Sony is facing legal trouble in the Netherlands: The consumer protection foundation Stop Killing Games, together with the DoesItPlay? initiative, is supporting a class-action lawsuit brought by Stichting Massaschade & Consument against Sony. The accusation: The PlayStation Store is a monopoly that systematically overcharges players for digital game purchases.
What the Lawsuit is About
Specifically, the plaintiffs argue that Sony leaves its customers with no real choice: Anyone who wants to buy a digital PlayStation game cannot bypass the company's own store, as alternative providers are technically locked out. This forced tying, according to the lawsuit, drives prices up by as much as 47 percent compared to a market with genuine competition. The class-action lawsuit estimates the total damages incurred by Dutch players at approximately 457 million US dollars. This affects everyone who has made digital purchases in the PlayStation Store in recent years.
Why Stop Killing Games is Getting Involved
Stop Killing Games' involvement is no coincidence. The initiative originally gained recognition for its EU petition against the “crippling” of purchased games when publishers shut down servers. By supporting this lawsuit, the campaign is expanding its focus: it's no longer just about preserving games after server shutdowns, but more fundamentally about fair conditions and prices on closed console platforms. For the movement, it's a logical next step, as both issues ultimately lead to the same criticism: players on consoles have little control over what they believe they actually own.
Not an Isolated Case: Sony's Customer Criticism is Piling Up
From our perspective, it's notable how much the backlash against Sony is intensifying right now. Just recently, we reported on criticism from a gaming preservation organization that also accused Sony of lacking understanding for customer wishes due to the planned end of physical disc support – there, the main issue was the lack of price reductions despite the elimination of disc costs. Now, with the Store monopoly lawsuit, a second, legally much sharper accusation is added. For players, this doesn't mean anything acute yet: the lawsuit still needs to be reviewed by the Dutch judiciary, and even if successful, initially only Dutch buyers would be compensated. Nevertheless, it's worth keeping an eye on the proceedings, as similar lawsuits against app store monopolies have in the past set precedents with effects extending beyond national borders.
Source: Eurogamer
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