American Congressmen also got involved in the Microsoft-Sony war. Allegedly, Sony is unfairly damaging Xbox in Japan.
The years-long rivalry between Microsoft and Sony has also moved to a political dimension. After the company bought Blizzard-Activision, the rivalry, which flared up, eventually turned into a war, and both companies are using all their leverage.
Sony unfairly harms Xbox in Japan
axiosThe letter, signed by four Republicans from the House of Representatives, including Carol Miller (RW.Va.) and Mike Carey (R-Ohio), said, “Today, we may violate the spirit of the US-Japan Digital Trade Agreement. “We are writing to draw your attention to the volatile Japanese video game market, which we are concerned may be the result of a discriminatory trading practice.”
According to the letter, Sony PlayStation allegedly owns 98% of the “high-end console market in Japan”, has signed deals designed to keep hit Japanese games off Microsoft’s Xbox, and that such moves “will violate Japan’s antitrust laws”. may violate”.
The letter continues: “The effective no-prosecution policy of the Japanese government in the case of Sony appears to be a serious barrier to US exports, with a large number of US games with Microsoft selling worldwide but seeing their earnings in Japan fall due to these practices. It creates real impacts for its developer and publisher.”
Considering the commercial dimension of the conflict between the two companies, we can see that this is a step taken to protect American interests. However, at the end of the day, we are also afraid of a development that may affect the players.