Nintendo guilty of price fixing says EC's Mario
Japanese computer games maker Nintendo was fined €148m by the European Commission today for price fixing.
The company and seven of its European distributors were fined a total of €167m for keeping prices in some European markets high by illegally collaborating to limit cross-border sales during the 1990s.
Nintendo’s share of the fine was €148m.
The fine on Nintendo was fourth largest ever handed down by the EU’s antitrust authorities on an individual company for a single offence.
The Commission said the heavy fine reflected Nintendo’s size in the market and its role as the ”driving force behind the illicit behaviour.”.
The Commission said the company prevented distributors selling its goods from cheaper EU countries, such as Britain, to those like Germany and the Netherlands where they were up to 65% more expensive.
“Every year, millions of European families spend large amounts of money on video games. They have the right to buy the games and consoles at the lowest price the market can possibly offer,” said EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti.
“We will not tolerate collusive behaviour intended to keep prices artificially high.”
The Commission said Nintendo and the distributors ”intensively collaborated” to uncover traders who made price-cutting cross-border sales. Such traders were ”punished by being given smaller shipments or by being boycotted altogether,” the Commission said.
The collusion continued from 1991 to 1998, the Commission said, even after Nintendo, makers of such popular games as Super Mario, know it was under investigation.
In Japan, Nintendo said did not contest the charges, but intended to appeal against the size of its fine claiming the case against it was based on information voluntarily submitted by the company.
A spokesman said the company had already made preparations to cover the size of the fine and insisted it would have no impact on earnings.
