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Sony has issued a statement insisting that it is not profiting in any way from sales of the charity skin currently available in Overwatch.
Blizzard Entertainment's popular shooter is currently partnered with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in an effort to help raise funds to combat the disease, with donations given through sales of the Pink Mercy skin.
The outfit is available to purchase for £12.99 and will be sold until Monday, May 21 on PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One versions of Overwatch.
However, while the Microsoft and Blizzard stores state clearly that '100 per cent of the purchase price' will be donated to the BCRF, eyebrows were raised after the PlayStation Store's own description reveals that 'Blizzard Entertainment will donate £10.12 or local currency equivalent' from sales of the skin on PS4.
Nick Akerman of Bleacher Report quickly spotted the discrepancy, which seemingly reveals that £2.87 of the £12.99 asking price for the outfit would not be donated to the BCRF. This inevitably snowballed on social media.
Pretty disgraceful from Sony. Taking a 22% cut from each purchase of Overwatch’s Mercy Breast Cancer Research charity skin. 100% goes to charity on Xbox and PC. Games media needs to report this. pic.twitter.com/ZCIiHgKcpy
— Nick Akerman (@Nakerman) May 9, 2018
Sony was contacted by Eurogamer about the matter, to which it responded with the following statement:
'We are not making any profit from sales of Overwatch Pink Mercy skin.'
While that's all fine and dandy, it doesn't explain where the missing money is actually going. However, some have observed it may relate to VAT; the Xbox One version of the skin costs £12.79 incl. VAT, while the PC edition mentions 'Any applicable VAT included.' The PS4 version, however, gives no mention of this.
