Japanese entertainment giant Sony will go on trial in London from Tuesday, accused of abusing its dominant position for years to overcharge British PlayStation players, in a class action worth nearly two billion pounds.
For almost ten years, the group has “exploited its customers in the United Kingdom by making them pay too much for digital Playstation games as well as additional content in the games,” explain the complainants on a website dedicated to the procedure.
“This legal action aims to put an end to this practice and obtain compensation,” adds consumer rights specialist Alex Neill, who launched the action, to AFP.
The “Playstation Store” is the official digital store where players can purchase Sony classics, from Gran Turismo to God of War, but also productions from other studios like Call of Duty, GTA or Assassin’s Creed. “Sony virtually holds a monopoly on the sale of digital games” for its console, which allows it to dictate prices and “take a 30% commission” on purchases, the complainants explain.
Incentives to spend more
They compare this rate in particular to PC game distribution platforms, subject to more competition and practicing, according to them, a lower commission of around 12% to 20%.
In addition, “games are now designed to encourage players to spend as much money as possible (including children)”, in particular to “progress, unlock more features or personalize their experience with new characters or weapons”, according to the plaintiffs’ site.
The complaint was filed in 2022 at the Competition Appeal Tribunal in London. Alex Neill says he acts on behalf of some 12.2 million people – this type of procedure includes by default all potentially affected customers, unless they opt out voluntarily.
The damage is estimated at 1.97 billion pounds (2.06 billion €) with interest. This astronomical sum is lower than the 5 billion pounds initially mentioned in this file. Contacted by AFP, Sony did not immediately respond.
In a similar case, the American giant Apple lost a trial in London in October, again due to commissions considered too high on its application store, which could lead it to have to reimburse millions of users – the group had said it wanted to appeal.
