Summary
- Some Civilization 7 players on PlayStation consoles are receiving refunds due to frequent crashes.
- The PlayStation Store's refund policy states that if a purchase was made more than 14 days prior to the refund request or if the purchaser has already downloaded the game to a console, no refunds will be given.
- However, some players are getting refunds over three weeks after the game was released.
Civilization 7 players on PlayStation consoles are reportedly receiving refunds for the game despite some purchases appearing to extend beyond the PlayStation Store's normal 14-day refund window. Frequent crashes on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 versions of Civilization 7 have been a major issue, and this problem appears to be giving a lot of players buyer's remorse.
The release date of Civilization 7 came more than three weeks before the publishing of this article, on February 11, 2025. Under normal circumstances, the PlayStation Store refund policy does not allow the purchaser of a game to receive a refund if the purchase was made more than 14 days prior to the refund request or if the purchaser has already downloaded the game to a console.
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But it seems like some exceptions are being made with regard to Civilization 7. On March 5, Reddit user Garuff shared a screenshot of what they claim to be part of a text-based conversation with PlayStation Support in which an employee approved a full refund of almost £115 for their pre-order purchase of Civilization 7 Deluxe and the Founder's Edition Upgrade. The image appears to be legitimate despite the player having admitted to downloading and playing the game and the refund being issued 22 days after the game had been launched. While this player was annoyed by Civilization 7's user interface issues and controls on PlayStation 5, the crashes were the tipping point that pushed them to ask for a refund.
Some Civ 7 Players on PS5 Manage to Get Refunds
A few other players have reported receiving refunds as well, to which many players on PlayStation consoles expressed surprise. The restrictions added to the PlayStation Store's refund policy in 2019 have earned the ire of some of Sony's fanbase, particularly the part that doesn't allow refunds if a game has been downloaded or if a player has already accessed streaming content. However, there is a caveat that exceptions can be made if the product that players purchased is faulty. In this case, the player who made the original post described their process, telling PlayStation Support that they had already reached out to developer Firaxis Games about crashes that occurred roughly every 40 minutes, calling Civilization 7 "unfinished" and "unfortunately a broken game." After a brief checklist of troubleshooting problems, the player said the employee acknowledged that the refund request was outside normal policy but pushed it through as a gesture of goodwill.
The PlayStation Store making exceptions for refunds on the 4X strategy game continues to shine a spotlight on its problems. Even before its official launch date, Civilization 7 had mixed reviews on Steam, with early access players mostly complaining about its confusing UI and limited mechanics and customization compared to earlier titles in the series.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 79 /100 Critics Rec: 77%
- Released
- February 11, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone 10+ // Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Mild Language, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Firaxis Games
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Grand Strategy, Turn-Based Strategy, 4X
