Sony under scanner after US Senator requests access to PlayStation’s exclusivity deals

Sony PlayStation has been under a lot of heat lately due to its involvement in the Xbox and Activision Blizzard deal. The console giant has been trying to block the merger on anti-competition grounds but is now facing questions over its own activities. North Dakota Republican Senator Kevin Cramer has requested greater insights into how Sony conducts its exclusivity deals with third-party publishers.

Cramer tweeted that he sent a letter to Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida regarding the company's "anti-competitive behavior" and to request information on its acquisition agreements.

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Sony and PlayStation won’t appreciate the scanners on their own deals

Kramer, incidentally, isn’t the first US senator to have raised questions about Sony PlayStation’s deals. However, his set of queries is much more comprehensive. Explaining that his concerns are pertinent to his constituency and how they might be affected, he stated:

“I am concerned Sony’s dominance of that market, and its efforts to perpetuate its current position imperils an important economic development opportunity for North Dakota.”

In his letter, Kramer also emphasizes how students are being prepared in computer science and cyber security, and that some of them will also be working in video games, which could be disrupted by the deals Sony and PlayStation make.

“Given the growing significance of the gaming industry to North Dakota, I am troubled by reports Sony appears to leverage its cominance to exclude competition rather than enabling choice for players and developers.”

Kramer also raised the issue of paying third-party publishers to keep their games off a particular platform. He strongly feels that such practices, which are meant to establish market dominance, are incredibly anti-competitive and unfair to consumers. He wrote:

“Increasingly, it appears Sony’s dominance is attributable to exclusionary practices, including paying game publishers not to distribute their games on rival platforms.”

Kramer also pointed out that Sony and PlayStation’s attempts to block the Xbox deal made even less sense after the former acquired Bungie in 2023.

Kramer has asked for several documents from Sony:

• All details of third-party exclusivity deals related to their distribution.
• All details of third-party exclusivity deals that stop a publisher from releasing the games on particular platforms.
• Internal documents surrounding the Bungie deal.
• Documents surrounding correspondence with US agencies surrounding competitive practices in the video game industry.

It remains to be seen how the Japanese giants respond to this latest round of grilling by a US senator.