PlayStation is being investigated over digital game prices

PlayStation is under fire from Romania’s Competition Council, which claims the company is taking advantage of its dominant position in the console market by only allowing digital games to be sold only through its PlayStation Store, and not third-party sellers.

The council will be conducting an investigation of PlayStation’s digital sales, believing the gaming giant is attempting to maximise profits by only allowing digital games to be sold through its own store, where the price of games can be easily controlled.

A translated press release from the Romanian Competition Council states: “The competition authority has indications that Sony may have abused its dominant position in the video game console market both by selling online video games compatible with PlayStation consoles exclusively through the PlayStation Store platform and by prohibiting the sale of game activation codes video compatible with PlayStation consoles by competing distributors."

This would lead to higher prices for games featured on the PlayStation store, which often only see reductions during sales. The council believes these actions are detrimental to customers in Romania, and could also "discourage Romanian studios from developing video games compatible with PlayStation.”

PlayStation hasn’t given a statement on the accusation yet, but is presumably cooperating with the competitive body's investigation. This is actually part of a wider discussion of video games prices in general, as many consumers feel games are becoming too expensive nowadays, with companies like PlayStation and Nintendo facing backlash for increasing the price of their exclusives, like The Last Of Us Part 1 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Digital games are also often criticised for being just as expensive as physical copies upon release, despite being the same game but without the packaging or disc, which contribute to the game’s overall price through production and manufacturing costs.

PlayStation games sales have actually been lower than usual recently, with the price increase the likely reason for this. PlayStation recently announced a wide range of new titles and even a new console at a recent PlayStation Showcase, so it’ll be interesting to see how sales figures and prices change over the coming months.