Sony may be sued over limiting its digital game sales exclusively to the PlayStation Store
Sony is set to possibly face legal troubles, regarding how it handles digital game sales. A class-action lawsuit is in the process of being filed, attempting to take action against Sony's alleged monopoly over digital game sales on its platform. In 2019, the company stopped allowing retailers to sell digital vouchers of PlayStation Store titles, and according to the lawsuit, this means Sony can charge whatever it pleases for its games, potentially hurting consumers due to a lack of market competition.
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.
The suit also alleges that there have been instances where consumers have had to pay 175% more for a digital copy than a physical one. For right now, the class-action lawsuit is only being proposed, and if it moves forward, it'll be filed in San Francisco, California, under the case of Caccuri v. Sony Interactive Entertainment, in the US District Court of Northern California.
Source: Bloomberg