A PlayStation Store anti-competitive lawsuit has been thrown out of court

Sony Interactive Entertainment has successfully managed to convince a US court to throw out a lawsuit which alleged anti-competitive acts in relation to the PlayStation Store.

As reported by Bloomberg Law, Judge Richard Seeborg of the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted the motion for dismissal on July 15.

The suit alleged that due to the fact that Sony only sells digital copies of PlayStation games on the PlayStation Store, it had unlawfully monopolised the market.

However, according to the ruling, the plaintiffs – a group of players who buy games from the PlayStation Store – were unable to adequately prove that Sony violated the Sherman Act, an antitrust law which makes monopolisation illegal.

In order to prove its case, the plaintiffs had to show that the decision to only sell games on the PlayStation Store was intended to cut off the competition and that it had ended a profitable business to take control of the market.

Judge Richard Seeborg decided this hadn’t been adequately proven, saying: “The motion to dismiss is granted because plaintiffs have failed to allege adequately anticompetitive conduct under the Sherman Act, and the other claims are derivative of the Sherman Act claims.

“Although it is unclear at this time if the deficiencies may be cured, plaintiff is granted leave to amend.”

Further reading

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They were briefly listed as coming to PS Plus Premium in July, as was Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny

This means the plaintiffs now have the option to refile an amended complaint should they wish to continue to pursue the case.

July’s wave of games added to Sony’s redesigned PlayStation Plus was added to the service today, including Stray, which VGC has given 5 out of 5 in our review.