Nintendo fined £90million+ for "trying to rig the computer game market"

[Smiff]

apparently, just saw this on the news. ironic when nintendo's stuff is cheaper than anyone elses (?) maybe it's the games... apparently prices are artificially higher in Germany and somewhere else (Finland?) and they were stopping imports... tut tut.

edit: yep, here's the story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2375967.stm

edit2: ah, this dates back the mid 90s, when nintendo stuff really was a ripoff IIRC.

[AlphaWolf]

yeah, chry posted that here a few days ago:

http://www.emutalk.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9120

[Smiff]

ah, the story broke an hour before i posted, ZDnet managed to see into the future. sorry.

[Josep]

Originally posted by Smiff


edit2: ah, this dates back the mid 90s, when nintendo stuff really was a ripoff IIRC.

so is this old news or is something like this happening right now?!

[Jaz]

Originally posted by Smiff
this dates back the mid 90s, when nintendo stuff really was a ripoff

I remember when NES and SNES games were £50+ in the UK.

[Smiff]

hehe, well if you look at the date on the story, you see the BBC posted it 55 minutes before my last edit, so i'd say i'm not so slow :p

Anyway the relevance of this is that it could hurt Nintendo in the run up to Christmas, i wonder if it will put parents off buying Nintendo stuff for their kiddies... that's a huge part of N's sales..

Also it's a very large fine.

[Josep]

damn, will nintendo get a "slow-down" from this so to speak? like less games being released, or delays in hardware and stuff? game companies like sega are there own, and wouldn't be effected, am right? i dunno, asking

[Smiff]

Jaz, yes exactly. The thing is that their distributors also got fines, John Menzies (now owned by Smith's, I thought?) were mentioned as having to pay 10-20 million.. ouch.

Anyone know how much this fine is a % of N's profits?

[Jaz]

Originally posted by Smiff
Jaz, yes exactly.

It's still happening now, although not as heavy as it used to be. I mean, Nintendo games retail at what, £45, whereas PS2 games tend to be £40. Only a fiver, I know, but to a parent buying a few games for their children, those fivers add-up.

[Smiff]

this is about the difference in prices of the same product between countries in the EU... it's like Levi's trying to stop the grey importing of jeans by supermarkets to undercut official channels, totally legal, great for consumers, pisses the mnfrs off royally, so N deserved a bashing (though where they got that figure from i don't know, looks like they were trying to send a signal to other games companies - "don't try this" and N got unlucky. apparently Britain was cheap , relative to Germany etc.. (what were SNES games there? £70-80?) but yeah there still something fishy going on here.