Dutch PlayStation gamers are up in arms about what they call the unfair 'Sony tax.' Their collective anger has been mobilized today in a class action suit against Sony, alleging monopolistic practices. In brief, legal representatives of the 'Fair PlayStation' campaign say that “consumers pay an average of 47% more for these digital versions than for exactly the same game on a physical disc” (machine translation used), as Sony leverages its monopoly on digital sales.
Research undertaken by the Dutch collective indicates that Sony has been “exploiting its dominant position in the console market for at least ten years,” with things made much worse by barring other app stores from the platform. It concludes that “at least 1.7 million Dutch PlayStation owners pay too much for digital games and in-game content.” In total, Dutch consumers have thus had to shell out €435 million ($505 million) more than they should have done since 2013, according to campaigners.
