Fall Guys studio apologizes for bug that caused players to make unintentional purchases

News
By published

Dozens of players have run into the problem, which Mediatonic initially dismissed as "not an issue."

Fall Guys
(Image credit: Mediatonic)

The transition of Fall Guys to a free-to-play game has been a major success for Mediatonic and Epic Games, but there have been a couple bumps. Servers struggled to deal with a sudden spike in players after the switch, forcing the developers to disable custom lobbies and some parts of the in-game store, and now some players are encountering a bug that's causing them to unintentionally buy items from the store instead of previewing them.

Dozens of users have reported the problem over the past week in this Reddit thread, which cites a handful of possible causes for items being "auto purchased" without a confirmation step. This video, for instance, claims to show an item (the Yellow Belly) being immediately purchased when the player attempted to preview it:

Making matters worse, at least one redditor claimed that Mediatonic support was dismissing the complaints outright. The Fall Guys policy on cosmetics is that all purchases are final and non-refundable, which is clear enough, but according to ChunkyPeat, a support rep named Steve accused them of lying about the situation in order to get around the refund policy.

"You have stated that this is a 'bugged purchase' and a 'known issue.' Neither of these things is the case," the rep wrote. "The purchase was made by you, not a bug. Whether it was intentional or not, this is still the case.

"This is not a 'known issue' because it is not an issue. Items cannot be bought automatically by the system, they always require input from the player. Again, whether accidental or not, you made this input and purchased the item. As per our EULA, which you agreed to, all purchases are final and will not be refunded."

This understandably did not make an especially positive impression on players, but Mediatonic has since acknowledged that there is a problem—with the game and its response to complaints.

"What is happening in the game is not intended and we are actively fixing it," a Mediatonic spokesperson said in a statement emailed to PC Gamer. "The customer service response was also not acceptable and we will offer a make good for all affected."

The studio is now making changes to the store to prevent accidental purchases in the future, and said on Twitter that all refund requests made on cosmetics from June 21 until the store changes are implemented will be honored. All Fall Guys players will also be given Grandis, a legendary-tier costume that changes color based on the color scheme equipped by the player. 

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.