Sony Now Faces A Huge Lawsuit For Over $400 Million As Fans Are Left Outraged

Barely a week ago, Sony announced that starting in 2028, PlayStation would ditch physical discs for an all-digital future. The response from gamers has been predictably negative. Many console owners love their physical collections, but instead of ending at strongly worded criticism, the response includes legal actions that involve powerful words such as "monopoly."

Almost as soon as Sony dropped the news that all future PlayStation titles (and add-ons such as DLC) would only be available digitally through the PlayStation Store and other retailers, the group behind a major lawsuit against the company cast the announcement as proof of its point. The lawsuit, brought forth by the Dutch organization Stichting Massaschade & Consument, is seeking over €400 million (around $457 million) in damages. This lawsuit is dubbed the "Fair PlayStation" campaign and is meant to fight what it calls the "Sony tax" — a 30% commission Sony levies on all products sold through its store.

According to a statement made to Wccftech by the chair of Stichting Massaschade & Consument, Lucia Melcherts, Sony's decision to discontinue the production of physical discs "removes the last place where a PlayStation game could still be bought and sold at a competitive price. 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 the monopoly argument the lawsuit is making, and while it has been in the works since 2025, Sony's recent decision could potentially give Stichting Massaschade & Consument the ammo it needs to make significant headway.

To some audiences, Sony's decision to abandon discs is a reason to buy a PlayStation 5 and not wait for the PlayStation 6. However, many more see it as a reason to straight-up boycott the PlayStation gaming environment. Meanwhile, Stichting Massaschade & Consument probably isn't the only group that views the news as a sign it could have an easy win. We mean that in the most respectful and supportive way, of course.

Earlier this year, Alex Neill and Milberg London brought a £2 billion (around $2.67 billion) lawsuit against PlayStation to trial. Dubbed "PlayStation You Owe Us," Neill claimed basically the same thing that Stichting Massaschade & Consument is claiming: Sony is using its position in the PlayStation ecosystem to collect its 30% "Sony tax" and enforce a monopoly on digital PlayStation games and unfairly control prices. And we can't forget about the PSN Digital Games Settlement, a class action lawsuit that alleged Sony "violated federal antitrust law and certain state laws" by engaging in "anticompetitive conduct designed to monopolize the PlayStation digital game market." Sony has agreed to pay $7.85 million to settle the claims, which could put money back into your digital wallet if you meet certain requirements (i.e., you purchased digital games previously available via vouchers between April 2019 and December 2023).

As of this writing, public support is squarely on the side of gamers and not PlayStation. Many notable names are criticizing Sony for its plan to discontinue disc manufacturing, and Hideo Kojima even went so far as to warn that this could lead to a streaming-centric future (according to a translation by the journalist Genki). Even if Sony wins its lawsuits, it might have permanently lost its case in the court of public opinion.