Sony Computer Entertainment America will offer its customers partial refunds as a settlement of US Federal Trade Commission charges of misleading them by advertising the PlayStation Vita’s cross-platform sharing abilities and some other features in a misleading way, PC World reports. The company will pay every one of its customers who has purchased the handheld console before June 1st 2012 either $25 in cash or $50 in gift cards that can be used to purchase various services or games – 10 or 20 per cent of the console’s sales price at that moment. Besides, Sony will have to refrain from making any deceptive advertising claims in the future, FTC’s release states.
According to the release, Sony has made misleading advertising claims about its portable console called PlayStation Vita between the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, the console’s launch campaign. Sony claimed that the pocket console will “revolutionize gaming mobility” by offering its users the possibility to remotely play games on their PlayStation 3 console. Besides, Sony claimed that users will be able to start playing a game on their PlayStation 3 and continue playing it on the go on their PS Vita. The FTC found these games misleading – and this led to the current refund.
In a related action, the Federal Trade Commission has also charged Deutch LA, the advertising agency Sony has worked with for the launch campaign of the PlayStation Vita. The company has allegedly used its employees without instructing them to disclose their relations with the advertising company or Sony, to create awareness and excitement on the new PS Vita console, and to make misleading claims about the console’s 3G and remote play capabilities.
The PlayStation Vita is the latest handheld console manufactured by Sony. Among its features we can find the problematic ones, but these don’t work as they were advertised. For example, owners of the 3G version of the console should have been able to play multiplayer games over their 3G connection, a feature that proved not to work at all.