Sony to Pay $3.5 Million AUD in Fines

Today Australia’s Federal Court announced that it’s ordering Sony to pay $3.5 million AUD in fines for breaking the country’s consumer law by misleading people about video game refunds.

“Between October 2017 and May 2019, Sony Europe’s Terms of Service implied that users did not have consumer guarantee rights regarding the quality, functionality, completeness, accuracy or performance of their purchased digital games,” reads a press release on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission website. “This was false as these guarantees cannot be excluded, restricted or modified.”

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The case has revealed that Sony Europe made four players in Australia think they only had 14 days to return a digital game. Another person was also informed that they could only get a refund in PSN store currency rather than having their money back.

“Consumer guarantee rights do not expire after ad digital product has been downloaded and certainly do not disappear after 14 days or any other arbitrary date claimed by a game store or developer,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said in a statement. “What Sony told these consumers was false and does not reflect the consumer guarantee rights afforded to Australian consumers.”

Sony is not the first to be hit with such fines. Valve was previously hit by a lawsuit which made them streamline their refund system back in 2015. Hopefully now Sony will do the same.