A $2.6 billion class-action lawsuit alleges that millions of UK PlayStation users have been subjected to “excessive and unfair” charges by Sony in a new anti-competition court action.
As reported by the BBC, consumer campaigner Alex Neill accuses Sony of implementing a “sustained strategy” of excluding competitors by “monopolizing” the sale of digital games via its “closed eco-system,” the PlayStation Store.
“The result is that Sony can and does set the retail prices of all such content itself without facing any retail competition for digital content,” said Robert Palmer KC, on behalf of claimant, Neill. “It allows it to obtain monopoly profits from digital distribution, setting retail prices at what it refers to as its target margin of an excessive and unfair 30% above the level of the digital wholesale prices.” He also stressed that, as only one of its three consoles contains a disk drive, players are obliged to purchase games via its online store.
If successful, the court case could see an estimated 12.2 million British players compensated for any and all downloads “over a period of about” 10 years, amounting to around $215. Consumers will automatically be included in any judgment on an “opt-out” basis.
Sony told London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal that adding third-party stores to its infrastructure could pose a security risk, and claimed that it used game sales to subsidize the costs of its hardware consoles, which are sold with low profit margins. The tribunal is expected to last 10 weeks.
This latest court action follows a similar monopoly claim levied at Steam owner Valve, which is facing a $900 million lawsuit over alleged anti-competitive practices. The lawsuit alleges that Steam unfairly imposes platform parity obligations which prohibit publishers from selling games on rival stores with better terms, causing a restriction of competition. The legal action has also taken aim at the need to continue buying add-ons for games bought through Steam via Valve’s own marketplace, leading to a further reduction in competition. It also alleges Valve imposes unnecessarily high commission charges.
Earlier this week, IGN reported Sony is reportedly testing dynamic pricing on the PlayStation Store. Sony is allegedly running an A/B testing system that shows different prices to different users as part of an experiment. The report suggests the test has been running since November 2025, and currently impacts over 150 games in 68 territories.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
