Okay, so here’s the deal. Dutch gamers are seriously ticked off about what they’re calling this rude ‘Sony tax.’ Picture this—their frustration has bubbled over into a class action lawsuit. They’re going after Sony, claiming monopolistic shenanigans. Apparently, these ‘Fair PlayStation’ peeps are saying that, weirdly enough, when you buy a digital version of a game, you end up shelling out about 47% more than if you’d bought it on a disc. Why? Because Sony’s got this grip on digital sales. Makes you wonder, right?
Anyway, the Dutch collective, whoever they are, did some digging. Turns out, Sony might’ve been riding this power wave in the console market for a good decade. And it gets worse—they don’t let other app stores on board. So yeah, they’re mad. They’re grumbling that at least 1.7 million Dutch PlayStation folks have been overpaying for their games. How much? Oh, just a casual €435 million since 2013. Yikes.
But it doesn’t just stop at Dutch borders. Look around; PlayStation 5’s new releases are kind of pricey no matter where you are. Think $69.99 in the States as a starting point. Sony’s got the upper hand in pricing in their little digital store. Meanwhile, physical copies? They slash prices left and right for market share. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. But in the digital scene? Not so much.
Random thought—Lucia Melcherts, she’s kind of at the forefront in this whole Fair PlayStation campaign. She says Sony’s squeezing gamers dry by tacking on price hikes without giving anything back. Like, it’s taking the magic out of gaming or something. Boiling the frog, she says—subtle increase until, bam, you’re cooked. Oh, and this April past, those mad price hikes weren’t fun.
The kicker here, according to Melcherts, is that Sony’s so comfy in its leading role that it’s pulling moves without caring what the rest of the world thinks. Talk about audacity! We all thought digital-only was gonna be cheaper with less production overhead, right? Nope. Not in Sony’s walled garden, where they’re blocking out any digital store rivals.
So here’s the bottom line: these campaigners are screaming that Sony’s doubling their gains off these digital purchases while holding 80% of the Dutch console market. It’s like they’re decorating their own little store bubble. Not ideal for developers either, it seems.
Legal drama’s gonna kick off sometime in 2025. Fair PlayStation’s crossing their fingers the Dutch courts might just make Sony unlock digital content sales to outside players. Let’s see how that pans out. Crazy times, huh?
