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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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Class Action Over Sony’s ‘Killzone’ Game Advances

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A class action lawsuit accusing Sony Computer Entertainment of embellishing how good the graphics are in its "Killzone: Shadow Fall" videogame will proceed, a federal judge ruled.

In the class action filed this past August, lead plaintiff Douglas Ladore claims that Sony's "Killzone: Shadow Fall" videogame - pitched by the company as a "crowning achievement in the videogame industry" - was advertised to have multiplayer mode graphics in full 1080p high-definition resolution, but didn't meet that bar.

"Gamers quickly noticed and complained that Killzone's multiplayer graphics were blurry to the point of distraction," Ladore's complaint alleges.

Sony moved to dismiss the complaint on several grounds. The company argued that its representations about the graphics weren't false, that Ladore didn't adequately plead reliance on any alleged misrepresentation, that the game doesn't fall under the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act and that the "economic loss rule" bars Ladore's tort claim for negligent misrepresentation.

But on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen denied all but one of Sony's arguments, holding the company's motion was "premised on an unduly narrow reading of plaintiff's complaint."

"The substantial majority of the arguments Sony raises in its motion to dismiss can be rejected for two simple reasons - either Sony's arguments ignore important factual allegations that are well pleaded in Ladore's complaint, or Sony's arguments require this court to construe the complaint in the light most favorable to Sony, rather than Ladore, who is entitled to the benefit of all reasonable inferences at this stage of the proceedings," Chen wrote.

On Ladore's negligent misrepresentation cause of action, however, Chen found the claim inadequately pleaded under the economic loss rule since Ladore hadn't asserted any noneconomic losses stemming from his purchase of the game.

Ladore has 30 days to file an amended complaint. He is represented by Mark Eisen with Edelson P.C., of Los Angeles.

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