Sony Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over High Digital Game and DLC Prices — Group Claims ‘Sony Tax’ Causes Digital Games to Be ‘47% More Expensive’ Than Physical Copies

Alright, here goes nothing.

So, picture this: Dutch PlayStation folks, they’re, like, absolutely fuming over what they’ve dubbed the “Sony tax.” Really, it’s like some digital uprising happening right now. They’ve banded together to hit Sony with this class action whammy, saying Sony’s playing monopoly with digital games. Seriously. These folks from the ‘Fair PlayStation’ crew? They’re claiming that for digital games, people are coughing up around 47% more than for the physical disks. Wild, right? They say it’s all because Sony holds a tight grip on digital sales.

There’s this research — don’t ask me how they did it — that shows Sony’s been flexing its console market dominance for like a decade. And, oh man, it got nasty after they kicked other app stores off the platform. Supposedly, about 1.7 million Dutch PlayStation owners, and I kid you not, have been shelling out way more than they should for digital stuff. Like, €435 million more since 2013 or something. Crazy numbers, huh?

Honestly, wherever you are, those new PlayStation 5 games hit your wallet hard. Including in the U.S., they often land at $69.99. Sony? They’ve got the digital store pricing down to a science, while the folks selling physical copies? They’re slicing and dicing their prices just to sell more units. It’s kinda sad how the digital-only trend is shaking up the competition scene.

And here’s the kicker. Lucia Melcherts from the ‘Fair PlayStation’ gig — she’s speaking up for the gamers, saying Sony’s basically sucking the fun out of it. Like, making folks fork over more cash without really giving anything back. It’s like, boil-a-frog slowly kinda thing. Speaking of frogs, in April — yep, prices went up again.

Sony’s got this power move going, raising prices just ‘cause they can, right? Games would be cheaper, one might’ve thought, because digital should cut costs. But hey, not with their closed system, no sir. That’s the gripe: double margins on digital sales, an 80% grip on the console market over there, and keeping everything locked up.

So, they’re eyeing the courts to hopefully shake things up when the legal dust settles in 2025. The dream? That Sony has to let other guys sell digital games on their platform. Keeping fingers crossed, I guess?