Sony PlayStation faces £5billion law suit

A collective action filed against Sony at London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal on Friday 19th August is accusing Sony of ‘ripping off’ UK customers. The claim alleges that Sony has been abusing its market-dominant position to impose unfair terms and conditions on game developers and publishers as well as imposing ‘excessive pricing in relation to digital games and in-game content’ on the PlayStation Store. This includes charging 30% commission on every digital game on in-game purchase made through the PlayStation Store.

Anyone who purchased digital games or add-on content via the PlayStation Store since August 19, 2016 (ie 6 years before the action was started) will be automatically included in the claim unless they choose to opt-out.

It should be noted that 30 % is the same amount of commission taken by Microsoft on sales of Xbox games as well as by Apple from transactions in its App Store. Apple is facing a similar action, which if successful would see 19.6 million consumers who purchased paid apps in the App Store since October 2015 share up to £1.5 billion in compensation.