In February, a Dutch consumer group expressed its intent to launch a lawsuit against PlayStation, concerning its prices and market dominance. Now, it has found more than 20,000 gamers to join the efforts, hitting PlayStation with a huge class action lawsuit.
The lawsuit takes issue with how all digital games have to be bought from the PS Store, allowing PlayStation to set the prices however it pleases, and giving both consumers and game devs no alternatives. If successful, then this could have huge implications for how PlayStation operates, as the suit calls on the company to open up to third parties.
"Economic research showed that Sony has been exploiting its dominant position in the console market for at least ten years, and denying other potential app stores access to the PlayStation," reads a statement from Stichting Massaschade & Consument, the group launching the lawsuit (as spotted on ResetEra). "As a result, at least 1.7 million Dutch PlayStation owners pay too much for digital games and in-game content."
The group takes particular issue with the push for players to get digital-only consoles, locking them out of buying physical discs from third parties. Indeed, the most recent PS5, the PS5 Pro, does not have a disc drive, although one can be purchased separately.
