Sony is in court over PlayStation Store price hikes

Sony has been taken to court in a class action lawsuit, accusing the publisher of charging excessively high prices on the PlayStation Store. If the case against the publisher ends, he may have to pay damages exceeding 5.75 billion euros.

The lawsuit was filed in August 2022. The plaintiff is Alex Neil, a British consumer rights activist. Neal initiated the class action lawsuit on behalf of 8.9 million PlayStation users.

According to the indictment, Sony would use its dominant market position to charge exorbitant prices for games and digital content in the PlayStation Store. In addition, the publisher will use its strong market position to impose strict conditions on third-party developers and publishers.

According to the lawsuit, the terms allow Sony to set the prices of digital games itself. Therefore, you charge a commission of 30% on every purchase. As a result, consumers face “unfair and inflated prices,” which are disproportionate to “the necessary costs of the service that Sony provides to users.”

Naturally, Sony tried to avoid filing a lawsuit based on the complaint, but the British Competition Appeal Tribunal He approved the indictment of Alex Neal. That’s a good thing, according to Neil, because “Sony has been exploiting the loyalty of PlayStation players for years at exorbitant prices.”

Anyone in the UK who purchased games or downloadable content from the PlayStation Store between August 19, 2016 and August 19, 2022 is eligible for the class action. If the lawsuit is successful, Sony may have to pay between 75 and 645 euros to each participant in damages, including interest.

It remains to be seen whether the arguments supporting this class action lawsuit are strong enough at trial. A simple Google search reveals that not only Sony, but also the Xbox Store and Steam charge studios and publishers a 30% commission. Only the Epic Games Store performs 12% better.