The prices in the PlayStation Store could soar — for Sony. In the UK, a legal dispute with a trial sum of 6.3 billion British pounds (approximately 7.2 billion euros) might proceed to the next phase, as ruled by the competent Competition Appeal Tribunal, according to a report by Reuters.
Behind the lawsuit are lawyers and, notably, numerous customers who feel disadvantaged by the pricing policies in the PlayStation Store. One reason cited is Sony’s hefty 30 percent commissions on third-party games.
Initially reported in August 2022, the inception of the lawsuit indicated that affected customers had incurred damages ranging from around 80 euros to roughly 670 euros in previous years.
At that time, it was unclear why Sony was specifically targeted for the lawsuit. Other companies like Apple, operating the App Store, or Microsoft, behind the Xbox Store, with similar to identical business practices, are, for now at least, not affected. Sony has yet to make any public statements about the matter.
However, one thing is evident: prices for downloads in the PlayStation Store are sometimes significantly higher than those for identical products available on physical discs in retail.
High Prices in the PlayStation Store
One of many examples: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, self-produced by Sony and released in October 2023, costs approximately 80 euros in the PlayStation Store. The title on a disc retails for about 10 euros less, and presumably, the price will continue to drop in the coming weeks and months — a trend less likely in the PS Store.
Nevertheless, discs can only be used by customers with a standard version of the Playstation 5. Those who own the disc-less Digital Edition of the console are compelled to purchase new games exclusively as downloads from the Playstation Store.
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