FTC orders Sony to refund PS Vita early adopters after misleading ads

Sony will be forced to offer partial refunds to customers who purchased the PlayStation Vita in the first half of 2012, after the Federal Trade Commission ruled its advertising practices at the handheld's launch were deceptive.
Early Vita ads claimed the handheld was able to remotely stream PlayStation 3 games, resume games started on the home console and allow users to play online with other owners. The FTC said Sony called this "game-changing" technology, but that it was actually severely limited to a few participating games.
The FTC ruling, which was announced Tuesday, requires Sony to give $25 in cash or a $50 game voucher to anyone who purchased a PlayStation Vita in the United States before June 1, 2012. The Vita went on sale in February of that year.
The FTC said Sony ads portrayed the Vita as a way to access any PlayStation 3 title on the go via its "remote play" feature. In fact, only a few games supported this feature at launch; the game Sony used in its ads to tout this feature — shooter Killzone 3 — never supported it.

Also contested was the Vita's ability to play multiplayer games; Sony claimed it would work with the more expensive 3G model, which also required an AT&T account. The FTC argued that the only multiplayer games that worked on the Vita weren't in fact live, but rather made players take turns asynchronously.
Finally, the FTC said the Vita's ads promised that gamers could resume any PlayStation 3 game from their PlayStation Vita and vice versa, when very few games offered this feature. At the time, players also had to own two copies of the game.
"As we enter the year’s biggest shopping period, companies need to be reminded that if they make product promises to consumers — as Sony did with the “game changing” features of its PS Vita — they must deliver on those pledges,” Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in the release. “The FTC will not hesitate to act on behalf of consumers when companies or advertisers make false product claims."
Sony responded to the statement by saying the PlayStation Vita is now the best companion device for its next-gen console, the PlayStation 4.
“Although we have a strong difference of opinion with the FTC as to the message that PS Vita purchasers took from that advertising, we decided to settle the FTC's inquiry in order to focus on the PlayStation 4's momentum into this holiday, where PlayStation Vita continues to play an important role," the company said in a statement.