Turns Out The PlayStation Store's Dynamic Pricing Might Be Against The Law

Evidence continues to stack up suggesting the PlayStation Store uses dynamic pricing. That different users will see different prices for the same games, depending on elements that are largely undetermined. Turns out that might be a violation of EU law, or at least the way PlayStation has approached it might be.

Experts Weigh In On PlayStation's Dynamic Pricing

That's according to a new report from Danish publication Arkaden (thanks, Eurogamer), in which legal experts have weighed in on the somewhat shady pricing practice. It's not the act of dynamic pricing itself that's potentially breaking the law - that is something that's becoming more and more prevalent across many industries. It's the lack of transparency PlayStation provides that's the potentially illegal part.

Xbox uses dynamic pricing, for example, but is transparent about it by listing those personalized prices under a "Just For You" section.

The EU Directive 2011/83/EU states that personalized pricing must be communicated to customers in a "clear and comprehensible manner". PlayStation's dynamic pricing does not do that. It's been accused of engaging in the practice for years, and even though the evidence has stacked up higher and faster more recently, there's still been no confirmation of whether PlayStation officially uses dynamic pricing, and how that dynamic pricing works if it does.

A Potential, But Imperfect, Loophole

Experts explained to Arkaden that there's a potential loophole through which PlayStation could slip. While there appear to be other factors at play when it comes to who sees what price on the PS Store, the leading differentiator seems to be whether the user is logged in or not.

Should PlayStation ever be accused of breaching EU law, it could argue that its disguised dynamic pricing targets segments, and that it isn't technically "personalized" for specific users. However, Dr. Peter Rott, a professor of law and co-author of a study into dynamic pricing, believes PlayStation is still in breach of that legislation, and that the law dictated in the EU Directive still applies.

Professor of law Jan Trzaskowski is in agreement. "The problem is that you are offered a specific price because of who you are," Trazaskowski explains. "It doesn't matter whether you have been tracked across various platforms or whether you have been placed in a segment. The intent of the legislation favours a broad interpretation of automated decision-making in this context."

Whether this will eventually lead to PlayStation either facing legal issues or having to change the way it approaches dynamic pricing remains unclear. Considering it's the transparency part that's the problem, it seems unlikely that it's something PlayStation would ever fight for in court. That said, if, in the future, people believe they've potentially lost money or spent more than they should have while PlayStation was allegedly engaging in an illegal practice, this could be an expensive faux pas that eventually comes back to bite the platform holder.