Hi, No doubt people already have heard about this, but worth raising so it can be presented on the website. Sounds like a very dubious practice to me!
Here’s an example posting on BlueSky: @doublepulsar.com on Bluesky
Hope the link works!
Darren
2 Likes
So yeah, unfortunately I don’t thin there’s any legal precedent against this, because I know it’s similarly being done in other sectors and has for a while. Like Amazon has tested this multiple times. Even vending machines will deploy it. The argument is that they’re responding to supply and demand in real time, and it technically already happens through specialized sales & promotions. This is just using technology to streamline the entire process which… yeah that’s scummy and sucks. This has always been possible with personal data, machine learning, and algorithms, and Sony is probably being even lazier and just slapping on the LLMs and “AI” tools.
But yeah, again, AFAIK there’s no big legal alarm bells here. Digital privacy concerns continue to be something governments don’t really care about because they benefit from your lack of privacy. “Adaptive” price changing is only really illegal when it’s price gouging during a natural disaster or something like that (like actually malicious and taking advantage of necessities (which video games don’t fall under at all)). And again they can always just argue that they’re only responding to the market in real time. Inflation and changing exchange rates and what not. One could also argue that regular promotions and sales already does this. For example, the “just for you” page on Xbox supposedly gives sales based on your existing library and shopping habits. The entire Steam Storefront does this in a different fashion by automatically creating bundles and offering sales based on what you are currently buying.
I do hope that gamers really push back hard against this and maybe there is a precedent set. This entire method is designed almost like a casino to keep people spending and maximize the value of each customer, which is just heartless and robotic. If Sony is allowed to do it then soon every storefront will be.
MS better not try this, this is one scummy practice. Although we do have the Just For You sales on the store, but at least those propose lower prices.
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Yep I’ve no issue (or even think it’s pretty cool) to have special discounts - the Just For You ones for example seem to come via publishers who know you’ve liked their other games so offer you a bigger discount to try another.
Whereas the PlayStation one of the price going up when you log in is just nuts - that’s so bad as it actively punishes your existing customer base
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Yeah, I was going to survey and ask if anyone else has the “Just for You” sale for John Carpenters Toxic Commando.
I was already interested, but its offering me a 25% discount. I was curious if those deals are truly just for you or a filthy ruse and everyone sees it.
I do not.
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Special discounts are fine.
Special Price Increases are NOT!
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