Netherlands takes Sony to court over digital-only walled garden allegedly costing 1.7m citizens 435 million euros since 2013

In the EU, a class action lawsuit has been leveled against Sony for what the claimants say are artificially high prices on the PlayStation store. The lawsuit claims Sony's monopoly and control over pricing on its proprietary store has cost Dutch PlayStation gamers 435 million euros since 2013.

According TechSpot the case began when the Mass Damage & Consumer Foundation launched the 'Fair PlayStation' campaign back in February this year. In a few days the petition garnered the interest of over 20,000 Dutch residence who believe they've been taken for a ride by Sony's business practices. Since then the case has grown into a class action lawsuit with at least 1.7 million PlayStation owners potentially seeking compensation.

Many people notice that they are increasingly being pushed towards 'digital-only' consoles since the latest PS5 generation," says Lucia Melcherts, chair of the Mass Damage & Consumer Foundation. "These consoles work exclusively with digital games instead of physical discs. However, economic research has shown that consumers pay an average of 47% more for these digital versions than for exactly the same game on a physical disc, while the distribution costs for Sony are actually lower."

For console gamers, having prices tied to a game store owned by the manufacturer isn't exactly news. Instead, it's simply the way things are done. However, I think we've all also been appalled by the pricing on those platforms. I've often seen new games release for half the price in store or on Steam compared to their ecommerce console counterparts. When you're locked into buying digital only content, like many who own a diskless PS5, then the only option you have is to suck it up and pay the price offered.

Well, not in the EU. Thanks to stronger pro-consumer laws, they have the opportunity to challenge such practices via lawsuits like these. As a console owner, I have definitely noticed things feeling especially expensive on the digital storefront on my PS5, especially first-party Sony titles. There's been more than a few times where I have been priced out of sinking my teeth into a new release game, and I kinda wonder why I spent so much on this thing to begin with. This feeling is likely especially prevalent for the Dutch population, given the sheer prevalence of PlayStation ownership.

"The fact that Sony dares to increase prices by tens of percent without any compensation is very telling of the proportions," says Melcherts. "Sony is the only provider of digital content on the most popular game console in the world. Of all Dutch people who have a game console at home, more than 80% have a PlayStation. It can now afford to make decisions without having to worry much about what competitors, developers or consumers are doing."

The hearing for this case is set to take place later this year. Though, of course, Sony is no stranger to lawsuits about games, or about hardware. It will have to add itself to other similar cases like the other class action lawsuit Sony is facing in the UK. This one is set to see court in March 2026 after Sony failed to have it thrown out. It's also for a fair bit more cash, with the class action suit coming in at $7.9 billion. It also has similar issues with Sony's monopolistic business practices, so if this Dutch case goes ahead before it, we could get a look into what Sony might face against the UK courts.

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Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast right here.

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