Sony has been heavily pushing the 1080p angle for their console and for their games. One of the prime examples of this was Killzone: Shadow Fall, back when it launched alongside the PlayStation 4, and was used as a visual showcase for what could be achieved on Sony’s newest console. Obviously, it was also marketed for its 1080p graphics, which, a later Digital Foundry analysis discovered, was simply not true, the game did not in fact always run in 1080p.
This led to, I am not kidding, class action lawsuit (although I guess technically it was false advertising); and now, a judge has ruled that the lawsuit is in fact valid, and can proceed. US District Judge Edward Chen said that Sony’s plea to have the claim dismissed was based on an unnaturally narrow reading and definition of the plaintiff’s complaints.
“The substantial majority of the arguments Sony raises in its motion to dismiss can be rejected for two simple reasons,” the Judge said.
“Either Sony’s arguments ignore important factual allegations that are well pleaded in Ladore’s complaint, or Sony’s arguments require this court to construe the complaint in the light most favourable to Sony, rather than Ladore, who is entitled to the benefit of all reasonable inferences at this stage of the proceedings,” Chen wrote.
So, now the case will proceed, and if Sony is found guilty, then it will in fact be found itself fined and liable for damages and compensation paid to everyone who bought the game and chose to participate in the lawsuit.
We’ll keep you updated, and maybe, hopefully, this means developers and publishers will focus less on the lines and dots on the screen of their game, and more on the game itself.