PlayStation Facing Massive Lawsuit for Allegedly Overcharging Customers
Over in the UK, PlayStation is facing a lawsuit in the amount of £5 billion, which would be comparable price-wise in USD. This legal claim has been made by consumer rights campaign Alex Neill, who claims PlayStation's terms and conditions placed on developers and publishers that sell games on its platforms are in breach of competition law.
As many gamers know, many platforms take a cut of all sales. This is not only true of Sony, but of other platforms like Steam and the App Store, which generally take 30%. One leading platform that takes less than this is the Epic Games Store, which takes 12%. It is this cut that Neill alleges is resulting in overcharges for consumers.
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As reported by Sky News, VGC, and other UK news sources, the lawsuit claims that this cut is an anti-competitive strategy that is costing consumers millions when they can't afford it, with the case-leading partner Natasha Pearman also stating that such a strategy is resulting in «excessive prices to customers that are out of all proportion to the costs of Sony providing its services.» This lawsuit, if it were to go through, would result in any UK resident who has bought games or DLC from the PlayStation Store since August 2016 being entitled to up to £562 in damages, plus interest (with each person's bottom line being £67, plus interest).
This is said to benefit around 9 million people in the UK, if the suit was won. However, it's not the first anti-competitive lawsuit to be brought up against Sony or digital store owners, with those suits often being dismissed, and it's not likely to be the last either. The 70/30 revenue split has been around for some time, with Epic reducing its
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