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Sony PlayStation users may be eligible for a refunds after a preliminary settlement agreement was approved for a class-action lawsuit involving purchases of digital games
Sony was accused of monopolizing the market and causing people to pay more for digital games via the PlayStation Store
Some users may receive compensation “in the form of cash-value PlayStation Network (PSN) account credits” in their PSN accounts instead of cash, according to the settlement filing
Sony PlayStation users may be eligible for a refunds after a preliminary settlement agreement was approved for a 2023 class-action lawsuit involving purchases of digital games.
Sony was accused of monopolizing the market and causing consumers to pay more for specific digital games that were purchased via the PlayStation Store, Saveri Law Firm LLP said in a news release on April 29 about the proposed settlement. Therefore, plaintiffs allege, the company “violated federal antitrust law and certain state laws.”
Sony has denied any wrongdoing, and the court has not decided if the company violated any laws.
The Northern District of California preliminarily approved the proposed settlement that would see Sony PlayStation paying $7.85 million to case members, per the release. To be eligible, consumers must have purchased one or more specific Sony video games through the PlayStation Store from April 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2023.
A Sony PlayStation 5.
Credit: RUNGROJ YONGRIT/EPA/Shutterstock
Eligible games include The Last Of Us, Call of Duty: Classic and Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, among others. A list of all eligible games is available here.
Instead of cash, some users may receive compensation “in the form of cash-value PlayStation Network (PSN) account credits” in their PSN accounts, according to the settlement filing.
The court has scheduled a hearing to decide whether to approve the settlement and the plan for allocating the settlement amount to class members, as well as other details.
A fairness hearing is scheduled for Oct. 15, 2026.
Additionally, the settlement website states that the case “does not claim that PlayStation digital games are defective.”
Before the preliminary settlement agreement was approved, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín had previously declined to approve the $7.8 million class-action settlement in July 2025, per Reuters.
The PlayStation 5
Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty
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Reuters also reported that Sony was initially sued after it prohibited other retailers from selling download codes for digital PlayStation games in 2019. The plaintiffs, at the time, estimated the class size to be over 4.4 million individuals.
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