{"id":646587,"date":"2026-03-10T22:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T22:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/646587\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T22:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T22:49:12","slug":"ps5-players-could-get-compensation-as-sony-slammed-for-monopolistic-practices-in-uk-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/646587\/","title":{"rendered":"PS5 Players Could Get Compensation as Sony Slammed for Monopolistic Practices in UK Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PS5<\/a><\/p>\n

A UK court hearing accusing Sony of \u201cmonopolistic\u201d practices couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time for the PS5, as its walled garden is set to be threatened by the open ecosystem of Microsoft\u2019s upcoming Xbox Helix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A \u00a32 billion (~$2.7 billion) class-action lawsuit argues that the Japanese giant is treating its millions of consumers as a \u201ccaptive class\u201d, as software purchases increasingly transition from physical to digital.<\/p>\n

In the past, consumers had the ability to choose where they purchased retail games, inherently creating competition in the marketplace. But in the digital space, there\u2019s only one option: the PS Store<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back in the day, it was possible to purchase download vouchers for various games and services from brick-and-mortar stores, but Sony did away with these several years ago.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors claim the \u201cexcessive and unfair\u201d practice gives the company a monopoly over the sale of software on its system, but the platform holder argued that introducing alternative storefronts poses a security risk.<\/p>\n

It also defended its business model, pointing out that the closed nature of its console allows it to sell its hardware at a very low profit margin.<\/p>\n

This is the detail that Microsoft\u2019s upcoming Xbox Helix will have to contend with: by introducing alternative storefronts like Steam, it won\u2019t be able to guarantee any of the income generated by its own console. As such, rumours are already swirling that it could cost as much as $1,200<\/a> \u2013 if not more.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that Sony is not the only company currently facing a case like this: both Apple and, ironically, Valve are currently being taken to task.<\/p>\n

Should PlayStation lose the class-action lawsuit, it could change the face of console gaming forever. But on the upside, an estimated 12.2 million UK players would be eligible for approximately \u00a3162 (~$217) in compensation.<\/p>\n

[source bbc.co.uk<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\n
See Also<\/dt>\n
\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

\"Sammy<\/p>\n

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He\u2019s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A UK court hearing accusing Sony of \u201cmonopolistic\u201d practices couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time for the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":646588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3195,15610,158,3470,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-646587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-industry","9":"tag-ps5","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116207325356357953","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}