Sony

Sony

Basic information
Founded	1946
Legal Structure	Public
Industry	Conglomerate, Photography equipment, Audio equipment, Home electronics, Video games
Also known as
Official website	https://sony.com/

Sony Group Corporation is a Japanese Zaibatsu (or mega corporation) headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group Corporation owns over 100 companies including, but not limited to Sony Semiconductor Solutions, Sony Entertainment (including Sony Pictures and Sony Music Group), Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Financial Group, and Crunchyroll.

Sony was established in 1946 as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. The young company distinguished itself in the consumer electronics market with transistor radios, home video tape recorders, portable audio players called the Walkman, and compact disk players. In 1988, Sony acquired CBS Records. Later, in 1989 it acquired Columbia Pictures. The company also introduced the home video game console PlayStation in 1994.

Consumer impact summary

Sony has found itself involved in many controversies in the past, most commonly consumer rights and management of digital content issues. They have included instances such as Sony BMG rootkit in 2005, where copy protection software tracked users in secret and added security holes, which were the target of lawsuits and recalls. Sony has also had run-ins with digital content access, like trying to close down the PlayStation Store on older systems and removing "forever" licenses on Funimation content, which was met with pushback and reversal.

More recently, the PlayStation Network (PSN) account requirement mandated by Sony in Helldivers 2 and binding arbitration provisions in Crunchyroll's terms of service have been criticized as restrictive of user choice and access.

Incidents

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Sony category.

Sued by Texas state over ACR data collection (2025 - Present):

Main article: Texas Attorney General sues multiple TV makers over ACR user data collection

On 15 December 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Sony, alleging that the manufacturer failed to adequately disclose the data collection capabilities of automatic content recognition (ACR) technology in their smart televisions. The lawsuit, filed under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, allege that ACR technology captures screenshots of television displays at frequent intervals and that the resulting viewing data is sold to advertisers and data brokers without meaningful consumer consent.

Controversies

Controversy	Year	Background Info	Aftermath	Related Article	Related Video(s)
Sony BMG CD copy protection rootkit	2005	Sony BMG distributed about 20 million discs preloaded with copy protection software that tracks the users listening habits (even if the user did not agree to the EULA), hides itself, and introduces exploitable bugs. As such it has been classified as a rootkit. Furthermore, they released an uninstaller tool later that merely un-hides their original rootkit and installs more un-removable software, all while extracting more personal information (e-mail addresses) from users.	Class action lawsuits in 2005-2006 forced Sony to recall about 10% of affected CDs. Sony stopped their copy protection attempts in 2007.
Mandatory data collection on PC ports	2020-ongoing
Revocation of "Forever" licenses to Funimation digital content	2024	After merging Funimation with Crunchyroll, Sony revoked all licenses to digital content that had been advertised as "forever" licenses without providing a refund or reimbursement.	Some users received free months of service for the new Crunchyroll platform, but only if they submitted a ticket.	Funimation "Forever" Content License Revocation
Crunchyroll January 2025 Terms of Service Update	2025	Sony forced users of Crunchyroll into binding arbitration by updating their terms of service and without providing an easy way to opt-out.	TBD	Crunchyroll January 2025 Terms of Service Update
Camera monitor on Xperia phones turned into subscription	2025	Sony disabled External Monitor feature with software update on Xperia phones and turned it into subscription	TBD	Sony Xperia turns camera monitor into subscription

Sony's Playstation controversies

Controversy	Year	Background Info	Aftermath	Related Article	Related Video(s)
Warranty void if removed stickers	2004	Warranty void if removed stickers are illegal under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975., but are nonetheless used by the company. Such stickers existed at least on PlayStation 2 models to prevent users from opening the console (the sticker was on top of a screw).
PlayStation 3 "Yellow Light of Death"	2006-2009	Due to a likely defect in the 90nm graphic processing units (GPUs) of early PlayStation 3s, these models are extremely prone to GPU failures. Affected models (with a 90nm GPU) include: CECHA, CECHB, CECHC, CECHE, and CECHG.	TBD; Sony never made a response beyond dodging and denial of the issue. Consumers whose consoles had this problem- even when Sony was supporting the console- had to pay out of pocket to repair it.	Bumpgate PlayStation 3 "Yellow Light of Death"
PlayStation 3 Blu-Ray AACS License Renewal	2006	The Advanced Access Content System (AACS) encryption key of Sony PlayStation 3 devices must be renewed every 12 to 18 months via software updates.	TBD. At some point, software updates will no longer be released, which will eventually lock out users from this functionality.
PlayStation 3 Removal of OtherOS with System Update 3.21	2010	PlayStation 3 systems supported a feature known as "OtherOS" until system update 3.21 on April 1, 2010 with Sony stating it was removed due to "security concerns". Prior to the release of the PS3 slim in November 2009, Sony stated that the slim would not support this feature that was available on the current PS3 models still available for sale.	Class action lawsuit, with a $3.75 million settlement in 2018, with people receiving up to $10.	PlayStation 3 Removal of OtherOS with System Update 3.21
Sony Playstation hardware bans	2011-ongoing	Sony is banning gaming consoles on hardware level from accessing Playstation Network online services for "violation of terms of service", which makes modern game consoles useless piece of junk		Sony Playstation hardware bans from online services
Helldivers 2 PSN Account Requirement post launch	2024	Sony added a PSN account requirement for Helldivers 2 after the game had become popular, including for countries where you can't create a PSN account.	The requirement was removed, however the game was removed from sale in countries without PSN.	PlayStation Network Account Requirement for PC Games
PlayStation Store Shutdown	2021	Sony intended to shut down the PlayStation Store on its PS3, PS Vita, and PSP consoles, despite many of the content offerings not being available on newer consoles.	Sony walked back the decision for the PS3 and PS Vita, citing the negative response from customers.
Removal of Discovery titles	2023	Sony intended to remove customers' access to "purchased" Discovery Channel content at the end of their licensing agreements.	Sony reversed the decision, allowing customers to continue accessing the content.	Sony's attempted removal of "purchased" content
PSN Account Requirement for PC Games	2024-ongoing	Sony requires a PSN account be made or used for Playstation games ported to PC and sold on the PC, including games that were solely single player such as Last of Us Part 2.	In January 2025 Sony removed this requirement for some games and instead offered players benefits to use PSN. However the restriction remains for other Sony games such as Until Dawn.	PlayStation Network Account Requirement for PC Games
PlayStation restricts how developers can give upgrades to "PS5" editions	2025	Sony have restricted how and what developers can offer people upgrading from a PS4 edition to a PS5 edition of a game post launch.	Sony has continued this practices without a proper response	PlayStation restricts how developers can give upgrades to "PS5" editions
PlayStation dynamic prices	2025 -ongoing	Sony has been reportedly testing dynamic pricing on the PlayStation Store for months. That's according to PSPrices, which claims that Sony has been running an A/B testing experiment that shows different prices to different users since November 2025. In the first four months, the experiment grew from just 50 games in 30 regions to now over 190 games in more than 70 regions. overall some users are paying 27% more for the same game.
PlayStation Lease with Flex	2026	Unlike traditional installment purchases that lead to eventual ownership, Flex and other leasing models do not result in the consumer owning the console outright. Once the contract term ends, the hardware must be returned regardless of payments already made, or the consumer must enter a separate purchase negotiation. If payments stop early, the consumer loses access to the device without having worked toward ownership		PlayStation Lease with Flex

Products

Audio:

• Sony WF-1000XM4
• Sony WH-1000XM5

Televisions:

• Sony X900H

Consoles:

• Playstation
• Playstation 2
• Playstation 3
• Playstation 4
• Playstation 5