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Forums - Gaming Discussion - 11 US Congressmen ask Biden Admin to pressure Japan over allowing Sony to buy console exclusivity deals

10 US Representatives and 1 US Senator, 4 republican and 7 democrat, have now sent letters to US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimonda asking them to pressure Japan on why the Japanese regulatory body (Japanese Fair Trade Commission) is allowing Sony to pay for anti-competitive console exclusivity deals with Japanese publishers and developers when Sony already holds a huge marketshare lead over Xbox in Japan.

The Republican letter alleges that Sony's PlayStation has 98% of the “high-end console market in Japan,” signs deals designed to keep hit Japanese games from Microsoft’s Xbox, and says such moves “may violate Japan’s antitrust laws". "The Japanese government’s effective policy of non-prosecution when it comes to Sony appears to be a serious barrier to U.S. exports, with real impacts for Microsoft and the many U.S. game developers and publishers that sell globally but see their earnings in Japan depressed by these practices,” the letter continues.

The letter signed by 6 Democrats contains similar statements.

Last edited by shikamaru317 - on 27 March 2023

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Pretty ironic that Sony pushed this idea that Nintendo doesn't compete for the same gamers as Xbox and Sony, and coined the term "high-end console market" in order to exclude Nintendo from regulatory consideration after Xbox suggested to regulators that Nintendo Switch is evidence that a gaming platform can not only survive, but thrive, without CoD releases, and now their own "high-end console market" terming is being used against them.

I doubt much will come of this though, even if Tai and Raimonda do pressure Japan on why the Japanese FTC is allowing these deals, I don't expect the Japanese FTC to actually start blocking Sony from making these timed and full console exclusive deals with JP devs and publishers in the future.

Last edited by shikamaru317 - on 27 March 2023

As I said in another thread, this has gotten petty and pathetic.

Totally Sony's fault.



Microsoft pays American politicians to publish false government-level statistics and tries to weaken Sony.

500.000 Dollar for US-Senatorin Maria Cantwell, by Microsoft- is that official now??!
Instead of producing their own big, legendary games - the biggest publishers and brands (Minecraft, Call of Duty, ect) are bought by Microsoft.

PS5 games that were in production at Bethesda have been canceled, according to the developer. So Microsoft lie again.
Nintendo is completely excluded from the statistics because they are too unimportant according to Microsoft. When asked why PlayStation is so much more popular in Japan, the response was cautious. The interest of the Japanese people probably doesn't matter. Microsoft also criticizes the fact that so few Japanese developers want to work with their group.

It is ironic that Microsoft accuses its competition of monopoly. Microsoft has bought more studios and ip's in recent years than Sony.
Sony could have bought maaaany the studios in the PS2 era, but didn't - because laws and rules come first in the world. the big US group Microsoft wants to take further steps to directly weaken Sony - even outside of America. In my opinion an absolute smear campaign!

Every gamer and multiplayer should shake their heads -.- It's unbelievable what a show MS pulls off

by the way, I'm curious: Is it true that the PlayStation 5 has been outselling the Xbox everywhere in the last time, worldwide? (USA, Japan/Europe/Asia)

Last edited by KazumaKiryu - on 27 March 2023

My theory? MS wants to buy something in Japan and asked for the US government's help to preemptively put some pressure into Japan so they don't block it.



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I knew Microsoft was incompetent and monopolistic, now I know they are also lobbyists



Was waiting for an article like this to be posted. When i do it, it gets shut down.



KazumaKiryu said:

PS5 games that were in production at Bethesda have been canceled, according to the developer. So Microsoft lie again.
Nintendo is completely excluded from the statistics because they are too unimportant according to Microsoft.

Bro.. you feeling alright? This is the most amount of spin iv seen in awhile and also extremly misleading with zero sources

It was Sony and the FTC who dismissed Nintendo. That was because MS signed a deal on Nintendo for CoD. So if you dismiss Nintendo than that means in Japan its the same thing. Which means Sony literally hold 90+% of the marketshare in Japan which is monopolistic. That needs to be investigated.

Also zero deals were signed for Redfall and Bethesda games. They are allowed to have exclusives just like Sony.

The fact you are painting MS as the corrupt one, you might want to look in your own backyard. 

And just for evidence

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/06/sony_doesnt_see_nintendo_as_a_major_rival_more_worried_about_microsoft_next_generation#:~:text=As%20for%20Nintendo%2C%20Sony%20doesn,younger%20than%20PlayStation's%20target%20audience.

Last edited by Azzanation - on 27 March 2023

LOL, these congressmen don't realize that Sony Interactive Entertainment - the one with Playstation - are as much an american company as MS.

Anyways, all this stuff is so much popcorn, the big movie studios should secure the rights to the movie. Although I suspect viewers might say, that the plot of the movie is too over the top and unrealisticly ridiculous.



3DS-FC: 4511-1768-7903 (Mii-Name: Mnementh), Nintendo-Network-ID: Mnementh, Switch: SW-7706-3819-9381 (Mnementh)

my greatest games: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

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bets: [peak year] [+], [1], [2], [3], [4]

Hilarious and sad. Just straight up sad.

The Japanese people are buying the Japanese console to play the Japanese games. Even if all the third party games were on Xbox - why would they choose the xbox over Sony?

MS dropped Japan hard. How much marketing have they done? How many third party deals did they make (like Eternal Sonata, tales of vesperia). How many JRPG did they make (like Blue dragon, Lost odyssey).



You are bound to love Earthbound.