Accused of charging PlayStation players excessively high game fees, Sony responds, "The profit isn't that high."

IT House, March 11 — According to Reuters, Sony is facing a nearly 2 billion GBP class-action lawsuit in London. The plaintiffs accuse Sony of leveraging its market dominance in digital distribution through PlayStation to inflate digital game prices.

The plaintiffs argue that digital games and add-ons for PlayStation consoles can only be sold through the PS Store. Due to the lack of alternative sales channels, digital game prices are often higher than physical copies.

Sony countered that the company has invested billions of dollars over the years to build the PlayStation ecosystem. Nintendo and Microsoft’s Xbox also use similar platform models, and the gaming market remains competitive.

Sony’s lawyers also stated that the profits from game and add-on sales are not “excessive.” The lawsuit overlooks platform operating costs and the value of the PlayStation brand itself.

The case is being heard by the London Competition Appeal Tribunal and has been filed on behalf of approximately 12 million consumers in the UK. Since 2025, this is the third major tech company case to enter the trial phase.

Alex Neil, the case lead, said many players have paid excessively high prices for a long time and should be compensated. The initial estimated value of the case was up to about 5 billion GBP (IT House note: approximately 46.183 billion RMB at current exchange rates), but it has now been adjusted to 1.97 billion GBP.

Neil’s lawyer, Robert Palmer, stated in court that Sony can set the retail prices for digital games at its discretion, and there is almost no retail-level competition. As a result, the digital distribution model has led to monopoly profits.

Sony believes that the plaintiffs’ claims essentially mean allowing third parties to open stores on the PS platform and benefit from Sony’s previous investments.