Some Fallout 76 players in Australia are now able to get refunds, thanks to a government ruling which says companies who mislead consumers must allow them their money back. This news comes after Bethesda's recent disastrous unveiling of the Fallout 1st premium membership subscription service, a paid subscription barrier which ostensibly allowed players to access things such as bottomless scrap boxes and private servers, although both of those touted features did not work in quite the same way they were originally promised.
Private servers ended up being accessible by anyone on a player's friend list, and multiple reports surfaced of the bottomless scrap container simply making all a player's items disappear. With an entry fee of $12.99 per month or $99.99 for a full year, having broken and missing features upon launch was unacceptable to many players, especially since most of the things included in the Fallout 1st program were simply quality-of-life improvements which they had been asking for since the game's release last year.
Many former Fallout 76 players have attempted to get refunds in the past, and according to a report by Kotaku, The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has ruled Bethesda's parent company, Zenimax, likely "contravened the Australian Consumer Law" by denying their requests. By creating a product which provided players with a broken service, which including server problems, lagging, and graphical issues, Bethesda was legally required to either fix the game or provide a refund to any and all players in the country who asked for it.
"When a consumer buys a product it comes with automatic consumer guarantees," said Sarah Court, a Commissioner for the ACCC, when stating the importance of all companies following the government's laws with regards to consumer benefits and refunds. "When a consumer has purchased a product that has a fault which amounts to a major failure the Australian Consumer Law provides them with the right to ask for their choice of either a repair, replacement, or refund." The ruling states anyone who previously asked for a refund between November 24th, 2018 - June 1, 2019 can now receive one.
Recently, Fallout 76 players have been so unhappy with the company some have taken to protesting Fallout 1st and Bethesda inside Fallout 76 itself, while others have joined up with like-minded players in order to grief Fallout 1st subscribers. The whole conversation surround Fallout 76 has become as toxic and uncomfortable as the in-game landscape such titles are usually known for, but thankfully at least some Australian players will be able to erase the game's mistake from their wallets, if not from their memories.
Source: Kotaku