Sony Agrees to Pay $7.85 Million Settlement for PlayStation Games Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit

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A $7,850,000 settlement has been reached to resolve a proposed class action lawsuit that alleged Sony Interactive Entertainment maintained an illegal monopoly over the sale of digital PlayStation games, forcing consumers to pay “supracompetitive prices.”

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The proposed PlayStation settlement, submitted on December 13, 2024, now awaits preliminary approval from the court. If approved, the settlement would compensate approximately 4.4 million people in the United States who purchased certain video games through the PlayStation Store.

ClassAction.org will update this page if and when the deal receives preliminary approval from the court, so be sure to check back often.

The deal looks to cover those who bought one or more video games for which a game-specific voucher was available at retail prior to April 1, 2019, for which a total of at least 200 game-specific voucher redemptions were made prior to April 1, 2019, and for which the post-discount price increased by at least 50 cents from the period between January 1, 2017 and March 31, 2019; as compared to the period between April 1, 2019 and December 31, 2023.

Related Reading: Antitrust Class Action Alleges Sony has Monopolized Market for PlayStation Games

According to the initial complaint, Sony’s anticompetitive conduct began in April 2019, when it prohibited Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Target, Walmart and third-party retailers from selling game-specific vouchers. These vouchers included download codes that customers could redeem in the PlayStation Store for digital copies of PlayStation games.

The lawsuit claimed this decision foreclosed price competition and allowed Sony to charge monopoly prices for digital PlayStation games.

If approved, the Sony antitrust settlement will provide eligible class members with PlayStation Network account credits, which can be redeemed for any content available for purchase in the PlayStation Store. Credits will be automatically deposited to each class member’s PlayStation Network account wallet, and will be distributed on a pro-rata basis based on how many covered games they bought between April 1, 2019 and December 31, 2023, settlement documents state.

“This distribution will occur no earlier than April 1, 2025,” court documents say, although the deal must first receive final approval from the court, and all appeals must be resolved, before class members can get their settlement benefits. A date for a final approval hearing has not yet been set.

Case documents add that class members with inactive PlayStation Network accounts will be able to contact a to-be-determined email address and provide certain qualifying information in order to receive PlayStation settlement benefits.

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