PS5 DualSense lawsuit firm offers arbitration opt-out letter to plaintiffs

To ensure that arbitration outside court rooms are given a wide berth, US-based lawsuit firm Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith is now offering plaintiffs a pre-made template for a letter to opt out of PS5’s arbitration clause.

The law firm had launched an investigation early February on alleged ‘drift’ issues in the PS5’s DualSense controller after numerous plaints were made on social media.

The ‘drift’ issue is a technical flaw where the controller registers movements in game while not being used by a player.

CSK&DS subsequently filed a class-action lawsuit afterwards — their second such case after a similar incident was reported against the Nintendo’s flagship product, the Joy-Con, which hit a wall in a US district court due to an arbitration clause.

According to the law firm, the PS5’s license user agreement, which all players must accept before using, contains an arbitration clause which prevents consumers from pursing cases in traditional courts, or in class-wide bases. But users can opt-out of resolving disputes through arbitration by drafting a letter to Sony within the first 30 days of booting up services.

“The only comment I can offer on this issue is that this procedure has been used successfully in other contexts which we think are analogous here,” CSK&D partner Benjamin F. Johns told IGN in a statement.