A London tribunal ruled Tuesday that Sony must face a virtually $8 billion lawsuit over claims that the PlayStation maker abused its dominant position available in the market by charging “excessive prices” to its customers.
The U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled that Sony must face a lawsuit price as much as 6.3 billion kilos — roughly $7.9 billion — over the claims brought by Alex Neill, a consumer advocate who has worked on previous campaigns.
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) was sued last yr on behalf of nearly 9 million people within the U.K. who had bought digital games or add-on content through Sony’s PlayStation Store.
Neill’s lawyers said the mixture damages estimate of the case was as much as 6.3 billion kilos in court filings last month.
Neill alleges that Sony required digital games and add-ons to be bought and sold only via the its online PlayStation Store, which charges a 30% commission to developers and publishers.
The claim alleges customers have due to this fact paid higher prices for games and add-on content than they might have done.
Sony didn’t reply to FOX Business’ request for comment.
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The corporate’s lawyers have previously argued that the case was “flawed from start to complete” and said it must be thrown out.
The Tribunal ruled that Neill’s case could proceed, though it said individuals who had made PlayStation Store purchases after the case was filed in 2022 must be faraway from the proposed claimant class.
“This is step one in ensuring consumers get back what they’re owed consequently of Sony breaking the law,” Neill said in a press release. “PlayStation gamers’ loyalty has been taken advantage of by Sony who’ve been charging them excessive prices for years.”