Print this article | E-mail this article | Comment on this article

Sharp, Hitachi investigated for fixing price of Nintendo DS screens

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

February 28, 2008, 11:25 AM

Sharp and Hitachi said Thursday that their LCD display businesses were probed to look for evidence of price fixing in portable game console displays.

Under Japanese law, if a company is found guilty of the scheme, up to 10 percent of its profit gains obtained under those policies could be forfeited in fines. What is not yet known is how the investigation started.

The LCDs involved are included in the Nintendo DS gaming system, although the game maker would not immediately comment. Neither Sharp nor Hitachi would provide any further details other than to confirm they were under investigation.

Kyodo News says that the offices and plants of both companies were searched on Thursday. Sharp and Hitachi are the only suppliers of LCD displays to Nintendo, the company confirmed.

Sharp has been working with Nintendo since 2004 on LCDs, with Hitachi coming on board the following year. Price fixing was said to have begun at that time.

The Nintendo DS has become one of the the most popular game consoles ever released, with the Japanese company selling some 65 million units worldwide.

Add a Comment (4 Comments)

BetaNews reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Foul language and personal attacks will not be tolerated.

By Neoprimal

edited Feb 28, 2008 - 2:48 PM

Poor clueless Nintendo. If only they'd shopped around. Not that it matters since DSs sell like hamburgers...

wait...so then, Poor us!

Score: 0

By AntiochMedia

posted Feb 28, 2008 - 12:23 PM

If Nintendo is buying the screens exclusively - why does price fixing become involved? It doesn't make sense to me.

Score: 0

By auiotour

posted Feb 28, 2008 - 12:56 PM

The article does not say that they are only supplied to Nintendo for the Nintendo DS, it says that Nintendo only uses their screens, I assume one for the touch screen the other for the top screen.

Score: 0

By Jahmekan

posted Feb 28, 2008 - 12:30 PM

It's price fixing when two companies get together and say...hey lets charge xyz for this screen, since they have to have it. Not good, if it is true.

Score: 0

Dec 5 - 1:45 AM ET Shazam: eight million songs of the eternal Now

Dec 4 - 7:30 PM ET Comcast to offer bandwidth consumption monitor

Dec 4 - 5:37 PM ET Counterfeiters sing the 'Blue' as Microsoft lawyers up

Dec 4 - 4:40 PM ET Opera 10 alpha shows off new Presto rendering engine

Dec 4 - 2:29 PM ET Apple: Psystar clone-maker is working with unnamed collaborators

Dec 4 - 2:21 PM ET Windows Live rollout sketchy, team apologizes

Dec 4 - 2:20 PM ET Stinging from a revenue shortfall, Adobe to shed workers

Dec 4 - 11:47 AM ET The storm hits AT&T, with a five-digit headcount reduction

Dec 4 - 11:42 AM ET TV sports adopts Web coverage, plays with iPhones

Dec 4 - 11:24 AM ET Microsoft seeks 'community' help to make IE8 Standards Mode work out