Why Fans Are Suing PlayStation
Do you feel like Sony has wronged you in some way? Do you ever feel like the company has conducted some questionable business practices with its PlayStation customers? If so, it turns out that you're not alone.
Sony Entertainment Interactive is currently facing a class-action lawsuit over its digital store policies, which prevent the sale of digital PlayStation games outside of its proprietary service. According to Bloomberg, the media giant has been prohibiting any outside vendors, including major businesses like Amazon and Wal-Mart, from stocking digital game codes for two years now.
By blocking competitors from offering multiple shopping options, the lawsuit argues, Sony has been holding a monopoly over its digital game library. As a result, Sony has been able to charge "supracompetitive prices" for its digital offerings. The suit claims that customers are "paying as much as 175% more for downloadable games than the same ones on disk," and that simply isn't sitting right with many PlayStation owners.
PlayStation isn't the only company being sued
It's important for PS5 fans to have options when purchasing digital games. While some may have been lucky enough to obtain a standard PS5, many, either by choice or necessity, have the Digital Edition. Those who belong to the latter group are unfortunately subject to Sony's pricing, and some people think enough is enough.
The lawsuit against Sony has some familiar undertones. After "Fortnite" was kicked off Apple's App Store over similar exclusivity disputes, the company became involved in a heated legal battle with Epic. In fact, Epic's CEO found an opportunity to throw Sony under the bus during court proceedings, calling out the company for its greedy approach to allowing cross-play. Now that Sony is involved in a lawsuit of its own, this shot being taken against the house of PlayStation looks just a bit worse.
Sony's CEO recently gave PS5 fans some exciting news, announcing that the system will have the most exclusive titles of any previous PlayStation. Considering that PlayStation has been shelling out cash for third-party exclusives, the prospect of delivering on this pledge seems quite promising. Such news, however, could sound less sweet to people who don't want to pay the prices in Sony's exclusive online store.