Danny Weber
Sony will pay $7.8 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing it of monopoly abuse via the PlayStation Store. Eligible U.S. buyers may get PSN credits.
Sony is set to pay $7.8 million to settle a class‑action lawsuit over alleged monopoly abuse through its PlayStation Store. Plaintiffs claimed the company made the digital store the only place to buy digital PS4 and PS5 games, stifling competition and potentially pushing up prices.
Filed in 2021, the suit Caccuri v. Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC followed Sony’s 2019 ban on third‑party sales of digital PlayStation game codes. That move eliminated retail access to digital titles, funneling all purchases through the PlayStation Store. In practice, this tightened Sony’s grip on pricing.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has preliminarily approved the settlement, though a final ruling is still pending. A fairness hearing is set for October 15 to decide whether the deal goes forward. Notably, an earlier attempt at an agreement in July 2025 was rejected by the judge.
Only U.S. buyers who bought vouchers for specific digital games at physical stores between April 1, 2019, and December 31, 2023, would be eligible for compensation. A list of qualifying titles is posted on the settlement website. If final approval comes, payouts are expected to arrive as PSN account credits rather than checks. With more than 4.4 million users sharing the fund, individual amounts will likely be modest, far from enough to purchase a new PS4 or PS5 title. Eligible users should receive notice by email.
The legal scrutiny may not end here. In the UK, Sony is already fighting the PlayStation You Owe Us lawsuit, which similarly describes the PlayStation Store as an anti‑competitive closed ecosystem. That case demands over £2 billion in damages and could involve around 12 million gamers.
© E. Vartanyan