Soapbox: Why Sony Needs to Change Its Refund Policy

I think Sony needs to adopt a similar policy as Valve did with Steam. I highly doubt it will happen though. They are in the driver's seat this generation and don't feel any sort of pressure to implement changes. I feel they are closing in on the same level of arrogance they had at the end of the PS2 era.

I use the Steam refund thing somewhat regularly (might do it tonight...just got Homefront: The Revolution since I heard they patched out a lot of the launch issues, but we'll see). The fact you have to wait like 30 days to get your money back also makes people use it with a lot of discretion.

I think this kind of policy would help with the used games market too. I prefer digital, but certain games I'll buy the physical version, just in case I don't like it. If I end up trading the game in, Sony won't get any profit from the re-sale of my old copy. If I bought digital and returned it digitally, however, there's no secondhand copy to re-sell.

The main problem with hoping for a change is that on PC the market is open to any company so there is competition and opportunity for someone to step in if the likes of Valve don't offer fairer policies to its customers. However, the Playstation is a closed platform on which Sony holds a monopoly so there is no incentive for them to offer a feature they may fear will cost them more than remaining with their draconian policies.

I still remember the Watchdog episode on BBC about a year ago taking about Sony's approach to people who had their accounts hacked (basically they treated any chargebacks on credit cards for grounds to suspend the account and not re-open it until the balance was non-negative again even after people had said about being hacked). Did anything ever come of that, or is it forgotten?

Yeah. There seem to be fewer and fewer demos these days, so it's constantly becoming harder to know if a digital game is worth buying. That discourages buying digital games, especially at full price. If you buy a bad disc game, you can always sell it off. But if you get a bad digital game on your account, that is just money wasted and the game stays there forever, annoyingly reminding you that Sony and the developer were able to swindle you.

Bought Fallout 4 digital for 70 euros. Didn't like it. Can't return it. Can't trade it for a game of the same value. Can't give me a discount on another game. Ok then.

Not going to happen. You can't even return physical game discs to get your money back, and you are returning get the disc. Never going to happen with digital.

People are willing to pay $25 up front for FF15 season pass. Now that NEEDS to change. Any pre-order purchase made, if a delay happens, a refund option must be offered. If people are willing to pay the full amount for a digital game months in advance, where is the incentive for Sony to refund anything?

Not a matter of wrong or right, just reality. Caveat emptor, buyer beware.

Not quite sure a refund policy will be necessary but I think Sony needs lower retail game prices, I know many people stop playing on consoles over a pc, in some way thanks to steam, I know the current development games for consoles are quite expensive, but if I am not wrong that was one of the reasons why sony chose x86 arquitecture.

@hadlee73 that's not quite true.

Its articles like this brilliant article, as to why the discussion has started. Sony have already considered reimbursing a miniscule amount for giving up your license to games, a digital buyback if you like (what's happened to that btw?) This is the next step in the thought process. Is Steams the right policy? that's open to opinion and was only brought about by pressure from steam users. From Sonys point of view would they rather have a reimbursement policy or a quality control policy? Its easier to have the first option when there's hundreds soon to be thousands of games to choose from - they could always just reimburse the amount as game only credit, a guaranteed win win situation for Sony.

Just add limitations to it to prevent abuse. Two hours or so should be enough time to know whether you want a refund or not, and one should know within a week or two of purchasing a digital game. Similar to the policy Steam enacted.

I think it should be provided up to an hour into the game. Let's be honest if we were given a 24 hr or more window, there will be some people who would abuse this by beating the game then refunding.

Personally I stick to physical games for titles I'm not sure of, games with no replay value , and sports games.

Why not follow the same route as the Google Play Store? Give the player x amount of time to try it out, if you don't like it, uninstall and get a refund. Download a second time, then you're stuck with it, if Sony is going to be anal about things then they can keep, say, %5 of the purchase price.

_{Language -Tasuki-}

Great piece Push Square, one of the best ive seen on this site. Honestly, to institute a refund policy, there would be many scumbags who abuse it, but there is just as many people who work hard for their money that might deserve a refund. No Mans Sky is the perfect example. While I did enjoy the game, the game is NOTHING like it was presented to us in bullshot videos over the years. Forget about the Sean Murray lying fiasco. Just look at these videos and tell me you have seen anything even REMOTELY close to being that awesome in the game. I do believe Sean and his team did their best with good intentions, but these videos we were shown do not even remotely resemble the game and the fact that they refused to talk about any features of the game prior to release ... example its nothing but a grind fest, was even more mis leading to the hardcore gamer, I cant imagine how fooled the average Joe and general public was.

@Ralizah To be fair I dont think I crashed once in the first 2 hours. However since release I likely have crashed over 60 to 70 times. Sony should be able to see this since I turned all of the crashes in. Still, I am satisfied and not looking for a refund, but if I was under these circumstances I think I should be entitled considering the difficulties I have had and reported. I dont think people deserve refunds because they simply dont like the end product. Yeah, there was tons of bullshot trailers, nobody forced us to buy day one and there is plenty of outlets to find out how good or bad a game is prior to buying. But a game like No Mans Sky that constantly crashes for no reason, if a Sony rep can look at your account and see you have turned in numerous crash reports, you should be entitled to refund.

@LeeHarveyOzgod The problem is that getting away from hard and fast rules about refunds opens up the possibility of user abuse. I understand one-size-fits-all guidelines aren't perfect, but they allow for something consumer friendly like a refund policy while minimizing potential exploitation of the system. Not that my guidelines were anything other than arbitrary. They were just an example.

Consider the case of a game like Corpse Party: Blood Drive. Putting aside the game's general performance issues, it didn't really crash on me until I got to the last two chapters of the game, where it started crashing continuously, to the point where it was a chore to finish. Now, this is a clear sign of the product's programming being faulty (faulty on the part of the original developers, not on the part of the localizers, mind you)., but given how much of the game I had already experienced, I don't think it would be fair for me to be able to get a refund for it (if purchased from the Playstation store).

@Mahe this is why I have been telling people for yrs to never buy $60 AAA games digitally. I have a policy to pay no more than $20 for a digital game but my average price is about $5-10. By the time these digital games are this cheap the bugsare eliminated and all patches are in the game. Also the overall quality will be exposed after years have passed.

Every time I mention this on ign I have these arrogant gamers tell me to not tell them how to spend their money. So I just let these morons waste money. To make matters worse, is that these gamers don't just buy the standard game they get the collectors editions digitally spending upwards $150 for one stinking game.

I only buy AAA games retail and don't even pay full price with Best Buy gamers club and Amazon prime both 20% off new games and 10% off used games plus all the extra perks from Best Buy.

While I believe Sony should offer refunds on broken games (AC Unity comes to mind) they shouldn't offer them no questions asked. The best way too go about it would be using the DVR future and submit a claim that way. The whole thing with no mans sky wanting a refund for a game that arrived mostly working (most games are a lot worse on launch and go un-patched for weeks) is just pathetic.

Now because people expected the universe from No Mans Sky, expectations fell short and now people are blaming Sony for not giving them a refund. What happened to doing research before spending money?

@hadlee73 thank you. Use common sense which too many gamers don't have. Not to mention no self control to wait for price drops on games you arent sure about plopping $60 plus dollars on. I pay about $200-300 on games a yr vs these compulsive gamers that spend thousands of dollars a yr and they are broke most likely using credit cards to purchase games.

can we please ban the 15% who voted against this and ban then from this site and all PS4s?

WRT No man's sky - the fact that it still crashes several times an evening is the valid reason for a refund, not the gameplay. No other console game has crashed that often that I can remember

Stop purchasing games on release and stop pre-ordering. After waiting, often for years, for a game to be released be patient and wait for the reviews and patches. Don't be the guinea pigs and unpaid game testers.

How a game performs, the quality of contents, and deception of any amount can be subjective and an overall poorly defined grey area. Poor frame rates from tests may seem black and white but are still argued about, debatated, and a topic game makers often take far less serious than they should.

In the past on PS1 and PS2 we could rent games at Blockbuster before purchasing and the games were finished products. Now the games are hyped for years and need day one patching along with future patching to attempt to fix the games. Added to all that is the digital download with no way to return, trade in, or sell.

Times have changed and so should when we purchase games. We need to be patient and wait for reviews and watching youtube before purchasing. A short rental or demo offers saving money on a clunker. Also purchase disc copies if possible.

Psn should add 1 hour return policy within one week from buying the game, just add 30 day money return policy so people doesn't abused them, and maybe renting digital games for ps4 (download or streaming) so people can try before buying.

@Ralizah I agree. I dont think it would be hard for Sony to track abusers anyway. Hey, you got a refund on the last 2 games you bought, no more for 6 months...

Something along those lines...

@Pink_Floyd I disagree. I have never ever seen a game in as bad shape as No Mans Sky on release. I have had more crashes in single sessions of No Mans Sky than I have had with every game combined on my launch PS4.

Its not just Sony its the whole gaming industry which bypasses the sales of good act because of the nature of game development, thats why thay can show you bs scripted demo's like No Man Sky and not get done when the game is nothing like that.

Most physical stores have the same refund policy on games...if the seal is broken they can't be returned if faulty. I do understand it can be frustrating, but when I buy a game I buy it knowing I'm taking a small risk it might be crap. We have a big community of gamers/reviews etc that we can go to before buying a game.

I already mentioned in another comment, but a fun fact is that in EU there is even a law for digital refunds, but it's so weak that all digital stores can simply and legally make you decline it before selling to you the product.
Then again that law itself would be the end for this market, 14 days for return a game, no matter what you did with it, would allow a ton of people to play for free, getting a refund after finishing a game.
So far steam is probably the fairiest system as they replaced the legal refund with one that allow to defend both the customers and the creators rights. It's not perfect maybe, but it's definitely something and I definitely hope that more companies will try as much for offering in future refunds options.

To be honest this just highlights the fundamental flaw with Digital versions of games more than the flaw in Sony's policies. Its NOT Sony's fault that the games released are 'broken, unfinished or not as advertised'!

At least with 'physical' versions - if you can prove the game hasn't been opened - still sealed - you can often return it for a full refund - as per your rights. If faulty, you can often return it for a 'replacement or substitution'. If you don't like it, you can trade it in.

Physical games are an 'asset'. They have 'value'. In some cases that value 'drops' significantly over time but as we have seen in the past, sometimes games actually increase in value too. A console with 20 physical games us worth more than a console with 20 (or even 40+) digital games as Digital games have NO value - unless you plan on selling your Identity as well.

Like I said its NOT Sony's fault that these games don't match your expectation and I don't think Sony's refund policy is unreasonable. More often than not, they are selling a product that essentially works as well as any other format or platform. Where do you draw the line? Played 10hrs and found out you didn't like it? Played 100hrs? Blaming Sony for a developers 'mistakes' is wrong though.

People need to be more careful with their money. Be more particular about pre-orders and format. I don't believe you get your money back in a cinema, theatre or concert if you don't like the film/play/performance etc - only if something 'breaks' or stops that performance. You don't get your money back if you buy films/music digitally if you don't like them - only if there is a fault.

I guess Sony though could be a bit more lenient and give you a set time to cool off but that could be open to exploitation. If they gave you a 14day cooling off period for example, you could buy and complete many games and return them for your full money back - only to buy another game, complete it and return it etc etc...

To me I think 'gamers' need to be a bit more responsible with their money. Pre-order games with a history and/or on physical media. Don't give these developers the money until they have proven their game lives up to expectation - Its OK to wait a week or more after release to buy something!

Yes, spot on, thank you for writing this, couldn't agree more. I'm a big fan of Sony but what they're doing when it comes to refunds is wrong.

Refusing refunds when something has been falsely advertised is absolutely horrendous. We shouldn't be making excuses for that.

"....how not to run a marketing campaign: tiny snippets of gameplay...."

Yeah, tiny snippets of a completely different game.

@AyeHaley. I voted for "it could be open to exploitation" but after giving it hours of thought, I've changed my opinion. I think a policy like Steam's is the right thing to do.
So can I still stay on Pushsquare?

Ultimately, Sony's lack of a refund policy is what prevents me from buying everything digitally. If I'm not confident I'll want to keep a game then my only sensible option is to buy the disc so I can possibly sell it later.

But a digital sale is far more profitable (reduced overhead) to Sony so they need to do everything to encourage digital sales, not discourage them.

What happens in my case is I typically buy physical and then if I like it I sell the game disc and buy it digitally. I'd much rather skip that hassle.

For those saying it's not the fault of Sony for a game releasing half baked on their systems...um...welll...

For every platform holder you need to pay themy to test the game on your system. Mainly to make sure it's not gonna brick it or backend it and what not and interacts with consumer grade hardware correctly. It's also to ensure a level of quality for the consumer, if the game breaks well it can't be sold as it's unplayable, granted those can be overlooked if it's only 1/100 times it breaks.

Now...notice what I said about paying them. That's a fee of 10s of thousands usually. For one testing of the game for release. Know what that means? You just lined their pockets anyway putting a title up there, they don't give a damn.

As for the refund policy yeah that's bad. Sony never really dropped off the arrogance high from the ps2. I mean how often do you see them acting like stuck up here's rather than inviting players to their box. Hell I think they are the only company to routinely ignite fan boy wars. "This is how you share games on ps4.. even though it's more complex than that... but the point is the Xbox one sucks buy ps4 instead". That's the constant vibe I get from Sony and as pointed out while they exist to make money they aren't exactly consumer friendly about it. Troubling to see this work out for them. Maybe it's already the norm.

Thanks for all the comments! Due to the sheer volume of them, it's doubtful I can respond to them all, but I'll try:

@hadlee73 I get that this article won't likely change anything, but I just wanted to get this idea out there and promote discussion about it.

@jayclayx I doubt retail prices will ever get slashed by Sony, this just seems to be an industry-wide problem that won't change due to competition. Hopefully refunds soon become a thing though!

@themcnoisy @Ralizah @Neolit @wiiware These are all really good ideas for a refund policy. Not only are they fair to the consumer, but it still gets Sony money (so they're more likely to implement it) and developers won't be open to exploitation.

@Tasuki @Ewflex That's fair enough - I do that too, and I only really buy smaller games from the digital store. But don't you think that all games should be refundable, regardless where you buy them from?

@NoCode23 These are points I've made in the past, but another point I'm making is just how hard it is to judge how much you like a game before release. Demos are becoming less and less common now, and I don't know about anywhere else, but the UK doesn't have many shops that offer game rentals.

@johncalmc @sketchturner Exactly. Apart from sheer convenience, there's pretty much no reason to buy digital games that are available as physical copies because it's more expensive and you don't have any way of getting your money back if something goes wrong or the game is bad quality.

@BAMozzy I agree that people need to be more responsible with money, and I'm not saying it's Sony's fault that broken or low quality games are released. All I'm saying is that a better refund policy seems like a basic consumer right, and to avoid exploitation of the policy there should be a one- or two-hour cap, like Steam's system. I still feel that Sony should implement some form of quality control though - PayDay 2, for instance, hasn't been updated once since release despite being horribly broken, so I feel that either a) people who've bought it should get refunds or b) it should be taken off of the store.

@Quintumply Thanks! I get that these cases of abuse and exploitation do happen, but I like to think it's a minority thing - after Steam's refund policy was implemented, a lot of people thought that sales would drop for many indie games and many indie developers would shut down. That hasn't happened, so I feel a similar policy would work on PS4.

Phew!

It isn't just exclusive to Sony, MS have exactly the same policy, even less consumer friendly as they state NO refunds for digital purchases. The market place needs to change if these companies are pushing for an all digital future (which I would be happy to go with as about 90% of my current gen purchases have been digital), but there needs to be a way to trade in your digital content like Steam and to make sure your rights as a consumer are protected and we don't get shafted by Sony/MS et al.

This is the exact reason why every single game that is available digitally must have a playable demo. MUST. If I buy a game physically & I find something wrong with it or just plain don't like it I can return it. Playability is essential before purchase commitment!

@Anchorsam_9 The only way to get 'change' is to vote with our wallets. You can argue that a films trailer or single that promotes an Album can be misleading too but don't get refunds if you buy digitally based on these. If you buy 'physical' copies, you rarely get full value back if they are not sealed unless they are 'faulty' - in some cases you even have to prove they are with some retailers. Digital certainly could have long term repercussions too. What happens when Sony turn off the servers to PS3 (for example) and you want/need to redownload a game you purchased on that console? I know I can play all my games - maybe not online MP - but nothing stops me playing offline content because I own the disc.

A 1-2hr cap could be a good step by Sony but what if a game constantly crashes after the first couple of hours or in the case of something like No Mans Sky, the initial buzz of that first planet or two then fades rapidly as tedium strikes and you realise that you have been lied to - some games (Star Wars: Battlefront, SF5 even Titanfall) have good 'game-play' but fades very quickly because of the lack of 'depth' at release. I doubt these games are 'worth' the full RRP but because they play well and offer 'something' in the first few hours, chances are you can have 'fun' for that 1-2hrs - maybe even up to 10hrs before quickly losing interest where as others you can tell very quickly if a game isn't for you or doesn't live up to its promise.

Quality control is also difficult to implement. Where do you draw the line? A game promising 1080/60 but with unlocked frame rates and dynamic resolution, averaging 900/52 (Doom on XB1 which even drops to nearly 720p) - Is that false advertising? I don't see Payday 2 being withdrawn from sale from other outlets so why should Sony?

The responsibility lies with the developers though - they are the ones who should be made accountable for their games. They are the ones who get praised when everything goes right. You don't see Sony getting praised for CD Projekt Red's the Witcher 3, so why blame Sony for other developers mistakes? They are the ones who should pay back the gamers. You don't blame Game, Amazon or other retailer for selling games that don't live up to the hype so why blame Sony. You don't expect these retailers to do quality control, ensure that what is delivered matches up to the promise etc.

The whole consumerism, must have games on release is partly to blame. People have a 'choice' to pre-order or to wait until release - even wait months after release too. Its rare that I pre-order a 'new' franchise and never pre-order digitally. I always buy physical copies where possible too. In fact the only 'new' franchise I have pre-ordered is Horizon:ZD (limited Edition version) and won't even consider pre-ordering BF1 because of Dices track record with SP campaigns and online issues at launch. For me pre-release hype is not as important as post-release hype. I also pre-order generally from places like Game, Amazon etc where the money isn't taken until dispatch so can cancel anytime before hand and like I said, I only pre-order physical copies as they can be traded in/sold to recover my money. I know I have just recently pre-order TF2 and ME:A and paid upfront - I can still cancel and get my money refunded anytime but both have a track-record and TF2 has had a beta test with another this weekend so I know what to expect - incidentally its gameplay is just as good as TF1 was but looks to have addressed a lot of the 'variety' issues...

The only way to implement change though is to stop pre-ordering digitally. If companies like Sony feel that their pre-order figures are dropping significantly, they will have to look at the reason and maybe rethink their policies. I am certain they can't get away with breaking any consumers act but that doesn't mean they are going beyond the minimum requirement either - that maybe Steam are as they are an all digital platform.

I still think gamers have to be a bit more responsible - especially when pre-ordering digitally. Sony haven't changed their policies recently so people need to be aware of the consequences of pre-ordering a game that doesn't match expectations. If they can't 'live' with the risk - don't pre-order. I think articles such as this should be used more to explain that 'risk' and what can go wrong to inform gamers about the perils of pre-ordering digital games - but instead they are also partly to blame for raising the hype before release...

"What if the game you bought isn't as good as you expected it to be?"

Not a valid reason for a refund in my eyes, the others I agree with.

The simple solution is to buy physical media. Not only can you return/trade it, but you'll spend a lot less on it in the first place.

While I get where you're coming from, you can't walk into a HMV holding a DVD and return it after you watched it becuase you didn't think it was of good quality or not as the trailer made it out to be.

You can't walk into a record store and complain that you don't think the new Taylor Swift album is as good as her older stuff and demand a refund. Just doesn't work like that. Creative media is objective in its enjoyment and will ALWAYS miff some people, however good the quality is.

Leniency breeds greed and for every person better refund rules will allow to aid, hundreds will take advantage of it. Just because it's digital doesn't make it anymore entitled to a return, either.

People need to relax and wait for games to settle after release - if it has issues you'll damn well know about them. If you still don't like the game, chalk it up to experience and steer away from that genre? Death to day one and death to pre orders.

Haven't read all the comments yet, but I'm not sure this is a huge issue. Games like Bound can be finished within 2 hours, that means you could finish a game and ask for a refund if you wanted to. Two solutions already exist: Buy retail; You may not always get a refund, but you can at least sell the game for a decent amount. However, I think the most obvious solution is reviews. Just wait for reviews if you're not sure; ever bought a broken/buggy game from [x] developer, be wary the next time you buy a game with their name on it.

I would not offer any refunds for games. Every game gets patched and fixed. As other posters have said you can not get a refund on movies because they are bad or music because its not upto the level you expect. How would you define a game that deserves a refund? There are games that have been described at terrible with poor performance in reviews on this website that are great to play. Solution to this issue read reviews before buying games, watch them on twitch to see what the game is like. Do not pre-order games.

@get2sammyb oh well my course won't stop lying to me then. Yet another thing to bring up to my lecturers. They also ignore pegi so....

We do need to vote with our wallets. Pre-orders and day one purchases are great in terms of getting the latest content and being one of the first to play but there is a huge risk in doing so. Publishers actively encourage pre-orders because it is guaranteed revenue and offsets the risk of poor reviews/recepetion. Which is what reviews are for - to allow consumers to make an informed choice.

Don't pre-order of you don't want to take the risk. I have only pre-ordered UC4 this generation because I have faith in Naughty Dog producing a great game and day one quality being good. I am going to pre-order the Bioshock collection because I love the games - they could still be a mess, and if so, well that was my stupid fault for being a fanboy. The point is that if publishers get a guaranteed revenue from pre-orders and sales on poor quality goods there is less incentive to institute strict quality control.

However, I think Sony can benefit from a better refund policy. If they perhaps levied a minor charge on digital refunds and followed the steam policy, they might be able to claw that money back from publishers and consumers while also drawing in more trade. This is an advantage over high street sellers. Play 2 hours of a game, see if it is for you and you lose maybe $5 if you don't like it. Sony gets $5 and has kept a gamer downloading stuff from them.

I also think that a gamemaker lying to the consumer is rights for a return. No Man's Sky is an example of a game maker stating in NO uncertain terms that you can meet up with other players. It was said on the Stephen Colbert show to like millions of viewers. It might be patched in later but it was released without advertised functionality. What other industry allows that?

@Anchorsam_9 I buy AAA and smaller titles from the psn store. I just don't buy them at a high price, so if the game isn't what I expected I haven't wasted a ton of money. Like people have said, gamers need to be more wise with their money and stop expecting these big companies to look out for them. Consumers need to be educated and more selective with the games they spend money on specially when they can't sell it/ trade it in digitally.

While I agree that they should have something similar to Valve's Steam in place regarding refund policies, I fear that what it may end up causing is a ripple effect in the gaming industry, where developers are less likely to take chances with things and start releasing things in bits and bobs like Hitman games.

Steam developers also make money for Greenlight games and people are well aware that those games are incomplete and pay for the right to play them early, so what does that encourage? Should Sony introduce that?

@wiiware agree with this.

I'm one of the people that can't play the game right being that it crashes every time I start playing, being that I can't play it I should be able to return it. and how coincidental is it that Sony's chat support isn't working?

I think in cases like No mans Sky where the trailers shown are vastly different from what we got, or features that were said to be in it actually arnt then yes, a refund should be given, however, if you buy a game you need to make sure it's something your into, for instance if a game advertises a game as being one thing and the game turns out to be exactly what they said you just don't like it, then no, you shouldn't get a refund, I bought a game called dangerous golf, I, after looking through the screenshots thought I would like it, I didn't, that doesn't mean I'm "entitled" to a refund in any way shape or form, if you go to the movies and don't like what you've seen, you don't get a refund why the hell should gamers in the same boat get one, like I say, if it is advertised as game A but releases as game B then definitely yes but not liking it? Hell no. The nanny state needs to end. Take some responsibility.

Luckily I bought Deus ex mankind divided from shopto at £34.85. I hated the first hour that I took it to cex the next day. Got £35 cash back. That was because it was a bargain at shopto that I didn't lose any money. If I had of bought it from the store I would be over £50 out of pocket with a game I never want to play. Now I only buy from the store if it's a mega discount like Hard-line for less than £4! Psn store new releases are a ripoff. It's common sense really. If you have money to burn then go ahead. If they had a decent refund policy or try before you buy or even a sell your digital content back to Sony, then yeah fill your boots.

_{Language -Tasuki-}

BBC Radio 5 had a piece earlier talking to a very unhappy gamer whose NMS kept crashing and finally ended up freezing his box. Sony were no help at all in refunding a 'faulty item'. I always go for boxed versions for this reason... Opps, No, I tell a lie. waiting for Destiny 'RIse of Iron' (ooh nurse!) Expansion even as I write.

@Tasuki Sony allows refund or credit only the item.

also I have being able to return store items that were mistakenly bought as well, for anyone out there wondering. there warranty department though sucks.

@BenTarrant with respect, yes you can - in a way. I have done exactly that on a number of occasions when I didn't like a game, whilst I do not always get a refund, they were always happy to place the full amount on a gift card. At least that way I could spend it on something else in-store that I did like or save it until there was something else I wanted. Sony don't even offer this courtesy!

@stevejcrow I agree. People need to educate themselves, however people should not be discouraged from buying a game day 1 and finding out that it crashes more than any game in PS4 history. I believe the crashing and broken nature in that sense is some what unpredictable and the type of thing that might warrant a refund. I probably crashed over 60 times, im actually just 1 trophy away from the platinum and I am not asking for a refund as I do believe I got my moneys worth from No Mans Sky. But if developers want us to buy games day 1, they cant continue to embargo everything then deny refunds when we find out not only did we not get what we expected, but what we got is a crashing mess.

@Rsco6969 I some what agree, we are still responsible for what we purchase. Do I think we should get refunds because it doesnt look like the trailers? No, we were duped and that is that. I would hope we all learned something from this experience though. The fact that the trailers were so spectacular and yet they were unwilling to literally talk about any aspect of the game should have been a red flag for me and next time it will be. The review embargo and the desperation to keep people from playing early copies that were essentially unchanged should have been an indication. I watched live streams and should have learned from that, so I really do have to blame myself, and I have learned from this.

@Tenacious-P With respect, the store were wrong to do that. Just because you didn't like a game isn't a valid reason to return it. Don't get me wrong, I've used several excuses in the past to get a refund or replacement, not always successfully, but wouldn't expect a store to give me a second game purely because I didn't enjoy the first.

There should be a 2 hour grace period, if you're not happy with your purchase then you get a refund.

Sony isn't really competing with microsoft. They are competing with PC. If playstation does not offer an easier and stress free experiance then there isn't much reason to use it. I am a big sony fan btw

@LeeHarveyOzgod I'm shocked I've plays games like Fallout 4, Payday 2, Battlefield 4, Watchdogs, and others that crash more the NMS. Payday 2 alone has crashed 50+ times and that hasn't been patched unlike NMS that's getting a patch next week to fix it.

@Quintumply your HMV lady puts it into context, piracy was rampant years ago. Who didn't have a copied copy of a game in the 80s? Who didn't have a dodgy 100 games on one Gameboy cartridge? How many people had that ps1 bypass system using a spring and an action replay disc? Did anyone else tape record the top 40 on a sunday afternoon? With the ps store piracy is none existent, how about rewarding the customer with some guarantees?