GoKawiilSony will deposit PlayStation Store credit straight into eligible US PlayStation Network accounts to satisfy a $7.85 million antitrust settlement, and many will be happy to learn that there's no claim form to fill in. Anyone who bought a qualifying digital game between April 1, 2019, and December 31, 2023, was enrolled automatically, according to the official settlement website.
However, no money can change hands until Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the US District Court for the Northern District of California grants final approval at a fairness hearing in October. Don't mark your calendar and start building a wishlist just yet, though, because more than 4.4 million eligible accounts have been identified. That means once legal fees come out of the fund, the typical share will work out to a less-than-princely sum of a dollar or two in store credit per eligible purchase.
If approved, the deal will settle a PlayStation Store class action lawsuit under the Sherman Act, first filed way back in May 2021 over Sony's decision to stop letting retailers like Amazon and GameStop (other outlets are available) sell download codes for PlayStation games. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that ending those codes in April 2019 eliminated the only retail price competition digital PlayStation games had, leaving Sony with a monopoly and the freedom to charge more on its storefront.