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The Bundeskartellamt, or the Federal Cartel Office of Germany, has prohibited Amazon from continuing its practice of using mechanisms to control the prices charged by sellers on its platform in the country. Germanys competition regulator explained that the company uses various price control mechanisms to review prices set by third-party Markerplace sellers. If the website deems a specific listings pricing as too high, it allegedly removes the listing altogether or prevents it from being prominently displayed in the Buy Box section that lets you quickly purchase items. If those listings arent removed completely, theyre banished to less prominent sections like in the See all buying options and the Other sellers on Amazon lists. This reduced visibility could lead to significant losses in sales for sellers. Amazon was found to have engaged in anti-competitive practices, because the company itself runs its own retail business and sells goods on the platform. That makes third-party sellers, which make up for 60 percent of the items sold on the website, direct competitors. Cartel Office president Andreas Mundt said Amazon must only be allowed to influence competitors pricing in the most exceptional cases, such as in the event of excessive pricing. He didnt specify what the agency views as excessive pricing, but he said allowing the company to continue its current practices will give it the power to control the price level on the trading platform according to its own ideas. He also said that Amazon could use its mechanisms to compete with the rest of the online retail sector outsideof its own website. Amazons interference could lead to third-party sellers no longer being able to cover their own costs, forcing them out of the Marketplace, he added. Rocco Bräuniger, Amazons country manager for Germany, told Bloomberg that the company will appeal the ruling and will continue operating as usual. Amazon would be the only retailer in Germany forced to highlight non-competitive prices for customers, he said. This makes no sense for customers, sales partners, or competition. He also asserted that the offices decision will throttle innovation in the European Union. Amazon has been under scrutiny in Europe for years now. Back in 2022, it pledged not to use private sellers data to compete with them in the Marketplace in the EU. It also promised to give sellers "equal treatment when ranking them in the Buy Box section. The Bundeskartellamt considers this systematic interference in the Marketplace sellers freedom to set their own prices to constitute an abuse under the special provisions for large digital companies (Section 19a(2) of the German Competition Act (GWB)) as well as a violation of the general abuse provisions under Section 19 GWB and Article 102 TFEU, the agency wrote. In these proceedings, the Bundeskartellamt has worked closely with the European Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the EU Regulation on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector (Digital Markets Act).The agency is slapping Amazon with a fine due to those violations, but the $70 million penalty its asking for is merely partial payment based on the economic benefits the company enjoyed from its alleged anti-competitive behaviors. According to the Bundeskartellamt, the identified antitrust violations are still ongoing, so Amazon may have to pay more. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-germany-fined-70-million-for-influencing-third-party-marketplace-pricing-140000588.html?src=rss
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You will have to wait a bit longer before you can buy a Steam Machine and you may have to pay more for one, too. Valve had intended to release the console-style SteamOS-powered device in early 2026, and AMD CEO Lisa Su just claimed that the company was on track to start shipping it soon. But in a new post detailing the latest updates for its upcoming Steam products, Valve has revealed that while its still aiming to start selling the console in the first half of the year, it has yet to decide on concrete pricing and a launch date for it. The release of Valves upcoming Steam Frame VR headset and controller will be delayed, as well.Valve was hoping to be able to announce pricing and launch dates by now. The company cited industry-wide memory and storage shortages, which have grown since the Steam devices announcement, as the culprit for the delay. It explained that it has to rethink their exact shipping schedules and pricing due to the limited availability and the rising prices of those components. We will keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible, Valve wrote. As The Wall Street Journal recently reported, the artificial intelligence industry has been hoovering up manufacturers available memory chips and hard drives for its infrastructure developments. That has led to shortages for other industries, like PCs and phones. The Steam Machine is a compact cube-like PC for gaming powered by a semi-custom AMD CPU and GPU. Valve said during its announcement that it has roughly six times the horsepower of the Steam Deck and can support 4K gaming at 60 FPS with FSR. In the new post, Valve said that majority of Steam titles played great at those settings during testing, though some required more upscaling than others and may fare better when played at a lower framerate to maintain a 1080p resolution. It also revealed that you will have easy access to the Machines SSD and memory if you want to upgrade them. Meanwhile, the Steam Frame is a wireless, standalone VR headset that can play both PC and Android games. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/valve-pushes-back-steam-machine-launch-due-to-storage-and-memory-shortage-133000103.html?src=rss
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Sony has now shipped 92.2 million PlayStation 5 consoles in total around the world, but sales were down sharply over the holiday season compared to last year. In its latest earnings report, the company said it shipped eight million PS5s during its key third quarter, 1.5 million (16 percent) lower than in the same period last year. The gaming division still made more profit, though, thanks to a boost in software sales and a low yen.Sonys first two quarters this fiscal year saw an increase in PS5s sold, so the holiday decline is a bit surprising. That said, sales during the same period the previous year were an outlier at 9.5 million units sold, far and away its best period since the console went on sale in November 2020.Software sales, however, were exceptional in Q3 this year. Sony sold 97.2 million games compared to 95.9 million the year before, and boosted digital sales to 76 percent, up 2 percent year-over-year. Sony said it also saw a record 132 million monthly active users on the PlayStation Network. New games on the horizon for PS5 include Resident Evil Requiem (February 27), Avowed (February 17) and Bungies Marathon (March 5). With PS5 sales down a bit, it does raise the question of when the companys next console is coming. The PS4 went seven years before being replaced, but given continued strong sales, high RAM prices and recent hardware updates, analysts figure that the PS5 is likely to have a longer life cycle. When the PS6 does arrive, however, it could offer triple the performance of the PS5. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sonys-holiday-ps5-sales-dropped-16-percent-compared-to-last-year-130000476.html?src=rss
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