UK lawsuit claims Sony owes £5 billion for ‘ripping off’ PlayStation gamers

It would seem that Sony has a new lawsuit to contend with, as the company is reportedly being sued in the UK for ‘ripping off' PlayStation customers by as much as £5 billion. 

As reported by Sky News this morning, consumer rights campaigner, Alex Neill, has spearheaded a UK lawsuit against Sony PlayStation, seeking as much as a £5 billion pay-out to be split amongst around nine million gamers.

It is claimed that Sony breached competition law by abusing its market power to drive prices up for consumers. The lawsuit seems to key in on the fact that like many other digital stores, the PSN Store takes a 30% commission on games sold. The lawsuit claims that this commission led to price increases for digital games and add-ons in the UK from 2016 onwards.

The reason the lawsuit only accounts for 2016 onwards is due to the fact that it relies on the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Sony has not yet issued a comment on the lawsuit, but the company should respond soon.

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KitGuru Says: The 30% platform tax has been argued against heavily in the mobile world in recent years, but game consoles have managed to avoid the controversy. Do you think Sony has ‘ripped off' UK gamers in recent years? 

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