Sony Hit with French Fine for Allegedly Manipulating PS4 Controller Market

Oh NOW regulators want to start doing their jobs.

"The body found that the only controllers that reliably worked on PS4 were Sony's DualShock 4 and other officially licensed controllers"

So... its illegal to only allow licensed hardware to work properly with your console? What prevented these other 3rd parties from obtaining proper licensing?

they way Sony manipulate the controller market is by using potentiometers for the analogue sticks which fail and cause stick drift and refuse to use hall effect sensors that dont.

all so people buy replacement controllers and they make more money

A big fine. I don't know why third parties cannot buy licensing? I wonder how on earth Le french ClownieConcurrence allowed Windows to buy Call of Doodles when they are this keen on allowing third party software.

Bribes are the only answer.

Really?! This is such b***$**t!!

@trev666 They also manipulate the market by designing their controllers to be comfortable in the users hands.

It seems the agenda against Sony continues, I wonder who's funding and motivating all these 🤔. Didn't Microsoft recently say they are clamping down on unofficial controllers and only official ones would work properly? Will there be a lawsuit for that?

@UltimateOtaku91 not if the right people get the right bribe.

@KeanuReaves
DualShock 4 = definitely
DualSense 5 = I'm still not convinced, but the lack of DS5 compatible 3rd party controllers should be investigated. Most of them seem to be without any kind of vibration, not even DS4 levels?

@sanderson72 Honestly I don't see why they need to allow 3rd party controllers to work on it in the first place.

Imagine you made jigsaw puzzles and then your competition made a puzzle piece for it that didn't fit so they sued you and won.

I currently use the Razer Raiju Tournament Edition, and I have since 2019. It still works flawlessly, no stick drift or issues of any sort. Between 2014 and 2019 I went through 7 Official PS4 controllers and every single controller developed the exact same issue on the Left Analogue Stick.

@naruball I'm starting to feel like that's the case, Sony getting done for this and also getting done for their 30% store cut yet the competition gets away with it, very suspicious indeed.

So can I sue them because my "unofficial" game doesn't work in their console... Just seems a bit odd. Didn't apple do the same thing with their chargers? There's nothing wrong with not allowing unlicensed thing to work on your devices.

The dualshock 4 is still my favourite controller . It fit so snuggly in my hands, the dpad was beautiful and it was truly the perfect size🥴

The Dualsense on the other hand is a beast in comparison. Great controller in terms of technology mumbo jumbo, but it was not made for my small hands😭😭😭. Hopefully the more I use it I'll get used to it, but as of now its quite uncomfortable🥲

I never buy third party controllers but this seems quite shady from Sony.

On a separate note, I massively prefer the DS4 to the DualSense. Much more comfortable with no weird, sharp edges.

@MrMagic True - to be honest, the DS4 is still Sony's high point in terms of controllers - why would anyone want to use an unofficial one when the DS 4 is perfect?

DS 5 still gives me hand cramps and is just very cheap feeling (sharp edges, nasty Fisher Price PS 'button' and some very iffy feeling vibrations)

That's like Kellogs getting a fine because Tesco corn flakes taste crap 😂

I've played every ps console since ps1, and whenever I bought a third-party controller (for 1 and 2), it was always a substandard, compromised piece of tech. So, since ps3, I've always stuck with official ones.

Point being .... it's generally a false economy to buy a cheap knock-off alternative, and I don't really mind Sony (or Microsoft or Nintendo) being protective of their controller tech. If you're able to splash out £300-400 on a console, it's almost always worth paying (or saving up) for official peripherals.

Well, i am with Sony on this one. Why they are at fault for not allowing other controllers. Why would they do it. They created their product - console with controller. You do not like it, use smth else. Next step is Merc will be at fault that i cant put bmw engine in it. WTF....

The only third party controller I bought on PS4 was a razer controller. I can't remember what the fault was, but something wasn't working properly and I had to return it. Was working pretty well at first tho.

You gotta go big or go home...or go HORI

For those saying they're on Sony's side here, the key thing is that they're making it deliberately awkward and difficult for companies to even understand the licensing process. If a company wants to make and sell a licensed product then why make it a challenge for them?

@__jamiie I think it's because any 3rd party controller purchased doesn't put as much money into Sony's coffers as an official Sony one.
Let's not forget that this is the same company that won't let the DS4 be used on PS5 games for no real reason I can see.

@sanderson72 But then why give any third parties licences at all? It's bizarre.

Sony should also be looked at for disabling PS4 controllers in PS5 games, there is no reason for this to happen other than them forcing you to buy extra controllers for the PS5

@sanderson72 there is no reason whatsoever as they have identical button layouts and GT7 actually allows PS4 wheels to work and they all do just fine. I've got a Mayflash adapter to get my fighting stick to work in PS5 games and it does so just fine. Sony should be ashamed of themselves for ripping off their customers when it comes to controller compatability

As far I know, this only happened because a manufacturer leaked the keys and the firmware for DS4, and even then consumers were not affected because the firmware wasn't banned, you can still use it to flash a GP2040-CE arcade stick that will work on PS4/PS5 and a lot of chinese DS4 knockoffs use it too.

@NinjaNicky Except once I buy it it's MY device, not theirs.

I assume the investigation won't stop with the DS4. The Playstation 5 has been out on the public market for over three years now, and has yet to have a single third party controller available to mimic the capabilities of the DualSense.

And meanwhile the DualSense has been known to suffer from drifting; and the only option is to either get it repaired or spend $200 on a DS Edge.

@trev666 never had a controller fail from stick drift, and I've had em all since original dual shock.
I'm not saying they don't, but not by my hand.

How does stick drift occur? Am I the luckiest person to never have suffered it? Is it all that FIFA or cod? Kids have battered them to death with over enthusiasm and peeled the rubber coatings. But Dad's controller has always remained intact.

@UltimateOtaku91

It would be great if 8BitDo would make it possible to use the 8BitDo Wireless USB Adapter on Xbox and PlayStation as the Xbox controller and PlayStation controller can be used on the Nintendo Switch via this adapter.

https://www.8bitdo.com/wireless-usb-adapter/

Strange news IMO. From a consumer perspective I would never want to use third party unless they were licensed. And bootleg controllers usually suck.

@TheCollector316 Mount up, Regulators!

@RockLoi
Not quite. You own the device, but the original owner of the device, the manufacturer, is under no obligation to put in extra work to enable it to work the way you want it to (assuming you want to do things with the device that deviate from the manufacturer intends).

@TheCollector316 If there is an aftermarket economy built around the sale of your device then it should be held to the same standards that others are.

@__jamiie But why are they forced to license to everyone in the first place?

I don't see Coke or KFC being forced to sell their secret recipes to their competition or being made to show their competition how to make it taste exactly the same.

@homelesscretin I can understand what you mean a smaller option would be great for people with smaller hands.

@MrMagic They're not forced to. That's my point. Either make it a straightforward process or don't do it at all.

@__jamiie That still makes no sense. It should be up to them who they want to license it to. Say if a company had a history of shoddy products then Sony should have the right to refuse, and how difficult it is too obtain a licence should have no bearing at all.

Even way back in the PS1 era third party controllers sucked. I've never bought any since then and always had official controllers.

Also, how are some of your going through so many controllers? I've still got my original Dual Shock 4 controllers from 2014 and they work great. Same for my Dual Sense controllers. Got two when I got my PS5 and haven't experienced any drift or problems.

@MrMagic If they have a set programme to obtain a license but then make it easier for some companies to meet the standards than others, that's not fair. Either have a licensing programme or don't.

Now I can't help but reading every comment here with a French accent.

Something feels really off about this. While I don’t think that “only” licensed controllers should be compatible (therefore Microsoft should be fined and is the greater threat here), how many of these compatibility issues with 3rd party controllers are simply due to inferior components? I’ve had issues with 8BitDo on my Switch and they’re fine controllers that I’ll keep using, but not flawless. How were the tests performed to identify the licensing requirements as the problem and not the controller itself?