Gaming has only gotten more expensive in recent years — and a lawsuit is alleging that it is largely because of three companies. Due to the spread of AI companies requiring supplies like RAM for their expansion, shipping disruptions caused by global tensions, and rising prices amid worldwide tariffs, the cost of memory has gone up drastically in the last few years in what some are calling RAMageddon. This has trickled down across the tech industry and gaming in particular, where the rising costs of memory have led to more expensive consoles, tighter margins for companies, and costs being passed down to the consumer.
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Considering that much of the world’s RAM is produced by three companies, those rising prices and lack of competition between them can look a little suspicious. A class action lawsuit now claims that the issue has been exacerbated by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, alleging the companies of illegal price fixing amid dwindling supplies. If the lawsuit goes through, then it might mean some very important regulations and consumer protections could go into effect that would decrease the price of gaming just in time for the next console generation.
The Class Action Lawsuit Against Samsung, SK Hynix, And Micron Explained
The class action lawsuit filed in US District Court for Northern California accuses Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron — which are responsible for much of the world’s production and sale of DRAM — of colluding in secret to change their overall business strategy. As explained by Video Games Chronicle, the lawsuit claims the companies worked together to reduce their output of DDR3 and DDR4 RAM while shifting focus towards HBM. HBM is more expensive than typical DRAM and is primarily used by AI data centers as opposed to being a common source of memory for average consumers.
The lawsuit claims that the companies then increased the price of the more regular DRAM supply, raising the prices of technology that they were themselves limiting. This effectively means the companies have been price-fixing, which has a serious trickle-down effect on the larger industry and is illegal — something all three companies should be aware of, considering that Samsung and Hynix both pleaded guilty and paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines after participating in what the US Department of Justice called an “international conspiracy to fix prices in the DRAM market.” If true, this suggests the companies are directly to blame for the rising prices across the entire tech industry.
Why This Class Action Lawsuit Is So Important For Gamers
The rising prices of RAM globally have led to higher costs across the industry, especially in publicly available tech. Gaming computers and consoles have seen their prices increase at a steady rate, all while development on new consoles has been impacted. It’s one of the chief reasons the price for the next generation of consoles is expected to exceed $1000, and one of the key reasons consoles like the PS5 have only gotten more expensive as of late. While there’s an argument to be made that the companies simply doubled down on the AI boom at the expense of standard memory production, the sharp rise in costs highlights just how extreme their control over memory can impact regular consumers. In theory, one of the companies could have seen the rising focus on HBM and instead shifted towards selling more DRAM to corner the market.
However, the lawsuit contends that all three companies began working together to set the price and limit the supply of DRAM in lieu of more focus on HBM — and that given the scale of the companies and the power they wield in the industry, no other competitors could be reasonably expected to compete. All three going that route instead of potentially undercutting one another by remaining focused on DRAM production suggests that there was at least awareness by all three about the direction of the industry, if not outright coordination between them. While the lawsuit is seeking damages for several Northern California companies who filed the claim, the more important detail for gamers worldwide would be the injunction to halt any further price fixing. If the companies can be proven to have been actively colluding on price and supply fixing, new protections might be put in place that ensure consumers face less of the brunt of these investments.
As a result, the companies may be more inclined to return to DRAM production, in turn lowering the prices of the technology that requires them — like gaming PCs and consoles. This, in turn, could lead to more consumer money being spent on games instead of hardware, helping an industry that has been struggling in some key areas. This lawsuit may be tricky to prove, however. Despite having previously pleaded guilty to similar practices in 2005, the companies successfully defended themselves from a similar price-fixing claim in 2018. However, with the rising costs of consoles being directly blamed on a lack of available memory, there may be a stronger case against the three companies. While any money won in the lawsuit won’t be given to players, the potential protections and regulations that could be put in place on the tech giants that dominate roughly 90% of RAM production globally could be key to lowering prices across tech and making it more accessible once again.
