Playstation *Might* be Getting Sued For £5 Billion
Earlier today, it came to light that Alex Neill filed a claim against PlayStation in the UK for no less than £5 Billion. What’s the reason for this claim? What heinous crime could PlayStation have committed for them to be liable for such an incredible sum? Well, the answer to that may seem a little underwhelming. Last week, Neill filed a suit with the Competition Appeal Tribunal against tech giant Sony for what it calls anti-consumer and anti-competitive behavior. This boils down to issues with Playstation’s 30% cut that it takes from any game sold on their storefront. The action argues that this has driven prices up and therefore customers over the UK have been ‘ripped off. They also claim that £5 billion has been overcharged to Playstation customers over the last 6 years. Neill sounds very confident about this claim too- saying ‘the game is up for Sony PlayStation. So, are customers over the UK really in for a payout of up to £500 for being the victim of Sony’s schemes? Probably not.
The 30% cut that Playstation takes isn’t new. In fact, it’s been not only Sony’s standard but also the industry standard for over 15 years. Both Xbox and Steam have had the same cut, and have even defended it as being pro-competition. The argument is that publishers such as Ubisoft and EA take a much larger 60% chunk from developers. This is why so many Indie Devs choose to go straight to storefronts such as Steam and, yes, the Playstation store for the considerably better deal of keeping 70% of what they sell. So, why has Neill decided to take action now suddenly? Or, better yet, why is he only targeting Playstation when Xbox and Steam have been doing the same thing for over a decade? That’s a good question that has yet to be answered. Also silent on the matter, Sony are expected to give a comment sometime later today.
As for the real reason for game prices increasing, it’s more related to the increasing costs of hardware and games costing a lot more to make nowadays. Companies need to recoup their financial investments, and game companies are no different. Even indie developers need to keep the lights on and pay their staff. Games going from £50 to £60 and even as high as £70 for big budget Playstation 5 offerings are all related to how much games are costing to create. This is especially true during the aftermath of Covid-19, as many studios are still feeling the knock-on effect of having to delay their projects, and therefore delay getting paid. Sony has not suddenly gone up to a 30% cut in a way to steal money from consumers by artificially increasing prices. Instead, they have maintained this in order to make shareholders happy and therefore allow them to make advancements. If this cut didn’t exist, the progressions made with the PS4 and PS5 wouldn’t be possible.
In my opinion, don’t think it's very likely that this claim will gain much traction. The 30% cut that Playstation takes is not only not new but also the same as every other heavy hitter in the industry. If this succeeds, then it's inevitable that Xbox is next, and the same can be said for Steam. Although it may be nice to get a little extra money back for consumers, the knock-on effect it’ll have is certainly not worth it.
