The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has announced in a statement that ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda, must offer refunds to certain Australian owners of Fallout 76.
According to the statement from the ACCC, ZeniMax has acknowledged that "they were likely to have misled consumers about their consumer guarantee rights in relation to the online action game Fallout 76".
As a result, ZeniMax will be required to offer refunds to anyone who contacted the company seeking one between the game's launch on November 24, 2018, and 1 June 2019.
The move comes after the ACCC received complaints that ZeniMax was refusing requests for refunds. This was the case, despite "problems with the servers, lagging, graphic and visual problems."
In Australia, customers are entitled to refunds when products are faulty or damaged, or if the description of a product differs dramatically from what has been received. In 2014, the ACCC filed a lawsuit against Valve due to its lack of a sufficient refund policy on Steam. Valve implemented a sweeping refund policy in 2015.
In addition to offering refunds to the eligible purchasers, ZeniMax "has also undertaken to amend its customer service documents and scripts to address the ACCC’s concerns about misrepresentation of the consumer guarantee rights under the ACL."
Fallout 76 famously launched in quite a dire state, with talk of refunds dating as far back as days after its launch.
