The Supreme Court will decide whether Microsoft must face a class-action lawsuit that claims a defect in the media giant's popular Xbox 360 console was prone to scratching game discs, rendering them unplayable.
The lawsuit alleges that vibrations or small movements of the console might cause the optical drive to scratch discs.
The suit accuses Microsoft of knowing about the alleged issue before the Xbox 360 launched in 2005.
According to the original lawsuit, brought in 2012, there were as many as 55,000 complaints about the scratching issue by as early as 2008.
Microsoft contends that aggrieved gamers could bring lawsuits individually, not collectively, because only 0.4 percent of console owners reported problems.
Microsoft also contended that the cause of the problem was gamers' misuse.