Sony in court: According to the plaintiffs, the PS5 price increase is illegal
Sony is facing a class action lawsuit in the USA. Buyers of the PlayStation 5 are demanding refunds because the company allegedly benefits twice from overturned Trump tariffs. The plaintiffs accuse the company of unlawful enrichment.
Class action lawsuit filed against Sony
Sony has just angered many gamers by increasing the price of PlayStation Plus and confirming the end of games for PC, but the company is faced with more dissatisfied customers. Sony now faces a legal challenge in California. The two plaintiffs, Amorey Walker and Bryce Foster-Quarles, filed a class action lawsuit in early May 2026. They accuse the Japanese company of enriching itself at the expense of end users. At the center of the conflict is revenue that is said to have arisen from the reimbursement of illegally imposed Trump tariffs. The background to the legal dispute goes back to 2025. The US government under Donald Trump imposed far-reaching import tariffs based on the International Economic Emergency Rights Act. The set of rules, IEEPA for short, originally dates back to the late 1970s. Sony responded to the new taxes with significant price adjustments for the PlayStation 5.
The company cited a difficult economic environment as the reason for the price increases. However, in the spring of 2026, the Supreme Court finally ruled that the tariffs imposed by the US government were illegal in this form. As a result, the US authorities set up a platform to reimburse affected companies for the taxes they had paid. As Kotaku reported, the plaintiffs are now arguing that Sony is seeking to take profits twice. The group passed on the additional costs directly to customers through higher sales prices. Now the company is also collecting government repayments, even though the buyers are actually entitled to the money.
Price increases and further lawsuits
According to the lawsuit, the price increases for the consoles were significant. Between August 2025 and April 2026, both the standard version of the PlayStation 5 and the purely digital version increased in price by 150 US dollars (around 129 euros). For the more powerful PlayStation 5 Pro, buyers even had to pay $200 more (around €172). There were also price increases in Europe. In addition to tariffs, analysts also blamed general component shortages for memory components for the price development. Electronics manufacturers are struggling with low supply due to the AI boom, which regularly drives up costs. Sony always justified the higher end customer prices with precisely these increased manufacturing costs.
Parallel processes in the industry
Sony is not alone in the current legal dispute. Nintendo was already confronted with a similar lawsuit in April 2026. The company had previously drastically increased the prices of accessories for the Nintendo Switch console. The shipping giant Amazon also has to answer to a court for similar allegations. Meanwhile, Nintendo is actively taking action against the US government to seek compensation for the financial damage caused. If the class action lawsuit against Sony is successful, all customers who have purchased a corresponding console in the USA since August 2025 could benefit. Since the process has only just begun, the exact amount of possible compensation payments cannot yet be estimated. A first court hearing is scheduled for next August. Until then, both parties have time to develop their arguments and evidence.
