From our other sites
The story
SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment) has published a basic policy on customer harassment on its official website. Under the policy, if employees are found to be subjected to personal attacks or excessive demands, the company may limit or suspend its response to the customer and consider legal action in cooperation with police and lawyers. The move appears to be linked to the revised Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures, which takes effect on October 1, 2026, and will require all companies to implement countermeasures against customer harassment. Square Enix and Capcom had already rolled out similar policies, and on 5ch’s console gaming board, the announcement sparked a heated back-and-forth between the PlayStation and Switch camps.
What people said
We strive to respond to customers sincerely so they can use our products and services with peace of mind, and we value customer feedback as a way to improve our services.
At the same time, our employees' dignity and safety must never be threatened by customer harassment — conduct or demands from customers that go beyond what is socially acceptable.
If conduct constituting customer harassment is confirmed, we may limit or discontinue our response to the customer in order to protect our employees' safety.
In addition, when we deem it necessary, we will consider measures including legal action and criminal proceedings in cooperation with the police, lawyers, and other relevant parties.
A Request to Our Customers
To ensure all customers can use our services with peace of mind, and to protect a healthy working environment for our employees, we ask for your understanding of this basic policy.
Of course Sony was going to do the same
It seems likely that government policy is behind this move.
That's because the revised Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures takes effect on October 1 this year, making customer-harassment countermeasures mandatory for all companies (per the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).
SIE's newly published basic policy appears to be in line with that revised law and its guidelines.
They've been trash-talking it every single day for ages
And so are its followers (90% of them Nintendo fans)
You don't even use it but you trash-talk it every day — brainwashed by console-war ('geha') mentality. You're the one getting arrested, lol
https://www.playstation.com/ja-jp/support/important-notice/
So what?
What's that supposed to mean?
Explain yourself properly. Depending on your answer, I might actually report you
Not at all
Are you saying that to manipulate the stock price?
Yeah, the stock's going up
So it really was spreading false rumors after all
That's some seriously effective irony, lol
The stock's going up because it's good news
Meaning they're pumping it up by spreading false rumors
Whatever the 'Goki' (derogatory slang for PlayStation fans) do, it doesn't make other criminals' crimes any lighter
Sentencing is decided on an individual basis
That's exactly the kind of post Nishi-kun always makes
Do you even know what 'customer' means?
But once the customer-harassment countermeasures kicked in, the gaming-board threads trashing Final Fantasy disappeared…
Even though Nishi-kun was going wild in them…
But what's actually getting cracked down on is customer-nuisance behavior by 'Kuromushi' (derogatory slang for PlayStation fans), isn't it
But in the end you didn't buy either of the FF7 Remake games, or FF15, or FF16, did you?
Nishi-kun bashes it without even buying it
There's no excuse left now
That's not customer harassment, lol — contradicting yourself in one line, lol
So should I just report you?
Whoa, this guy's finally started making threats
And then what? You'd have to show the contents of your PC and phone as evidence
If you were doing anything illegal, you'd be the one who's finished
The organized-crime squad ('marubō') is gonna show up at your door, lol
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
By way of background, the revised Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures takes effect on October 1, 2026, making customer-harassment countermeasures mandatory for all companies. SIE’s publication of its basic policy looks less like an independent decision and more like a response to this legal change. Commenters in the thread also pointed out that Square Enix and Capcom had already rolled out similar measures. That said, SIE’s announcement does not spell out exactly which acts cross the line into customer harassment that ‘exceeds what is socially acceptable,’ leaving it unclear how far this extends to critical posts on social media or requests like ‘stop going diskless.’ This ambiguity seems to be part of why the thread spun into speculation over the scope of ‘limiting or discontinuing service.’ That said, most of the thread was spent on the back-and-forth between the PlayStation and Switch camps rather than debating the policy itself, with only a handful of posts actually explaining the legal background.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Console Wars)) thread “SIE ‘On Our Basic Policy Regarding Customer Harassment’.”
Leave a Reply