Sony Argues in Court docket That Digital Games Cannot Be Owned

Sony has advised a federal decide that no cheap client believes they personal the digital video games they pay for on the PlayStation Store, in line with an August 21 filing reviewed by Game File.

The submitting is the corporate’s first substantive reply to a proposed class action introduced in June within the Northern District of California by 4 California PlayStation prospects. They allege the shop’s “Buy Now” and “Confirm Purchase” buttons suggest possession when the transaction palms over solely a revocable license.

The go well with’s first rely is introduced beneath Section 17500.6, added to California’s false promoting regulation by AB 2426, which took impact in January 2025. It bars sellers from utilizing “buy,” “purchase,” or any time period an inexpensive individual would learn as conferring unrestricted possession, until the checkout carries a transparent and conspicuous assertion, in plain language, that purchasing the digital good is a license.

Sony says its checkout already does that. Fine print within the cart hyperlinks to the PlayStation Terms of Service and the Software Product License Agreement. The phrases of service inform prospects they “do not own the product,” within the eighth of 18 sections; the license settlement says the software program is “licensed to you, not sold,” a number of hundred phrases in.

The submitting goes additional, arguing that possession just isn’t one thing a purchaser might plausibly anticipate. Jason Mendoza purchased Resident Evil Requiem on February 14; Edward Heycock purchased the identical sport for $69.99 on February 25. Had Mendoza owned it, Sony’s attorneys wrote in a passage quoted by the outlet, Heycock couldn’t have purchased it—which makes it “not plausible to allege that reasonable consumers believed they were obtaining ‘ownership'” of a digital sport.

What the submitting seeks

Sony’s major request, per Game File, is that the decide ship the dispute into non-public arbitration, on the grounds that PlayStation’s phrases commit customers to settle claims that means. The possession arguments apply provided that the decide refuses.

Arbitration removes the chance of a jury verdict, and PlayStation’s phrases of service carry an categorical class motion waiver requiring claims to be introduced individually.

Sony said on July 1 that it’ll cease producing bodily discs for brand new PlayStation video games from January 2028, leaving the PlayStation Store and digital retailers the one path to new releases. Sony Group is reportedly planning a dollar-denominated stablecoin for purchases throughout its digital ecosystem.

The decide has not but dominated on the arbitration request.