Four players match PlayStation maker Sony Interactive Entertainment and is seeking a class-action lawsuit under California's Digital Goods Transparency Act, AB2426, which went into effect in 2025. In short, companies are required to tell customers that digital goods like video games and music are licenses, not outright purchases like a physical item. PlayStation includes language intending to disclose this information, but the lawsuit claims that's not enough.
The timing is probably not a coincidence. In recent weeks and months, several video games have been shut down, and those who own them are unable to continue playing them when they are completely offline. While many of these games aren't PlayStation's own, it's worth highlighting the recent shutdown of online services for Destruction AllStars. Published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Destruction AllStars was a 2021 PS5 exclusive that was delisted with online servers shut down in May 2026. The only thing left on it is the single player mode, which is a shell of what the game was, and that will also be gone on November 25th. Such suspensions are not directly mentioned in the lawsuit, but it reflects its direction.
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The new lawsuit, filed for violating a California law that requires digital storefronts to clearly disclose when consumers are buying licenses (not actual games), says language like “Buy Now” and “Confirm Purchase” intentionally misled people (as lawyers wrote in a new complaint, first reported by Aftermath). The four players were not aware that they had purchased licenses to play games, not purchase them, according to the complaint.
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In it, lawyers suggest that when someone checks out at the PlayStation Store and presses “Confirm Purchase,” nothing is required of shoppers to confirm they've read and understood the disclosure — with a note above said button informing shoppers of this. But the complaint claims it's still small and a “reasonable customer making a purchase would not necessarily notice this disclosure.”
It remains to be seen how this lawsuit moves forward, but it's worth noting that this isn't just limited to California. Players worldwide use these stores, are limited to licenses and do not have direct ownership of their games. It came to a head when Ubisoft shut down The crewits online racing game, 2023, which served as inspiration for this team. This was also the crux that kick-started the Stop Killing Games movement, which has been pushing for an alternative to shutting down games in the US and Europe.
It's worth noting that this isn't the only lawsuit filed over similar issues (GameStop was sued over similar issues before it was voluntarily dismissed), nor is it the only lawsuit filed against PlayStation/Sony this year. In May, a lawsuit was filed against Sony for allegedly raising PS5 prices to deal with tariffs, but not passing them on to consumers who bought a PS5 during that time. Essentially, it claims that Sony profited twice: once on the initial increased price sales, the second time on the return from the tariffs.
