Dutch consumer group suing PlayStation argues the end of physical discs just proves its point: 'Sony alone decides what a game costs and even how long you are allowed to use it'
Overview & Key Takeaways
Sony's facing a challenge Steam is better poised to handle.
As reported by WCCFtech, the Dutch consumer organization Stichting Massaschade & Consument now believes it has an even stronger case in its €400 million ($457 million) lawsuit against Sony over the 30% rate it charges on every game sold through the PlayStation Store, a "Sony tax" that retail games are not subject to—the same retail games Sony has announced it will discontinue by 2028.
"The end of physical discs removes the last place where a PlayStation game could still be bought and sold at a competitive price," SM&C chair Lucia Melcherts told WCCFtech. "No discs means no second-hand market and no alternative to the PlayStation Store, so from 2028, Sony alone decides what a game costs and even how long you are allowed to use it.
"That is exactly the harm our Fair PlayStation claim is about: a price can never be fair when the buyer is left with no ownership and no alternative."
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It's illustrative to compare this situation with Epic's Apple Store challenges and the antitrust lawsuits faced by Steam—with one brought against it by another, different Dutch consumer group. Apple, which sells the hardware and maintains its own storefront—a system which closely maps to Sony's—was ultimately forced to relinquish some of control of that ecosystem.
Meanwhile, Steam's flat 30% take (sound familiar?) from everyone on the platform, be they EA or a bedroom programmer, is my least favorite part of my preferred storefront. But it doesn't own our PCs the way a console manufacturer or Apple controls a non-jailbroken device. Indeed, you can install alternate operating systems, competing storefronts, and even physical PC games onto Steam Decks and Steam Machines.
Tweaktown reported PlayStation's 2025 revenue as ¥4.69 trillion ($29 billion), but a $427 million lawsuit isn't anything to sneeze at, and the company is likely to face other challenges to its policies around the PlayStation Store. Whether it's physical discs or some other concession to consumers and watchdogs, as advocated by analyst Daniel Ahmad, something's gotta give.
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