Note from Neal: This column will mention Star Wars: Zero Company. While my experience playing this game on a PlayStation 5 was so bad that I was going to give it a score of 1 GiN Gem out of 5, GiN later got me a copy of it for the PC on the Steam platform. Due to that, my actual Zero Company review will run at a later time, and I really hope I can enjoy this title on the new platform.
And so, readers of my ramblings that I refer to as my column already know, I was excited for Star Wars: Zero Company, alongside a few other games like Ledgerbound. Thankfully, Ledgerbound did not disappoint, and it earned a very rare perfect 5 GiN Gem review score from me.
But back to my experience with Zero Company on the PlayStation 5. Initially, I was sold on the idea that this was “XCOM but in the Star Wars universe.” So, being a good little fan, I preordered the PS5 version and circled the 21st on my calendar, when it said Zero Company would launch. I got home from work and turned on my PlayStation. I noticed Zero Company had downloaded overnight. I clicked on the title to start my weekend absolutely demolishing clankers in a galaxy far, far away. Instead, I was told it would be playable in 5 DAYS on the 27th.
Wait, what?
If Zero Company was not supposed to be playable for another five more days, why did the entirety of the game download on to my console? Shouldn’t it have downloaded in, you know, five days? That was so annoying, but I guess that kept too many downloads from overloading the PlayStation network on launch day.
Fine, but when I finally began to play Zero Company, the real disappointment started. My experience with Zero Company on the PlayStation was an utter disaster. The game was so unoptimized that it nearly broke at the seams. Droids moved around like they were riding on a Roomba, and the game froze and looked like XCOM 2 did when it was released ten years ago and froze multiple times. Then, during an important story mission, it errored out and crashed. I couldn’t beat that mission because the title crashed every time during the boss fight, forcing me to reload and fight a long battle all over again. And since this is an unskippable story mission, I’ve been basically locked out of going any further. I’ve tried many times.
At my wits end, I decided to return Zero Company due to it being absolutely broken. I tried to contact Sony customer service to request my first ever refund. I’ve been a PlayStation Plus member for many years, and this was the first time I tried to get a refund. And after trying to accomplish that, I am glad that I never tried before.
I went back and forth with a Sony AI chatbot which helpfully told me they couldn’t do a refund, but I could request to talk to a human agent who might be able to help me. Okay, fine, but then it could not do that since it was after hours for humans. This was over the weekend, so I waited until Monday and tried again. This time the chatbot said that it was getting me a human, but nobody ever showed up. I tried to ask the AI for a status update but that just reset the chain all over again.
Eventually, it told me that someone would reply to me soon. Well, it’s been 10 days, and I am still waiting for that person to contact me. I am starting to think that they may not.
So, with time on my hands, I started researching the terms of service. In this case, I discovered that I was beholden to an arbitration only clause. And more concerningly, that Sony does not guarantee that games they sell you actually work on their console. And if you don’t believe me, the terms of service are right here.
So that you don’t have to read everything like I did, here is the cut and pasted text from the agreement:
17. WARRANTY DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
17.1. No Warranty.
No warranty is given about the quality, functionality, availability or performance of PlayStation, PlayStation Services, or any feature or Content offered on or through PlayStation or PlayStation Services. All services and content are provided “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” with all faults. We may change, add or remove functionalities or features in our PlayStationServices, and we may suspend or stop our services altogether. We do not warrant that the service and content will be uninterrupted, error-free or without delays.
Readers, I need you to read that legalese very slowly. Sony is saying that when buying a digital game through the PlayStation Store (soon to be the only way since disc production will cease), it is not Sony’s responsibility for the game to ACTUALLY run on your PlayStation console. Throughout history, there was an understanding that if you buy a title for a console, it will run on that console. But apparently now, if you buy a PS5 game that can’t run on a PS5, it’s not their problem or responsibility to fix.
What makes this most infuriating is that had I been able to talk to a live person at ANY point in this process, I would have felt better. I could have explained the issue, the fact that I have never tried to return a digital product in the years I have had a subscription, and then I would have at least had a chance to get my $60 plus tax refunded. Even if they said no, at least it would be a person explaining why to me. Instead, I could not have gone in more circles with Sony if I was in a NASCAR race.
To date, there has been no attempt by Sony to even hear my side of the story and no contact information other than websites pointing to the same chatbot (which has already said that it couldn’t help me, and it wasn’t able to connect me with a human despite trying to do so for over 10 days).
Based on this, I have made the decision that I will no longer be supporting Sony. I will not buy any titles through their store since they can’t guarantee they will run, and there is no way to be helped if something happens. I have canceled my PS Plus subscription, and this PS5 will likely be my last PlayStation.
Hopefully, the Steam version of Zero Company will be a better experience and more fun, and that I can enjoy it without the bad taste that Sony customer service (or lack thereof) has left with me. I could use a fun trip to a galaxy far, far away for a while.
