Once a champion for physical media, Sony is now telling PlayStation customers they don’t actually own the digital video games they paid $70 for
Just because PlayStation customers “purchased” video games on the console doesn’t mean they actually own the games, or so says the gaming console’s parent company Sony.
The Japan-based electronics, movie and gaming giant is facing a class action lawsui t filed in California’s Northern District Court in June, in which four customers allege that the technology giant did not properly disclose that paying for a downloadable game does not grant permanent ownership or access to it.
The lawsuit claims Sony’s disclosures violate a 2024 California law AB 2426 that requires a warning that ‘states in plain language that ‘buying’ or ‘purchasing’ the digital good is a license.” Two of the plaintiffs bought Resident Evil Requiem, per the motion to dismiss.
Sony argued that because two of them purchased the same game just 11 days apart, that means no reasonable consumer can assume they owned exclusive rights to a digital copy, given how anyone could buy the same “copy” at any given time.
The company’s filing states it’s simply “not plausible” that customers believed they owned the games outright.
In the motion to dismiss, Sony argued it made it clear in its terms of service and end user license agreement that its digital games are purchased, not owned.
“A reasonable user would have seen the terms of service above or directly below the action button, the user unambiguously manifested assent to the terms of service, including the arbitration provision, and the terms and arbitration provision were valid and binding,” the motion said.
Sony isn’t the only video game seller responding to AB 2426.
In January, GameStop customer Jake Weber sued the gaming store for allegedly violating the California law.
The complaint includes a screenshot of a store page for Pokémon Legends: Arceus, noting that the page does not include information about customers purchasing a license for the game, and not the actual game.
The lawsuit is ongoing.
Online PC game marketplace Steam, on the other hand, began including a warning on its shopping cart page telling customers they are buying a license to a particular game that could be revoked in the future.
Sony did not immediately respond to Fortune ’s request for comment.
More digital media, more problems? The ability to truly own the product one is paying for has increasingly become a point of contention for video game fans, and part of a growing trend of subscription fatigue that has consumers second guessing monthly fees for digital products while instead flocking to “ analog islands ” of physical media.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on fortune.com — the content belongs to Fortune.