Dutch Consumer Group Files Lawsuit Against Sony For ‘Artificially High PlayStation Prices’
Sony is facing a lawsuit from Dutch consumer group Stichting Massaschade & Consument, which alleges the console maker has been exploiting its market dominance to artificially increase PlayStation prices.
The lawsuit claims that at least 1.7 million PlayStation owners in the Netherlands are paying too much for digital games for PlayStation hardware, with research finding that on average consumers spend 47% more for digital titles than physical copies. Furthermore, foundation chair Lucia Melcherts stated that gamers are being “pushed towards digital-only’ consoles since the latest PS5 generation.”
The group kicked off its Fair PlayStation campaign back in February of this year, which claimed that the large market share that PlayStation has acquired, alongside its monopoly on digital sales, has resulted in in what it dubs a ‘Sony tax.’ More than 2,000 messages and emails from PlayStation owners have been received by the campaign since its launch.
Sony is faced with two key accusations, 1) that the company is excluding the competition and 2) exploiting consumers and game developers. The first hearing is set to take place later this year.
Last week, the PlayStation manufacturer announced plans to cease production of physical game discs for its consoles, adopting a digital-only strategy going forward. This decision has been met with overwhelming criticism online, and wasn’t helped by the fact Sony went quiet on social media for five days before returning and failing to address the outcry.
[Source – GI.biz]
