Gamers near $7 million settlement — in PlayStation credits — with Sony

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge Thursday granted preliminary approval to a proposed class action settlement in an antitrust case brought by PlayStation 5 gamers against the popular video game console’s parent company, Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The plaintiffs accuse Sony of monopolizing the video game market for its digital PlayStation games, forcing gamers to pay higher prices. They claim Sony Interactive Entertainment, which owns and produces the PlayStation games and devices, eliminated competition in 2019 by barring the sale of digital game downloads by third-party retailers — making the PlayStation digital store the only place to buy them.

Onetime lead plaintiff Agustin Caccuri purchased a PlayStation5 Digital Edition, which does not have a disc drive and can only play games purchased from a digital retailer. The console, released during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, was offered at a more affordable price than those with disc drives.

The proposed settlement tallies $7,850,000 in the form of PlayStation Network credits, which would be distributed directly to each of the settlement class members’ PlayStation accounts. There are about 4.5 million accounts eligible for payments, according to the plaintiffs.

The class members include: “All persons in the United States who purchased through the PlayStation Store one or more video games for which a game specific voucher (“GSV”) was available at retail prior to April 1, 2019, for which a total of at least 200 GSV redemptions were made prior to April 1, 2019, and for which the post-discount price increased by at least fifty cents from: (a) the period between Jan. 1, 2017 and March 31, 2019; as compared to (b) the period between April 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2023.”

The size of the award for each class member will be determined based on the number of eligible games they bought during the class period. There are approximately 103 games covered under the agreement.

Plaintiffs’ counsel requested nearly $2 million to cover attorney’s fees, with an additional $670,000 to cover litigation expenses. The three class representatives also requested $10,000 each to cover their time and costs related to their representation, though only one is included in the settlement class.

After subtracting expenses and fees, the estimated recovery range for each class member is expected to be between $33.66 and $0.91, with the average recovery estimated to be $1.14, according to the plaintiffs. Among the games listed on the PlayStation Store, there were nearly 2,000 that are under $2. Another 118 games are listed for only $0.19.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted preliminary approval. She told the parties to expect an order of preliminary approval within 14 days.

A date for final approval is expected approximately 180 days after an order on preliminary approval is released.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs declined to comment. A representative for Sony Interactive Entertainment did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Martínez-Olguín rejected the proposed settlement in January over an issue with the plan to pay class members in PlayStation credits.

“I’m trying to grasp if your substantive argument is that the account credits reflect monetary value more so than they reflect a coupon,” the Joe Biden appointee said at the time.

The judge also declined to approve the proposed settlement in July 2025 because she found it resembled a coupon-based deal and did not include an estimated recovery range.

She said it was unclear that the PlayStation credits met the definition of a coupon as laid out in In re Online DVD, where the Ninth Circuit found a coupon requires customers to spend additional money, is limited to certain products and offers little flexibility in expiration or transferability.

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