A $2.6 billion class-action lawsuit alleges that millions of UK PlayStation users have been subjected to "excessive and unfair" charges by Sony in a new anti-competition court action.
Consumer campaigner Alex Neill accuses Sony of implementing a "sustained strategy" of excluding competitors by "monopolizing" the sale of digital games via its "closed eco-system," the PlayStation Store.
"The result is that Sony can and does set the retail prices of all such content itself without facing any retail competition for digital content," said Robert Palmer KC, on behalf of claimant, Neill. "It allows it to obtain monopoly profits from digital distribution, setting retail prices at what it refers to as its target margin of an excessive and unfair 30% above the level of the digital wholesale prices." He also stressed that, as only one of its three consoles contains a disk drive, players are obliged to purchase games via its online store.