Sony Interactive Entertainment has begun issuing refunds for Stellar Blade to users claiming ‘false advertisement’ after the game was altered in a day one patch that added censorship despite earlier claims from the developer SHIFT UP.
Here’s a screenshot posted on Reddit showing an email from PlayStation Support reviewing and approving the Stellar Blade refund due to false advertisement:
SHIFT UP‘s first console game Stellar Blade was off to a strong start after its April 26 release, but it has since come under fire for ‘false advertising,’ after users found that the day one patch had added censorship by making some outfits less exaggerated.
To add fuel to the fire, the day one patch also toned down the gore and violence, which drove fans to sign petitions in hopes of undoing the changes.
Sony is now refunding Stellar Blade to users claiming false advertisement, which is a bit of an unexpected move, as PlayStation doesn’t refund any game, unlike Steam, so it usually takes a game to be exceptionally bad or broken for it to be approved for a refund by Sony.
Since the post surrounding the refund went up on Reddit, many users have claimed their interest in getting a refund for Stellar Blade, with many hoping it sends a message to the developers for their lack of transparency after pulling what they felt was a scummy ‘bait-and-switch’ move by Sony and SHIFT UP.
bastards prefer to refound money than to remove censorship?
lets that sink in into how much of woke garbage soyny is
Very damn important point that. All the dumbass dipshits need to do is remove the censorship and let the money come in… Work is done game is done so there is only one fuckin thing to do! One simple job… release it… But no had to f♥♥k it up
They know that social engineering costs money. But they want the outcome of that
Nah. The damn important point is that these people buy games to make a political statement rather than actually enjoying what the game has to offer, they are no different than those woke soldiers pushing for an agenda.
f♥♥k off with this nonsense, gaming was fine before the woke came and started changing things, but now that people are pushing for woke idiocy to be removed that somehow makes them the same? Get lost.
“muh both sides bad” just makes you sound retarded, also no one is buying this to own wokies, at least not anymore now that it’s pozzed censored trash.
They lied simple as that. If they had said changes were being made people wouldnt have cared well some would but when you outright say uncencored then censor it its a dick move. In my case it cost them a sale i was going to buy it if it was a good game and buy a ps5. It seems its an ok game but outright lying is a meh move to me so i just wont buy them and will go back to my current plan ill buy a ps5 when the ps6 is out and will buy it used same with the game ill buy it later but it will be used so no cash goes to teh devs. s♥♥t moves get s♥♥t treatment.
At the very least, this offers customers the chance to send a message. However, the strength of that message depends entirely on how many choose to refund the game.
Players should refund this game in vast numbers, because not refunding the game lets Sony know that they can get away with this level of censorship if they do it in this manner (imposing censorship immediately when the hype for the game is the strongest, not months later when the excitement has died down).
I suspect Sony is gambling that people willing to refund the game are a tiny minority of players. What I’ve seen so far from the Youtube commentators to whom I’m subscribed and their audience reactions in the comments, Sony is probably right. People are not happy about this, but they do not seem angry enough to get their money back.
The problem is that Sony will do this again until customers hit them in the only place a giant company like this will feel it; the wallet.
People should prioritize canceling their PSN subscription. We all know that Sony is the primary driver of this censorship.
I’d still much rather to play this censored game than TLOU2 or Horizon ZD.
Perhaps, but refunds will hurt Sony’s bottom line more than losing subscribers.
Unfortunately, it will also hurt the dev’s bottom line, but that’s the price they pay by bending the knee.
no this is just sony outright sabotaging the game, refunding it will hurt shift up more than sony… the message here is “get woke, or else.”
Unfortunately I think you are correct. When they created their censorship board and destroyed franchises like Senran Kagura most people didn’t care because those games were niche. When they started butchering bigger games like DMC5 people still didn’t care. Those who still bought a PS5 after all this likely won’t do a proper boycott either.
I am done defending Sony. It’s time to finally take a stand. It is free to sign the petition.
I canceled my PS+ and posted it with #FreeStellarBlade. I refunded the digital version and drove down to GameStop to get the physical. I can confirm the physical copy with internet off is V1.0.00 The censor is only on V1.0.02. I will never buy digital or sub to PS+ ever again.
Make sure you install it offline seems sony is forcing the patch ie if your online when you install it the game will see it has a patch and refuse to run till patched. Someone pointed out a few years ago sony said they would never require a single player game to patch yet seems with this one they toggled the switch so its required.
Yep I have no reason to be online anymore because I got no PS+ lul. I actualy had both the digital delux and physical. I was somehow able to keep all my perks from digital delux even though I deleted the game. My save file still worked on V1.00.0. So far it hasn’t corrupted and I am about 1/4 through the game. If it corrupts oh well Ill just start from new.
To be clear the physical copies have V1.00.0 and not V1.00.1 or V1.00.2
I’ll give a semi-based take from Shift Up perspective. They released on disc an “uncensored” version of the game that Sony hates. You can play it offline. Director’s response in an interview was obviously done to cover up his studio’s ass.
I see moves from Sony as sabotage – this is a product that must fail to comply with current narrative. But maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Shift Up are still bastards for taking money from Sony in the first place when they have Nikke whales.
The bondage outfit in the trailers covers less skin than the one in the physical version. So even the 1.0 version contains censorship to some degree
Except the disc version is not uncensored, there are still several costumes that are censored in the 1.0 version as well, as evidenced by the icons for them and the early trailers.
Reviewers apparently played version 1.01 the disc version available to consumers comes loaded with version 1.02 which has the censorship.
False, The version on the disc is 1.00.
I’ve seen streamers showcasing the uncensored version, so you may very well be right.
I don’t think Sony wants the game to fail. They were desperate enough to publish a safe horny title to get some of their previous audience back. They thought if they censored it enough it would appease the wokies, but even a character which is attractive to men is too much for the feminists to accept.
they absolutely do want it to fail.
So why publish it and take a financial hit? Why not just censor it via their board in California, like they did to so many other titles?
because its not a hit for them. If it fails they can deduct the loss from their taxes
@22:24 They have already been overt considering the number of games they censored and in some cases outright banned. Sony are not ashamed of their practices, but I do think that Stellar Blade may expose them to more normies.
Probably because they don’t want to be TOO overt with it and would be just as happy with subversion as outright destruction. win/win for them.
the problem with these refunds is sony wins. the company that tried to give us a sexy girl main character lose all their money and never make another title, then sony walks off proud of their last second censorship taking no losses whatsoever. why sony moved to california is beyond me.
Considering Shift Up chose Sony as a publisher, I say they deserve the ruination.
because get woke or else
This is honestly the saddest part about this whole situation….
Shame that everything you do will hurt Shift Up more than Sony, when this is almost certainly sabotage on Sony’s behalf.
I was always going to look into a PC port anyway, due to Soyny’s current reputation.