Class Action Suit Claims FFXIII Breaks PS3s, Seeks $5 Million

A San Diego resident is leading a class action suit against Square Enix and Sony Computer Entertainment America, alleging that some copies of Final Fantasy XIII are damaging PlayStation 3 consoles. The July 2 lawsuit (PDF file), first discovered by consumer website IGN, claims "severe and widespread damage" has occurred for many PS3 owners as a result of running FFXIII discs on the system. Altogether, the class action suit seeks over $5 million in damages, and says over 100 participants are involved. Specifically, litigant Daniel Wolf says his PS3 froze while he was saving his FFXIII game, and that it would no longer play any media thereafter, left "totally and permanently inoperable." The suit cites threads on the official PlayStation forums that show many users complaining of problems associated with using their PS3s after saving FFXIII data. The lawsuit claims both SCEA and Square Enix are "eminently aware" of the alleged product defect and simply elected not to resolve it, preferring instead to blame the issue on each other (Sony blames a faulty disc, Square Enix blames the console). Neither party has publicly commented, citing pending litigation.