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$7.85M Sony Antitrust Settlement Over Alleged Digital PlayStation Games Monopoly Approved by Court
This lawsuit is regarding Sony stopping the sales of game voucher in physical retailers, which disallow game retailers from offering digital Playstation games at a better price than Sony themselves.
https://www.classaction.org/news/7.85m-sony-antitrust-settlement-over-alleged-digital-playstation-games-monopoly-approved-by-court
>A federal judge has preliminarily approved a $7,850,000 settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit that alleged Sony Interactive Entertainment illegally suppressed competition for the sale of digital PlayStation games when it banned third-party retailers from selling game-specific vouchers, which allegedly allowed Sony to charge gamers higher prices for in-system purchases.
The $7.85 million Sony Interactive Entertainment settlement https://www.classaction.org/media/sony-buchman-declaration-edits-incorporated-121324-1030am.pdf received preliminary approval https://www.classaction.org/media/sony-pao.pdf from the court, after two previous requests were rejected, on April 8, 2026. The deal covers all individuals in the United States who purchased certain video games https://www.classaction.org/join-video-game-investigations hrough the PlayStation Store for which a game-specific voucher (GSV) was available at retail prior to April 1, 2019. Covered video games include those for which at least 200 voucher redemptions were made before April 1, 2019 and for which the price increased by at least 50 cents from the period between January 1, 2017 and March 31, 2019 to the period between April 1, 2019 and December 31, 2023. A list of eligible games can be found on this page https://psndigitalgamessettlement.com/court-documents/ .
Court documents say that more than 4.4 million people are covered by the Sony class action settlement.
The official website for the Sony Interactive Entertainment https://www.classaction.org/news/category/sony-interactive-entertainment-llc settlement can be found at PSNDigitalGamesSettlement.com https://psndigitalgamessettlement.com/home/ .
According to the second revised settlement agreement, class members https://www.classaction.org/learn/lawsuits-overview#the-class with active PlayStation Network accounts **do not need to do anything** to receive payment. This payout will be automatically distributed as PlayStation Network account credits that may be redeemed for any content in the PlayStation Network store, court documents state.
Per court documents, class members with deactivated PlayStation Network accounts will be able to contact the settlement administrator to receive a check in an amount equal to the PlayStation Network account credits to which they may be entitled under the settlement. Requests for a check must be submitted by **August 27, 2026**, the settlement website says.
settlement class members who wish to exclude themselves https://www.classaction.org/learn/class-action-opt-out from the deal and retain any legal rights must submit a request for exclusion to the settlement administrator by July 2, 2026.
The court will determine whether to grant the Sony settlement final approval https://www.classaction.org/blog/from-talks-to-checks-the-stages-of-a-class-action-settlement following a hearing on October 15, 2026. Compensation will be distributed to class members only after final approval has been granted and any appeals have been resolved.
The Sony Interactive Entertainment class action lawsuit https://www.classaction.org/list-of-lawsuits alleged that, beginning April 1, 2019, Sony placed restrictions on digital download codes https://www.classaction.org/news/from-disk-to-digital-antitrust-class-action-alleges-sony-has-monopolized-market-for-playstation-games so they could no longer be sold by third-party retailers, and instead directed consumers to the PlayStation Network store. Per the complaint, this resulted in Sony charging artificially high prices for digital PlayStation games https://www.classaction.org/news/loot-boxes-in-valve-games-akin-to-illegal-gambling-class-action-lawsuit-claims , in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act https://www.classaction.org/news/category/sherman-antitrust-act and the Clayton Act https://www.classaction.org/news/category/clayton-act .
United States District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín declined https://www.law360.com/classaction/articles/2463163 to preliminarily approve the Sony settlement in January over concerns that two of the named plaintiffs might receive a service award despite no longer being members of the proposed class. Judge Martínez-Olguín also rejected a request for preliminary approval in July 2025 due to questions about whether a settlement payout of PlayStation Network account credits amounted to “coupons.”
#games t
This lawsuit is regarding Sony stopping the sales of game voucher in physical retailers, which disallow game retailers from offering digital Playstation games at a better price than Sony themselves.
https://www.classaction.org/news/7.85m-sony-antitrust-settlement-over-alleged-digital-playstation-games-monopoly-approved-by-court
>A federal judge has preliminarily approved a $7,850,000 settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit that alleged Sony Interactive Entertainment illegally suppressed competition for the sale of digital PlayStation games when it banned third-party retailers from selling game-specific vouchers, which allegedly allowed Sony to charge gamers higher prices for in-system purchases.
The $7.85 million Sony Interactive Entertainment settlement https://www.classaction.org/media/sony-buchman-declaration-edits-incorporated-121324-1030am.pdf received preliminary approval https://www.classaction.org/media/sony-pao.pdf from the court, after two previous requests were rejected, on April 8, 2026. The deal covers all individuals in the United States who purchased certain video games https://www.classaction.org/join-video-game-investigations hrough the PlayStation Store for which a game-specific voucher (GSV) was available at retail prior to April 1, 2019. Covered video games include those for which at least 200 voucher redemptions were made before April 1, 2019 and for which the price increased by at least 50 cents from the period between January 1, 2017 and March 31, 2019 to the period between April 1, 2019 and December 31, 2023. A list of eligible games can be found on this page https://psndigitalgamessettlement.com/court-documents/ .
Court documents say that more than 4.4 million people are covered by the Sony class action settlement.
The official website for the Sony Interactive Entertainment https://www.classaction.org/news/category/sony-interactive-entertainment-llc settlement can be found at PSNDigitalGamesSettlement.com https://psndigitalgamessettlement.com/home/ .
According to the second revised settlement agreement, class members https://www.classaction.org/learn/lawsuits-overview#the-class with active PlayStation Network accounts **do not need to do anything** to receive payment. This payout will be automatically distributed as PlayStation Network account credits that may be redeemed for any content in the PlayStation Network store, court documents state.
Per court documents, class members with deactivated PlayStation Network accounts will be able to contact the settlement administrator to receive a check in an amount equal to the PlayStation Network account credits to which they may be entitled under the settlement. Requests for a check must be submitted by **August 27, 2026**, the settlement website says.
settlement class members who wish to exclude themselves https://www.classaction.org/learn/class-action-opt-out from the deal and retain any legal rights must submit a request for exclusion to the settlement administrator by July 2, 2026.
The court will determine whether to grant the Sony settlement final approval https://www.classaction.org/blog/from-talks-to-checks-the-stages-of-a-class-action-settlement following a hearing on October 15, 2026. Compensation will be distributed to class members only after final approval has been granted and any appeals have been resolved.
The Sony Interactive Entertainment class action lawsuit https://www.classaction.org/list-of-lawsuits alleged that, beginning April 1, 2019, Sony placed restrictions on digital download codes https://www.classaction.org/news/from-disk-to-digital-antitrust-class-action-alleges-sony-has-monopolized-market-for-playstation-games so they could no longer be sold by third-party retailers, and instead directed consumers to the PlayStation Network store. Per the complaint, this resulted in Sony charging artificially high prices for digital PlayStation games https://www.classaction.org/news/loot-boxes-in-valve-games-akin-to-illegal-gambling-class-action-lawsuit-claims , in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act https://www.classaction.org/news/category/sherman-antitrust-act and the Clayton Act https://www.classaction.org/news/category/clayton-act .
United States District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín declined https://www.law360.com/classaction/articles/2463163 to preliminarily approve the Sony settlement in January over concerns that two of the named plaintiffs might receive a service award despite no longer being members of the proposed class. Judge Martínez-Olguín also rejected a request for preliminary approval in July 2025 due to questions about whether a settlement payout of PlayStation Network account credits amounted to “coupons.”
#games t
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