So, said like that, the schmilblick hardly makes sense. Why on earth would US officials poke their noses at PlayStation and Xbox sales in Japan? According to Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell, “Sony controls 98% of the high-tech games market, and despite this monopoly, the Japanese government allows them to buy exclusives from publishers, which is typical anti-competitive behavior.“. To understand Senator Cantwell’s figure, you should know that Sony has positioned itself as Microsoft’s only direct competitor, excluding Nintendo, which would occupy a separate market and would only be slightly impacted by an Activision-Blizzard takeover. .
Suddenly, you are lobbying
Lawmakers have proven to be very responsive to Sony’s arguments; even too much for their good. Everyone now recognizes that they are crushing (in the archipelago) their direct competitor, Microsoft, including by obtaining exclusive rights (temporary or not) from local developers. Take Final Fantasy XVI, for example, only announced for PS5. Alas, this hegemony would violate the US-Japan Digital Trade Agreement, which governs free digital trade between the United States and the country of Kyoto. Ratified in 2019, it notably includes article 9 stipulating non-discriminatory treatment between products, which would potentially be violated by Sony.
According to information fromAxios, Microsoft’s lobbying teams would be directly involved in this eruption of sudden complaints. Thus, six Democratic representatives from the state of Washington – stronghold of Microsoft – alerted the Biden administration to the situation. Four other Republicans outbid. To agree left and right in the USA, you have to do it.
This unprecedented tactic is only a new twist in this long commercial-judicial soap opera, the concrete consequences of which are quite hard to pin down. If ever the American government wishes to react, they will have to rub shoulders with the Japanese authorities, who will defend their own foal Sony.