Sony to pay millions to settle spurned gamers' PS3 lawsuit

OREANDA-NEWS. June 24, 2016. Sony has agreed to pay millions of dollars to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit over the removal of support for the Linux operating system in its PlayStation 3 console.

The lawsuit stemmed from Sony's decision in 2010 to eliminate the "Other OS" option available in all pre-Slim models of the video game console. The feature allowed PS3 owners to install an operating system -- in almost every case, Linux -- onto the PlayStation 3.

Under terms of the proposed settlement, filed Friday in federal court in Northern California, Sony has agreed to pay as much as \\$55 to as many as 10 million PS3 owners if the attest to using Linux on the console. Console owners can also claim \\$9 under the settlement by saying that they bought the console based on Sony's claims about "Other OS" functionality.

The settlement, first reported by Ars Technica, still requires court approval. A hearing is set for July to review the proposal.