Sony may be sued over limiting its digital game sales exclusively to the PlayStation Store

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Sony is set to possibly face legal troubles, regarding how it handles digital game sales. A class-action lawsuit is in the process of being filed, attempting to take action against Sony's alleged monopoly over digital game sales on its platform. In 2019, the company stopped allowing retailers to sell digital vouchers of PlayStation Store titles, and according to the lawsuit, this means Sony can charge whatever it pleases for its games, potentially hurting consumers due to a lack of market competition.

Sony's monopoly allows it to charge supracompetitive prices for digital PlayStation games, which are significantly higher than their physical counterparts sold in a competitive retail market, and significantly higher than they would be in a competitive retail market for digital games.

The suit also alleges that there have been instances where consumers have had to pay 175% more for a digital copy than a physical one. For right now, the class-action lawsuit is only being proposed, and if it moves forward, it'll be filed in San Francisco, California, under the case of Caccuri v. Sony Interactive Entertainment, in the US District Court of Northern California.

:arrow: Source: Bloomberg
 

DS1

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I’ve been wondering about this for a while - I watch both physical retail and digital retail sales religiously (both because it was part of my former job and you can never quit that life, and also because I am a gigantic cheapskate), and 95% of Sony’s digital sales are, at least in the framework of this potential suit, a scam.

I always let my friends know what one or two (usually none) games are available in a digital sale cheaper than physical retail, but they never listen. They (and apparently a lot of other people) would rather pay $20-30 more for a game than to leave their house for 10 minutes.

I honestly think that’s just the market, but I have no idea how the publishers play into it. Valhalla, for example, has literally never been on sale in the PSN store, but I’m fairly certain it’s run for 5 dollars on steam (meaning it’s not the publisher preventing them from selling at a lower cost)? Meanwhile Metal Gear Solid 5 and Mirror’s Edge 2 are regularly on sale for $5 or less on PSN (which is often times cheaper than retail).
 

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It's game publisher vs Sony. Sony is getting a bigger cut for each digital copy sold and game publisher wants it to be the same as physical copy without the bearing the cost of the physical form.

Some of the saving could be passed on to consumers to entice them to move away from Sony's eshop.

Net lost for Sony. Win for publisher and maybe small win for consumers.

Game publishers, Sony is only one of them, sells the physical game to stores.

Digital ps5 owners are screwed- imagine not being able to buy cheaper used games.
Digital PS5 owners are probably already digital on PS4. If PS+ is the major source of games then there is really no reason to have the disc drive.

A Netflix/Spotify model is the way to go for older games (and even some new ones).

Another trend is giving away free games for a limited time. Sony (Play at home), Epic game store, Twitch prime.

Person with huge physical game library can't hold a candle to their counter part in digital game library. How many digital hoarder do you know?
 
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MasterJ360

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It's game publisher vs Sony. Sony is getting a bigger cut for each digital copy sold and game publisher wants it to be the same as physical copy without the bearing the cost of the physical form.

Some of the saving could be passed on to consumers to entice them to move away from Sony's eshop.

Net lost for Sony. Win for publisher and maybe small win for consumers.

Game publishers, Sony is only one of them, sells the physical game to stores.


Digital PS5 owners are probably already digital on PS4. If PS+ is the major source of games then there is really no reason to have the disc drive.

A Netflix/Spotify model is the way to go for older games (and even some new ones).

Another trend is giving away free games for a limited time. Sony (Play at home), Epic game store, Twitch prime.

Person with huge physical game library can't hold a candle to their counter part in digital game library. How many digital hoarder do you know?
And what about those who don't want to subscribe? What are their options for cheaper games? Thats where my point goes to especially if whatever reason Sony decides to pull certain games off their store which has happen.
I'm aware ppl have preferences and sometimes I tend to buy digital games when I'm too lazy to go out and get a physical copy or be impatient to wait on shipping.

Also I believe if you ever grew up with cartridges and disks your more prone to have a physical copy [some/most] of us are just old school that way and don't entirely trust the digital stores or clouds where we have no control over their servers - remember the psn hack back in 2010? lots of ppl lost their accounts and digital games. Its about 100% ownership you'll see that remark all the time in digital vs physical debates. Only thing we have to worry about is damaging the disk, but thats what game cases and warranties are for. If we get bored with a game we can re sell it which you can't do to digital. Gamestop is a prime example of that even tho the trade-in values were crap, but it was great for in store credit. Are digital users screwed? no not really, but I think it would be wise to keep your options open incase something prevents your digital experience.
 
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chrisrlink

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you live in an area where nintendo doesn't add taxes on top of overpriced games? i'm jealous
yeah online shopping (in the USA) didn't have taxation for a long time til a bout 2 years ago I know SEN,GOG,Steam etc don't charge sales tax at least in my state

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I'd play that.
they should make a Phoenix Wright DLC :rofl2:
 

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And what about those who don't want to subscribe? What are their options for cheaper games? Thats where my point goes to especially if whatever reason Sony decides to pull certain games off their store which has happen.
I'm aware ppl have preferences and sometimes I tend to buy digital games when I'm too lazy to go out and get a physical copy or be impatient to wait on shipping.

Also I believe if you ever grew up with cartridges and disks your more prone to have a physical copy [some/most] of us are just old school that way and don't entirely trust the digital stores or clouds where we have no control over their servers - remember the psn hack back in 2010? lots of ppl lost their accounts and digital games. Its about 100% ownership you'll see that remark all the time in digital vs physical debates. Only thing we have to worry about is damaging the disk, but thats what game cases and warranties are for. If we get bored with a game we can re sell it which you can't do to digital. Gamestop is a prime example of that even tho the trade-in values were crap, but it was great for in store credit. Are digital users screwed? no not really, but I think it would be wise to keep your options open incase something prevents your digital experience.
I think the trend is unstoppable. I used to have a treasured collection of CDs. Now I don't have a CD player. The way to watch video at home used to be to rent a disc, now it's all digital streaming. How many people think about "buying" a movie at this day and age? "Buying" a game may go the same way. I am not worried about Netflix going away, other company will take it's place. As to the ability to play the game you bought longer term both has it's problem.
 

D34DL1N3R

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I think the trend is unstoppable. I used to have a treasured collection of CDs. Now I don't have a CD player. The way to watch video at home used to be to rent a disc, now it's all digital streaming. How many people think about "buying" a movie at this day and age?

Can't help but post again in this garbage topic. Tons of people think about buying movies or they wouldn't still be selling them. I would personally take an actual disc over streaming any day. Seeing something like a 4K Dolby Vision title on Netflix and then seeing the same title on an actual 4K Blu-ray disc, the quality is night and day. Streaming is garbage for the people who care about quality.
 

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Streaming is garbage for the people who care about quality.
This is sadly still true that streaming quality is not up there and it is also sadly true that buying disc is more to show case the technology than a good way to enjoy movie. As far as enjoying video is concern Netflix is by far the better solution than to rent or buy a disc for most people.

It is not uncommon to have people who are more into home theater setup than watching movie at home. The watching movie part is really about the equipment than the movie for some people. Same can be said about people who buy the latest phone. It is not uncommon to have people who buy the phone for the phone rather than the utility it provides.

Who will pay US$600 for a pair of RCA cable? I knew people who did. I am not sure if he really could hear the difference base on objective measurement and I suppose it makes him enjoy his HiFi equipment so much more that it is worth the money.

There are plenty of people who get games so that they can enjoy their PS5 than the other way around. Just look for people who complain that there isn't game good enough for their PS5.
 
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If this means I can get Bloodborne on PC then I'm all for it baybee
I have bad news for you
People seem a bit confused: they're being sued over the fact that places like HumbleBundle and GMG can't resell digital game keys/vouchers. Not over the fact that Sony games are exclusive to Sony consoles. Humble sells digital Nintendo games for redemption on the eShop, but their prices aren't really any lower.
 

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People seem a bit confused: they're being sued over the fact that places like HumbleBundle and GMG can't resell digital game keys/vouchers. Not over the fact that Sony games are exclusive to Sony consoles. Humble sells digital Nintendo games for redemption on the eShop, but their prices aren't really any lower.
Thanks for this post. I was honestly confused at what was going on, really.

However, the clarification doesn't mean I agree. So Sony only wants to sell to end consumers... What's legally wrong with that, exactly? Why should they be forced into accepting purchases with the aim of reselling? I know it doesn't really compare to physical items, but still... I'm sure many that are here booing sony for not wanting to do this will be the same booing scalpers from buying all ps5's for resale purposes.

I also don't see how it affects anything between the developer and the end user. If the dev wants to sell it on humble, epic or whatever, he still can, provided it's ported to another platform (pc, probably) . It's just not for the ps5, that's all. So again : why would either even care?
 
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Slight tangent, but the Digital vs Physical argument is mostly based on World Infrastructure; until the day Connectivity is set up to be on par with Physical counterparts, there will always be an argument for the latter.

Once it is set up, however, the only way for nostalgic Gamers to replay those Titles of their youth is to dig out their Binaries from Digital copies, especially if those titles were printed on the fickle technology that is CD | DVD | Blu-Ray.

One reason to not bite the hand that'll feed one's future.

Corporations that rely Data Storage this decade are looking back to Tape Storage and reapplying them as apparently it has the longest lifespan.

Not Dr. Stone long, so maybe hold on to your glass bottles, just in case ...
 

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Consoles are locked down. Developers and publishers may not establish competing digital stores to sell games the console maker doesn't approve of.
Yes. And so what? For first party Sony games this makes no difference because they'll be limiting the sale to their own store to begin with. And everyone else can just port it to pc or another console and get on those digital stores anyway.

Also... I think @Jayro 's analogy is pretty decent. If this post was aimed to reply to it, then it misses the mark, as car manufacturers also don't like garages they don't approve of to sell their cars.
 

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I also don't see how it affects anything between the developer and the end user. If the dev wants to sell it on humble, epic or whatever, he still can, provided it's ported to another platform (pc, probably) . It's just not for the ps5, that's all. So again : why would either even care?
The difference is usually about 10% off for end users, and a higher cut for developers/publishers. Steam gives out keys to developers with a 100% cut to them, to be sold through their own website and elsewhere, but of course most people buy through Steam anyway.

Do I know if not allowing third-party key/voucher sales runs afoul of any countries' laws? Nah. But both Nintendo and Microsoft do it so who knows.
 

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Do I know if not allowing third-party key/voucher sales runs afoul of any countries' laws? Nah. But both Nintendo and Microsoft do it so who knows.

There is a similar situation with car parking, a company will charge you in blocks of an hour for parking but if you only need to park for 5 minutes you can't sell or give your ticket to someone else.

You also can't buy a train ticket that goes from a to b, but get off at c and hand it to someone else to continue the journey.
 
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