PlayStation You Owe Us: Why Players Are Asking For Cash Payouts From Sony

A new lawsuit sees many PlayStation players demanding cash payouts from Sony, and the company will now need to defend itself in court after the case was accepted. If the lawsuit is successful, these players could be owed up to £562 (approximately $711) depending on how much PlayStation content they've purchased since August 2016. A main reason for this is the pricing of modern gaming. In recent years, the price of games has increased significantly, with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X generation seeing the standard edition of AAA titles releasing at approximately $70, with companies citing far greater development budgets as the main reason.

Deluxe editions that predominantly contain digital content such as skins or in-game items often cost a further $20-30. Recent Collector's Editions have nearly doubled in price too, with the PlayStation exclusive — which had the main selling point of a 19-inch statue and the Digital Deluxe suit contents — costing $229.00 at launch. This is $80 more than the first 's Collector's Edition on the PS4, which retailed at $149.99 and arguably contained more content, featuring a similar statue, an art book, and the full story DLC, alongside a physical copy of the game — something most modern PlayStation Collectors Editions have replaced with digital copies.

The claim against Sony comes from Alex Neill, a consumer champion with nearly 20 years’ worth of experience leading consumer campaigns and achieving change for UK consumers. Neill states the reasoning for this claim on the PlayStation You Owe Us, believing that Sony has been exploiting its UK customers since "", as the business model of gaming changed to favor digital media over physical, reducing the number of places players could purchase some titles for the platform.

The UK seems to be getting charged more than the USA, with standard editions of PS5 titles costing £69.99 on average, which is approximately $91. This means US players are being charged over $20 more for the same