" News: Nintendo of Europe Accused
Sep 1st 2003 12:12 by Ash
Nintendo, and seven of it´s distributors in Europe, have been accused of inflating game prices.
The European Commission has imposed a fine of 167.8 million euro on Nintendo and seven of it´s official distributors from preventing exports to high-priced countries from low-priced countries. Prices of games and consoles are different from one European country to another during the period investigated.
It is reported that the UK is up to 65% cheaper than Germany and than Netherlands. John Menzies Plc, Nintendo´s UK distributors, have been fined 8.64 million euro.
Nintendo and it´s distributors joined together to prevent export from one country to another. Traders who ignored this were punished with smaller shipments or a complete boycott.
The EU´s Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said: " 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 and we will not tolerate collusive behaviour intended to keep prices artificially high".
Source: European Information Network"
http://www.cube-europe.com/news.php?nid=5296
En gros nintendo se prend un procès en maintenant les prix des jeux et consoles plus haut dans certains pays que dans d´autres ( 60 E en france, 40 en UK), et empêchant l´importation, boycottant les magsins qui s´y opposait. L´UE n´ pas apprecié, résultat, 168 millions D´Euros d´amende! Pas la peine de se demander ou va le chiffre d´affaire de Nintendo...
Pourtant, Sony et MS font pareil... mais pas d´amende pour eux, surement car ils sont moins sévères avec l´import...
