Sony sued for £5bn for ‘ripping off’ Playstation customers
Millions of gamers in the UK could bank a windfall from a £5bn lawsuit against Playstation maker Sony.
A group legal action accuses Sony of ‘ripping off’ customers with unfair terms and conditions for game developers that pushed up prices in its Playstation store.
The lawsuit, led by consumer champion Alex Neill, claims Sony charged a 30 per cent commission on every digital game and in-game purchase made through the Playstation store – an online shop for consoles selling games and extra content to users.
Hussle: Top-selling game Grand Theft Auto is set in Los Angeles
Neill’s ‘Playstation, You Owe Us’ group said Sony breached competition law, with the commission leading to customers being overcharged by £5bn in the last six years. It said 8.9m customers who have owned a Playstation 4 or 5 since August 2016 could be eligible for a payout as part of the claim.
The payout for each person in the claim is estimated to be between £67 and £562. Playstation, You Owe Us said the Japanese tech giant abused its dominant position in the gaming market and UK customers were ‘unfairly’ charged over the odds. Neill said: ‘With this legal action I am standing up for the millions of UK people who have been unwittingly overcharged.
We believe Sony has abused its position and ripped off its customers. The actions of Sony are costing millions of people who can’t afford it, particularly when we’re in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and the consumer purse is being squeezed like never before.’
Neill, who runs consumer complaints website Resolver, said ‘the game is up’ for Sony. She said the case is particularly important as gaming is the biggest part of the UK’s entertainment industry – ahead of TV, video and music.
Consumer champion: Alex Neill
And Neill said ‘many vulnerable people rely on gaming for community and connection’. Games makers have been introducing ingame purchases in recent years, where users can buy additional content directly while playing.
Many popular games are free and make the majority of their money from paid addons, with figures showing £46bn was spent on in-game purchases in 2020. Figures also show more than 60 per cent of adults in the UK regularly play a game on a console or mobile phone.
Meanwhile more than 90 per cent of ten to 16-year-olds play online games regularly. Campaign group ParentZone has claimed children feel under pressure to make ingame purchases and almost half believe games are only fun when spending money. Neill said: ‘The drive towards in-game purchases allows companies like Sony to profiteer and abuse their power because they have a captive audience. Sony knows its customers are hooked once they are part of the PlayStation world and it exploits them with exorbitant charges on every digital purchase.’
She is being advised by class action specialist law firm Milberg London, which said Sony’s practices were ‘anti-competitive’ and led to excessive prices for customers. Milberg partner Natasha Pearman, who is leading the case, said: ‘It [Sony] has deployed an anti-competitive strategy which has resulted in excessive prices to customers that are out of all proportion to the costs of Sony providing its services.’
Potential beneficiaries of the claim do not have to take action to be included. The case is funded by Woodsford, a team of litigation experts investing in large commercial claims, so those affected will not have to pay any of the costs of the action themselves. Sony was asked to comment.
