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Sony facing lawsuit over PlayStation Store exclusivity

Sony really not catching a break from the heat this week are they?

I assume that since that Apple vs Epic circus… everyone will get a lawsuit now… maybe not Nintendo, everyone forgets Nintendo exists…

Nintendo's been sued before...and lost (1991 antitrust lawsuit, look it up).
 
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Dodkrake

Banned
I'm just here for the shits and giggles, and to watch those that argue that MS and Apple don't have system wide monopolies somehow argue Sony does.

Bill Hader Popcorn GIF by Saturday Night Live
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Not a chance this will get anywhere.

Physical and digital copies are not interchangeable, they are effectively different items.
 
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Mr Moose

Member
OK which one of you was it?
You can get cheaper wallet top ups in a few places, I get mine from ShopTo, or you can buy a disc if the game is a lot cheaper.
 

NickFire

Member
"Sony's monopoly allows it to charge supracompetitive prices for digital PlayStation games, which are significantly higher than their physical counterparts sold in a competitive retail market, and significantly higher than they would be in a competitive retail market for digital games," consumers said in the filing.
IMO, this part makes the entire thing sound like an effort to capitalize from the Epic / Apple case attention, by trying to jump a 1000 foot wide canyon on a bicycle.

The claim that digital costs more than physical is fluff imo. Simple common sense stuff being trumpeted like it matters for no reason as all, since consumers can still by physical, even used.

But claiming digital costs significantly more because they only sell psn money codes at brick and mortar, makes little sense to me. With rare exception, if any, it always seemed the digital price of a game was in line with the PSN from what I recall. Maybe a retailer would discount it nominally for market share, but I don't recall every getting a deal that mattered buying digital codes at retail. PS+ is a different story.
 

sainraja

Member
They did in the past.

For example GoW 3 was sold digitally in two forms: digital redeem code or direct from PS Store (you could use credit card or redeem PS cards to add fund).

They removed the direct redeem code but you can still buy the game digitally... that is what I’m talking about.
I just wasn't aware of digital codes for individual games since I never looked outside of getting a physical copy or if digital, I just went to the PSN store. Maybe I am forgetting and its possible I could have bought one via Amazon. Regardless, I was just clarifying without the game codes you can't find other retailers doing a sale on them.
 

FranXico

Member
I hope this lawsuit results in them allowing retailers and third party publishers selling games through download codes again.

Although it's an option I personally never used, I always thought it was a dick move towards retailers. It needs to be reversed.

What DOES affect me is the retrogade, asinine country-locking of everything in the digital store. They should be sued for that.

Edit: "monopoly" LOL
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I hope this lawsuit results in them allowing retailers and third party publishers selling games through download codes again.

Although it's an option I personally never used, I always thought it was a dick move towards retailers. It needs to be reversed.

What DOES affect me is the retrogade, asinine country-locking of everything in the digital store. They should be sued for that.
What happened is gamers trended to digital, but console makers said don't worry retailer we'll give you e-cards with the game on it, so it's the same thing as a boxed copy. They took the bait.

As gamers trend more to digital, the power shifted to console makers hoarding digital sales, so they've slowly got rid of them.

They still allow digital cards for money. But those are hardly any profit for stores. All that does is get gamers to buy digital anyway where the console maker gets the 30% cut. So instead of a store making 20% off off a box copy or game's digital download, all they make is 5% off a $100 card.
 
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ethomaz

Banned
No they literally sell game codes. I was just in the store 10 min and saw a Kirby one.

R916649de5fa12224f3b27d1383e10819
Because it is old lol... you can find old PS games cards too.
They don't sell game cards anymore.

Try to find a 2021 or 2020 card... I believe they stopped to produce them very early in 2020.
 
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I'm torn. As a consumer I would love cheaper games but on the other hand Sony is subsidizing the PS5 digital edition because they expect to make it back via the store.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
As of now, you can still purchase GOW 2018 code on cdkeys.com.


And cdkeys is generally deemed to be legit right?
 

ManaByte

Member
As of now, you can still purchase GOW 2018 code on cdkeys.com.


And cdkeys is generally deemed to be legit right?

The issue is they haven't released any digital codes to other retailers after 2019. Hell, everyone who has PS+ and a PS5 has God of War for free.

MS and Nintendo still allow retailers to sell game codes. That's what this lawsuit is about.
 

MagnesG

Banned
They also need to add in Nintendo that also stopped this as well


They stopped selling digital game codes around the time Animal crossing came out
They still exist. I just found digital game codes for titles like Xenoblade Definitive, Just Dance, FIFA 21, Football Manager.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
yeah, they claim you can buy PS gift cards at retail or other stores, thus they arent limiting peoples ability to get content.
That is such a load of shit. The cost of digital is a problem and the shift to digital is limiting the number of physical copies so there is usually closer to a shortage than a surplus. They figure most will buy digital if they can't find physical. I mean it is a smart strategy, it just comes at the expense of consumers which is basically the point of business, especially when there is no free market to have competition discourage being a cunt.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
That is such a load of shit. The cost of digital is a problem and the shift to digital is limiting the number of physical copies so there is usually closer to a shortage than a surplus. They figure most will buy digital if they can't find physical. I mean it is a smart strategy, it just comes at the expense of consumers which is basically the point of business, especially when there is no free market to have competition discourage being a cunt.
And that is a switching strategy. Whether it's purposely done, or accidental can always be argued. Although IMO, it's done on purpose.

It's really no different than when you see something in the weekly flyer for a grocery store. The store wants to fulfill getting product because people want it and will come to the store to get it. But the last thing they want to do is order too much.

A benefit is that if they are short a bit, most customers dont really care and will just accept the store ran out. And much of the time they'll just buy something else at a higher price because they are already there. The chances of a customer being so pissed and never coming back is slim. So either way, the store manager got you into the store.

The same goes for physical games. As you said, if it's not there, people will just buy a dollar card and buy it online, or use their credit card and buy online. So either way that got ya. And buying online is more margin as the digital store owner maxes out the cut.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I'm torn. As a consumer I would love cheaper games but on the other hand Sony is subsidizing the PS5 digital edition because they expect to make it back via the store.
That's the way some industry work. Any product that involves someone coming back for more a lot (razor blade model, printer and ink model, console and game model) are all the same.

Cheap price to get in. Long term big money.

Nothing stops them from selling a printer or console for $1000 and then selling ink cartridges for $15 and games for $40 where it might be a wash.

But the preference is the razor blade way. And most people seem to prefer it that way.
 
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ZehDon

Member
One of the main reasons the PS5 DE is a bad deal; locking yourself into Sony's higher prices makes the USD$100 cheaper hardware dramatically more expensive across a generation.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
One of the main reasons the PS5 DE is a bad deal; locking yourself into Sony's higher prices makes the USD$100 cheaper hardware dramatically more expensive across a generation.
The funny thing about it is even if someone is planning on going digital only with zero chance of playing 4k movies too, paying an extra $100 isn't even a complete loss.

By the time you sell the system, you'll probably get back all or most of the $100 selling a disc version for a higher price.
 

SCB3

Member
They still exist. I just found digital game codes for titles like Xenoblade Definitive, Just Dance, FIFA 21, Football Manager.
I wanna say Xenoblade was the last big one though, like you can't get one for Pokemon Snap for example
 

NeonDelta

Member
Why are people defending Sony on this. Surely its better for all of us if they lose this and game codes are avaliable elsewhere for cheaper
 

Eliciel

Member
I wouldn't mind more competition, but it is hard to imagine how to implement a different concept. I hate that I HAVE to buy it in PSN store. There should be Keys available and more sources of discounts that you can draw from.
Relatively certain that Sony will lose all of the case or otherwise part of the case, it is pretty much excluded that they will walk away with it.
 

Bojanglez

The Amiga Brotherhood
One of the main reasons the PS5 DE is a bad deal; locking yourself into Sony's higher prices makes the USD$100 cheaper hardware dramatically more expensive across a generation.

I'm all digital, for me it works fine, I was even on PS4. I buy PSN credit when offers are available to stack up, credit can be obtained for upto 20% reduction from the monetary value. The PS5 DE wasn't about the cost reduction for me, it was just that I preferred the look and I wasn't going to ever be using discs.

Ideally Sony would allow stores to sell games via codes and allow them to be flexible with their margins rather than enforcing an RRP, that happened here in the UK with Nintendo codes (on Shopto for example) but I believe Nintendo stopped supplying some with codes because they were selling them too low below eStore RRP, now they just sell DLC codes.
 

nemiroff

Gold Member
Wow, actually didn't know it wasn't possible on PlayStation, that sucks. I saw the ~75 dollar (converted) price for the XSX version of RE in the Xbox digital store and just laughed and got out of there. Got the Steam PC version code for 45 at a third party shop instead.
 
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