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Back on 2022, Sony received a lawsuit from consumer advocate Alex Neill of the United Kingdom, on behalf of 9+ million users in the region, with the claim that Sony is abusing its standing as the main seller by allowing the sale of any kind of digital content only through their PlayStation Store, which charges a 30% commission to developers and publishers, and therefore also overcharging customers for any kind of digital content being sold on it, be it actual games, or DLC itself.

According to the reports, Sony's lawyers tried to dismiss the lawsuit, but on November 21st, 2023, London's Competition Appeal Tribunal has allowed the lawsuit to go forward, although with the customers that have made any kind of purchase since the filling of the lawsuit back in 2022 not being accounted for as part of the claimants.

The case against Sony is valued to a possible worth of up to $5 billion pounds, but with the aggregate damages, the sum is now estimated to be around $6.23 billion pounds, amounting to something close to 7.84 billion USD in case the lawsuit rules in favour of the customers.

Source

 

[Latiodile]

this is the first time i've heard of the london tribunal and i immediately went "wtf is this morrowind or something"

 

[HarveyHouston]

...the claim that Sony is abusing its standing as the main seller by allowing the sale of any kind of digital content only through their PlayStation Store, which charges a 30% commission to developers and publishers, and therefore also overcharging customers for any kind of digital content being sold on it, be it actual games, or DLC itself.​

That's probably true.

 

[HellGhast]

Next they'll sue Steam, then Nintendont eStore, then x-bot store and finally(a big maybe/maybe not) Epic game store.

Desperate €ash grab in my opinion.

 

[x65943]

Would love if Sony had to allow a competing digital sales platform on the PlayStation

 

[Taleweaver]

the claim that Sony is abusing its standing as the main seller by allowing the sale of any kind of digital content only through their PlayStation Store, which charges a 30% commission to developers and publishers, and therefore also overcharging customers for any kind of digital content being sold on it

Can anyone tell me how this anything but normal business? If you have a store, you take a percentage of what's being sold in it.

I also don't get the 'only' part. Last time I checked, there are plenty of non exclusive titles on the store, so Sony isn't squeezing out developers not to sell their stuff elsewhere.

Finally... How the hell do you get to this ridiculous amount? Isn't Sony allowed to besuccessful? What the hell are these 'aggrevated' damages that are worth over a freaking billion pounds?

 

[x65943]

Can anyone tell me how this anything but normal business? If you have a store, you take a percentage of what's being sold in it.

I also don't get the 'only' part. Last time I checked, there are plenty of non exclusive titles on the store, so Sony isn't squeezing out developers not to sell their stuff elsewhere.

Finally... How the hell do you get to this ridiculous amount? Isn't Sony allowed to besuccessful? What the hell are these 'aggrevated' damages that are worth over a freaking billion pounds?

I think the idea is that they don't allow other sales platforms to exist on PlayStation

Take for instance the android phone - imagine if Google locked down the OS so you couldn't download other app stores or apps

I think the idea is they are stifling competition by not allowing alternative stores

I suspect nothing will come of this, but would love if console developers had to open up consoles more

 

[_47iscool]

No sympathy for Soyny from me.

 

[linuxares]

"$6.23 billion pounds" dollar and pounds what?

Still that's a lot of money, especially it being pounds.

 

[Reploid]

Oh, cool. I hope soony is gonna suffer

 

[Armadillo]

I also don't get the 'only' part. Last time I checked, there are plenty of non exclusive titles on the store, so Sony isn't squeezing out developers not to sell their stuff elsewhere.

You can't officially buy digital Playstation games anywhere except the playstation store.

You want a digital game, it's Sony's store or no where.

Microsoft allow devs to sell game codes elsewhere, Nintendo allow devs to sell game codes elsewhere, Steam allow devs to sell game codes elsewhere.

Sony used to allow it, but not anymore. You want a digital game, it's PSN store or no where, no competition.

 

[tabzer]

Anything that fights monopoly has me as a fan. We need more of these. There is an obvious imbalance between consumer action and corporate action. This is the existential game.

 

[Maximo101]

price fixing and antitrust comes to mind. I hope they nail Sony, but sadly, that would only mean a big jump in the next gen console costs. And games as well... $$$...

I am sick of Sony and other giant corporations manipulating prices and arbitrarily deciding on the operational span of my purchased devices.

Imagine if an automobile company decided you travel to fast or have too many speeding tickets, so they use wifi and lock up or worse, 'brick' your electric car?

Why is this suit only being brought in the UK? Doesn't Sony practice the same antitrust behaviour in the US? And EU?

 

[Foxi4]

I don’t think people quite understand what this lawsuit is about. It’s not about having another store on the console itself besides PSN’s, it’s about third-party sellers being able to sell digital codes for games on their storefronts outside of Sony’s jurisdiction. Nintendo and Microsoft both allow this - you can go on Amazon right now and buy digital codes for games from their catalogue, Microsoft especially. Sony is the only company out of the big three that only offers digital credit, not direct codes. In an ideal world all games from digital storefronts should be available for sale by third-party sellers just like physical copies are, that introduces an element of competition that is currently lacking in the marketplace.

 

[yoyoyo69]

Next they'll sue Steam, then Nintendont eStore, then x-bot store and finally(a big maybe/maybe not) Epic game store.

Desperate €ash grab in my opinion.

Valve allow you to sell your game outside of their platform.

 

[ut2k4master]

that introduces an element of competition that is currently lacking in the marketplace.

in theory. in practice digital codes on amazon rarely go on sale and if they do its during a sale thats also happening on the console store at the same time for the same price

 

[Marc_LFD]

around $6.23 billion pounds

Did the Pound currency become a Dollar sign now?

 

[Noctosphere]

How are they "standing as main seller"?
Well, with microsoft just refusing to have any exclusives, and nintendo and their underpowered console.......... Maybe?

 

[Bladexdsl]

so this is how London is going to solve their cost of living crisis ?

 

[Kioku]

Would love if Sony had to allow a competing digital sales platform on the PlayStation

The idea is interesting but doesn’t make much sense… What’s the issue with Sony locking down sales on their platform?

Never mind, foxis post cleared it up.