Dutch Foundation Launches Class Action Against Sony Over PlayStation Store Prices
Stop Killing Games: It's time to sue Sony, join us
A Dutch consumer foundation is rallying gamers to join a class action lawsuit against Sony, arguing that PlayStation Store prices are unfairly higher than physical game prices and that Sony's monopoly on digital PS5 games harms consumers. Supporters cite examples of digital games costing €20–25 more than disc versions, the lack of alternatives to the PlayStation Store, and the inability to resell or play games if servers go down. The foundation aims to force Sony to offer fairer prices and compensate affected players.
Why can we on PC choose between Steam, Epic, and other platforms, but on PlayStation not? This must change.
- braiamp
If people actually read the claims... it's about fair business practices, this is why they are suing Sony:
> ... In the EU, it is forbidden for large companies to abuse their position to make more profit at the expense of consumers. Yet Sony does not fully abide by these rules.
>
> If you buy a digital game or in-game content, Sony will only ensure that you can do so through its own PlayStation Store. Sony keeps the market to itself in this way and can keep prices artificially high. This way you pay more, without getting anything extra in return. This is called the “Sony Tax.”
This is not a lawsuit about Sony "taking away my discs", it's something like "Sony allegedly used its control over the PlayStation ecosystem to restrict competition in digital distribution, allowing it to keep prices artificially high and harm consumers".
- tumidpandora
Going digital was inevitable, i'd rather focus on making digital ownership better than fight to restore discs or game codes to 3rd parties
- yuerino
While I'm all for sueing Sony, and digital games cost more than physical games sound wrong and shouldn't happen, I feel like they focus on the wrong thing to sue Sony for. Like someone mentions in this thread, this feels like sueing McDonalds for having a monopoly on Big Mac, and only sell Big Mac in their stores. I don't know what the alternative solution to this problem is, but this doesn't feel right to me. For me, I would rather focus on digital rights and access.
- glitchc
I don't see the point. It's a private, for-profit entity that controls a walled garden platform that they invented, developed and commoditized. It was always a walled garden, never advertised as anything otherwise. All video games have been a license to play since the days of Pong, unless explicitly indicated otherwise. We never owned the actual software and by buying the game, we agreed that our access to the software could change at any point in the future. Does this lawsuit hope to upend ~60 years of contract law?
- unpopularopp
So McDonald's has a monopoly on the Big Mac? Because you can go to Burger King (Xbox) or KFC (Switch) or Sonic (PC) as well but this group is arguing they want to have a Big Mac but not from McDonald's? Or actually McDonald's doesn't have a monopoly because you can technically buy a Big Mac from Uber Eats or Doordash?
- thrownawaysz
I'm too small brain to understand the whole monopoly in my own business aspect. Because they are not arguing about game exclusivity, you can buy the same game most of the time on Xbox, Switch, PC (and if not that's an entirely different story) but the fact they want to buy on that platform (Playstation) but from a different store (not Sony). Can't wrap my head around that logic.
- georgehotz
yay suing Sony! I think that countries should start disallowing hardware sales where the user doesn't have the root key. We are not renting the hardware, we are buying it.
- dyauspitr
I couldn’t care less about this campaign and the waste of resources and attention on it. Might as well sue Lego because I want backwards compatibility with the wooden blocks from 1950 or something.