Sony Guilty of "Deceptive Marketing" - Must Refund Early Vita Adopters

[Steven Bogos]

Sony Guilty of "Deceptive Marketing" - Must Refund Early Vita Adopters

The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Sony to compensate early PS Vita adopters with either $25 in cash, or $50 in PSN credit.

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has found software and hardware giant Sony guilty of "deceptive marketing" in the early stages of its PS Vita campaign, and has ordered the Japanese company to compensate early adopters of the system. Anyone who purchased a PS Vita in the US on or before June 1, 2012 should be getting an email from Sony soon, with details on how to claim said compensation - either $25 cash, or $50 in PSN credit.

So what was this "deceptive marketing" that Sony was guilty of, exactly? According to the FTC report [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sony-computer-entertainment-america-to-provide-consumer-refunds-to-settle-ftc-charges-over-misleading-ads-for-playstation-vita-gaming-console-300001096.html], early Vita advertisements suggested that the handheld device would support Remote Play with any PS3 game, so you could play it on the go. One ad in particular showed the Vita being used to play Killzone 3.

In reality, the Remote Play feature only works on a select number of PS3 titles, and Killzone 3 is not one of them. "Very few, if any, other PS3 games of similar size and complexity are remote play compatible," the ruling noted.

Next up, Cross-Saving between PS3 and Vita was an advertised feature that was suggested to be available to all titles. Ads made it look like you could stop a PS3 game at any time then resume it on Vita. Again, lots of games either didn't offer these options at all or only offered them in a limited capacity.

Lastly, a lot of these early Vita ads really pushed the 3G model with a subscription to AT&T's Mobile Broadband Network, strongly suggesting that you'd be able to play live multiplayer matches if you got this package. As it turned out, the feature was limited to asynchronous or turn-based gaming.

So there you go. If you were an early Vita adopter, you'll soon find yourself $25-$50 richer.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sony-computer-entertainment-america-to-provide-consumer-refunds-to-settle-ftc-charges-over-misleading-ads-for-playstation-vita-gaming-console-300001096.html]

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[Deathfish15]

Only, .... the only real way to PROVE that you're an early adapter is to send in a copy of your original purchase receipt and/or the serial number of the unit that can be tracked back when it was sold. And being 2012, some people might have gotten rid of their system by now. Basically it's a white wash for Sony on a grand issue of False Advertisement. $50 PSN money is NOTHING (it's basically giving them a pass on having to pay out because it's just 1's and 0's on a computer, not really money).

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Oh wow, if you are a part of the suit, you can either get $25 to STFU or twice as much in play money that can be used on products that might get you to give more money to Sony. I'm so jealous of Vita adopters right now, I could almost "meh."

I'm surprised the suit wasn't more about the 3G sales pitch. Even at the time, it was obviously a rip off. The data caps meant downloading full titles was best down at the nearest free wifi hotspot, and the bandwidth issue was already mentioned.

 

[Tony2077]

well i guess it bad i waited for the ac bundle

 

[ChaoGuy2006]

I knew I should have picked up a Vita (if only for free money). I think the same thing will happen with me as did the PSP. I'll end up buying the 3/4/5 games I want on it just as the system dies.

I want to support it, but stuff I want on it comes out once every 3/4 months! I'm amazed the Vita lived this long.

 

[DuelLadyS]

Yay! A (slight) justification for jumping the gun and buying a vita about 6 months before I normally would have!

I've always felt a bit bad for the Vita... it's a great piece of hardware, but the marketing was crap, so the game library never really grew, so no one bought it, so no one had a reason to develop for it... it got caught in a cycle of BS too early on.

At least we got Tearwaway out of it.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

The Vita was the first handheld I ever bought at launch. First system I bought at launch in fact.

I never really felt deceived though. But when it comes to games, and bigger purchases like a console, I never go in blind.

That being said, when the e-mail comes I'll gladly take the $50 voucher.

 

[J Tyran]

Sony obviously haven't learned their lesson, here they are in the UK with 90 second prime time TV ads making a big deal about share play. The whole minute and half advert is just two guys getting stuck in a game, that's actually live action and a bunch of Vikings on a rampage with them hiding behind boxes and a cart talking about being stuck rather than actually showing any game (does the PS4 even have a Viking action adventure game?) and bringing in a friend to help via shareplay even though he doesn't own the "game". He instantly gets axed to death so they say "let's get a next guy instead" implying that you can just bring anyone in with no restrictions and unlimited usage.

It doesn't make any mention that a substantial and growing list of AAA games don't support share play at all.

 

[SerithVC]

What about canadians?

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

Oh, PS Vita. I've yet to be really disappointed with any of the games I've played on it. And now that I got a PS4 I have even more compatibility between them. Sometimes I just lay in bed streaming a game to the Vita. There's a little input lag, but in most single player games it's perfectly playable.

I've put countless hours into Persona 4 Golden and FFX HD.
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is fully playable on it, which is nice to play when I'm on my breaks at work.
Wipeout 2048 is a fantastic racing game.

Despite the smaller library, I still use the Vita far more than my 3DS. The only reason I have to pick up my 3DS recently is the new Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire remake.

It's why it's all a shame that the Vita isn't more successful. Though Sony has never really been that great at marketing...

 

[FalloutJack]

Vita should've been the next PSP, and by that I mean made so you didn't have to buy the damn games over again or some import work-around which was only marginally effective. In short, I will not be replacing my PSP with anything but a PSP in the future because of that. Sorry, Sony. I love you, but not enough to commit to a dopey move.

 

[Rozalia1]

The Vita deserved to be more successful honestly, it was far better than the PSP (and I don't mean in graphics though obviously it is that too). Hopefully Sony won't drop handhelds and the next one will avenge Vita.

And yeah that 3G model was pretty bogus, and this is a slap on the wrist punishment.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Pretty minor thing for Sony, but in could be huge in the long run when it gets established the gaming industry isn't exempt from legal action as many have become accustomed to.

 

[ckam]

Yay, I get some money now. Kind of sucks that this happened in the first place though.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

the Vita just cant catch a breath

 

[Kingjackl]

I know it's not entirely related to this, but I recently had to send my Vita to be repaired because the touchscreen stopped working. This is frustrating enough, but most of the games I play on it at the moment don't actually use the touchscreen for anything crucial. The problem is, there's no way to access the menu or get past the lock screen without touching it. A design flaw if there ever was one, and I can't tell you how much it pissed me off at the time.

So yeah, Remote Play not the biggest concern for me, but I appreciate them getting called out on it nonetheless.

 

[mysecondlife]

This is probably my ignorance talking but I never felt deceived with Vita marketing. But then I bought vita because of "PERSONA 4 GOLDEN!!! OMERGERD!!"

FTC, can you also punish Sony for proprietary memory card? Because that's bullcrap.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I hate that this system has gone to hell so badly. My plus subscription means I always have more games to play on the go than I'll ever finish, I have Persona 1-4 on one device, I can play Binding of Isaac and Borderlands 2 anywhere in the world, and if you love Japan-centric games (especially Soul Survivor and Danganronpa) you'll be set for years. I just wish all gamers could experience Tearaway and Gravity Rush though. Not to mention it has the prettiest screen I've ever seen on anything.

Though I can't argue with the overpriced memory cards and all that. Shame we probably won't see Gravity Rush 2 now, but I have an e-mail to look forward to.