Thanks to a few angry PlayStation 5 customers, Sony has had a class-action lawsuit filed against them over their next-gen DualSense controllers.
In the never-ending saga of next-gen console issues, a new player has entered the battlefield. Chimicles Schwartz Krimer and Donaldson-Smith (CSK&D) have filed a class-action lawsuit against Sony Interactive Entertainment and Sony Corporation America.
They do so on behalf of Plaintiff Lmarc Turner, who claims that the next-gen DualSense controllers are defective due to the “Characters or gameplay moving on the screen without user command or manual operation of the joystick”. Colloquially among gamers, this is known as ‘controller drift’.
The prosecution argues that Sony was aware of this defect by way of online consumer complaints, as well as direct complaints, and through their own pre-testing. The suit is also concerned with the consumer’s right to repair. CSK&D argue that consumers’ options to repair are currently “slim”.
Due to the backlog of complaints, owners of defective Sony hardware are being redirected through a convoluted process involving long wait times and multiple pre-recorded messages.
Once the consumer has jumped through the hurdles and survived the seven rings of Sony’s customer service hell, they are reportedly asked to turn the console on and off again – as if they hadn’t tried that already.
Turner was not offered a replacement unit for his faulty hardware and was forced to purchase a new one at full price from a retailer. Turner argues that if he had known of the defect, he would not have bought a PS5 at its retailed price.
The suit seeks to gain financial reparations for the damages suffered to Turner and those affected by the defective controller. The suit also calls for Sony to stop engaging in “Unlawful, deceptive, fraudulent, and unfair business practices”.
