Sony Sued Over PlayStation Store Monopoly

[karmakid]

Sony facing lawsuit over PlayStation Store exclusivity

Sony Interactive Entertainment is up against a class-action lawsuit by consumers regarding exclusivity on its digital s…

www.gamesindustry.biz

Sony Interactive Entertainment is up against a class-action lawsuit by consumers regarding exclusivity on its digital storefront.

That's according to a report from Bloomberg, which claims that Sony is accused of operating a monopoly by only allowing digital games to be bought through its online store.

Sony's PlayStation store has become the only place that players can purchase digital games, after Sony stopped allowing third-party retailers to sell download codes two years ago.

The suit states that consumers may spend up to 175% more to download a game on the PlayStation store than they would on purchasing a physical copy.

"Sony's monopoly allows it to charge supracompetitive prices for digital PlayStation games, which are significantly higher than their physical counterparts sold in a competitive retail market, and significantly higher than they would be in a competitive retail market for digital games," consumers said in the filing.

 

[Kvally]

Sony can sell what they want, where they want, at the price they want.

 

[BUSTERMAN]

This is interesting and I wonder how it will play out.

I had thought Sony or whoever could set prices as they please for their products on their own digital store. I didn't like the fact that Sony stopped supplying download codes as I knew that would mean higher prices. But since its their store I thought it was their right. We have the option to go physical (yuk) and get a game at a cheaper price.

 

[Frozpot]

A monopoly for buying Playstation games, lol. I'm not sure that level of granularity applies to Monopoly status. Sounds dumb. Those games can be purchased for other devices at other stores.

 

[DriedMangoes]

Physical still has its advantages

 

[JinCA]

A monopoly for buying Playstation games, lol. I'm not sure that level of granularity applies to Monopoly status. Sounds dumb. Those games can be purchased for other devices at other stores.

Yeah I'm no legal expert but it sounds stupid on the face of it, it's their platform and the games can be purchased physically as well.

 

[hrudey]

A monopoly for buying Playstation games, lol. I'm not sure that level of granularity applies to Monopoly status. Sounds dumb. Those games can be purchased for other devices at other stores.

Dude, this s*** is horrible, I mean, it's the same as not being able to buy a new Honda at a Subaru dealership (cuttingvalliance, if you're reading this, this is a conversational tool known as sarcasm).

 

[Digital Joker]

This is r******d. Sony spent like a billion dollars developing each generation of console.
If they don't want a third party selling their software then I don't see what the problem is.

 

[Two Pennys Worth]

This is r******d. Sony spent like a billion dollars developing each generation of console.
If they don't want a third party selling their software then I don't see what the problem is.

I mean surely that’s the point of taking a loss on the consoles. So they can earn money via selling software.