox v PlayStation you have put yourselves in the crosshairs.
 
--R

--R

Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,810
pure-xbox-ps4-playstation-4-sony-1.large.jpg


This kid was paid by Sony. Wake up, sheeples.
 

Deleted member 93062

Account closed at user request
Banned
Mar 4, 2021
24,767
CanisMajoris said:
None of this matters or will prevent/restrict Sony from making acquisitions in Japan, EU or US.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This specific thing likely doesn't matter. However, it definitely seems like a canary in a coal mine in regard to regulators and the games industry. After this whole ABK business, Sony and Microsoft have aired enough dirty laundry that I have a feeling EU/UK regulators might take a deeper look into the game industry and its practices.
 
ragolliangatan

ragolliangatan

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Aug 31, 2019
4,495
I think the only one hurting Xbox in Japan is Microsoft

Must be funny to be a Nintendo exec and watch Sony/MS just airing dirty laundry for the past year or so
 
Bold One

Bold One

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
18,911
American exceptionalism at its finest.

Imagine running to the president to complain about another company's dominance on their own home turf.
 
M.Bluth

M.Bluth

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,264
This is laughable. I'm sure Microsoft doesn't miss whatever they paid the lobbyists that got this going, but their money could be better spent.

But then again, this nonsense is cheaper than actually putting the time and money into the Japanese market.
 
Host Samurai

Host Samurai

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,185
just giving Sony some more publicity with that.

It's also admirable for Congress to be concerned about poor trillion-dollar Microsoft while the world burns, economic inequality grows, and mass shootings become more common.
 
RedHeat

RedHeat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,691
This seems like something made for headlines Microsoft executives try to cook up to in the vein attempt to claw some market space
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,975
Nobody in Japan is buying an Xbox, regardless of what Sony does. It's Nintendo and mobile phones Congress should be worried about over there.
 
dglavimans

dglavimans

Member
Nov 13, 2019
7,702
Crazy how different the opinion is since two weeks ago. This might blow up in Sony their face in a gigantic way
 
Bengraven

Bengraven

Member
Oct 26, 2017
26,913
Florida
User warned: Antagonistic behavior towards other members
P-Bo

P-Bo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jun 17, 2019
4,405
Oh my god, they're really trying to run with this clown shoes narrative lmao.
 
Zebesian-X

Zebesian-X

Member
Dec 3, 2018
19,785
Biden administration launching a trade war on Japan because they found out they couldn't pet Torgal on Series X

Who can blame them really
 
Dreazy

Dreazy

Member
Oct 25, 2018
2,016
This just keeps getting spicier uhoh Sony has to be regretting this whole COD thing now. Past week has been brutal
 
Menchi

Menchi

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,146
UK
Xbox could have the exact same library in Japan, hell, even a better library, it just wouldn't sell there. There simply is no brand recognition, and consoles are almost dead there

This is nationalistic theatre
 
Fatmanp

Fatmanp

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,439

Deleted member 93062

Account closed at user request
Banned
Mar 4, 2021
24,767
ragolliangatan said:
I think the only one hurting Xbox in Japan is Microsoft

Must be funny to be a Nintendo exec and watch Sony/MS just airing dirty laundry for the past year or so
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Eh. Even if we, unlike these representatives, include Nintendo, a duopoly in Japan going unregulated and one of the companies making the most anticipated game in Japan for like the past two years exclusive (specifically targeting Xbox) would receive a lot of criticism from this forum if it was any other industry.
Fatmanp said:
They argued that Nintendo could not be counted as a competitor because they dont offer high end hardware and games with realistic gfx. Ironically MS agreed to this but i think they knew this could be a way to press this issue later on if needed.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Microsoft did not agree to this. They fought pretty hard against it, Sony agreed with it though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.