A law firm has launched an investigation into Bethesda regarding Fallout 76’s refund policy.
GameSpot reports that the Washington D.C.-area law firm, Migliaccio & Rathod, are looking into the developer for supposedly “refusing to issue refunds for PC purchasers of the game who found it to be unplayable because of its technical problems.”
They announced their investigation in a blog post, where they also referred to the new release as a ‘heavily glitched game’.
They wrote: “While minor bugs and glitches are expected with the release of most new games, Fallout 76 launched with a 56GB patch that has proven to be but a starting point for the game’s problems,
“Gamers who have tried to receive a refund because of the game’s myriad glitches have been unable to do so since they downloaded the game, leaving them to deal with an unplayable experience until patches bring it back to a playable state.”
The firm is now looking for people who attempted to get a refund for the game. They added: “Please complete our confidential, online questionnaire so that we may evaluate your potential claim(s). If you would like to contact us, please fill out the contact form on this page, send an email to info@classlawdc.com, or call us at (202) 470-3520.”
There is no legal action being taken at this moment in time, they are simply investigating claims.
Nicholas Migliaccio, a partner at the firm, told Motherboard: “We’ve been inundated and we’re still investigating the claims, but we do intend to put together a class action lawsuit.”
Another partner at the firm, Jason Rathod, added: “The vast majority of them are – ‘I sought a refund and they’re not issuing one to me.’ The game is unplayable. We are inundated with those types of communications from people. I think people are just seeking to get their money back.”
In an update regarding their investigation, the firm wrote: “We have received feedback from multiple owners of Fallout 76 who purchased the Power Armor Edition, a $200 collector’s edition of the game that was advertised to include a canvas bag. Upon delivery, purchasers found the bag to be made of nylon, contrary to Bethesda’s representation of the material and contrary to purchaser’s expectation of the product.”
They continued: “Fans who reached out to Bethesda received an explanation saying: ‘Due to the availability of materials, we had to switch to a nylon carrying case in the Fallout 76: Power Armor Edition.’ There are multiple Reddit threads detailing fans’ dissatisfaction with the set, and the Amazon page for the product still lists the included bag as made out of canvas. This is a classic bait-and-switch.”
It will be interesting to see how Bethesda respond.