PlayStation Giving Out Surprise Refunds We Didn't Expect

I’ll always ponder whether Highguard would still have been a monumental disaster if it hadn’t been overly hyped up by Geoff Keighley.

It wasn’t the worst live-service game I’ve ever encountered, but it certainly wasn’t deserving of being The Game Awards’ ‘one more thing’ reveal.

That decision instantly turned Highguard into a meme, dooming it from the very start.

It’s no real surprise then that Highguard recently shut its proverbial doors, closing down for good on 12 March.

Of course, as a free-to-play game, refunds weren’t required with Highguard slowly slipping away into the dead of night.

What has now come to light, however, is that some players are being refunded for microtransactions that took place within the game on one specific platform.

PlayStation Users Are Being Notified Via Email

This development was raised by BlueSky user Kahsmoe who wrote, “Sony just refunded me for currency I bought when Highguard was playable.”

He continued, “I am actually surprised! I didn’t even request it.”

An accompanying image showed that Kahsmoe was refunded $16.19. It was labelled “refund for 1600 Highguard Gold”.

It’s pretty unusual to see this happen, I will admit.

Virtual items are not owned nor licensed. They’re more a virtual service, really, so if a game shuts down, you might lose quite a lot of money in microtransactions, but that’s not something publishers are really going to care about resolving.

Highguard, Wildlight Entetainment

Kudos to whoever is behind this decision then because it’s great to see a consumer-friendly choice being made in Highguard’s case.

For now, this development does appear to be exclusive to PlayStation so it must be a decision pushed through by Sony.

Highguard was also available on Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam but no reports have yet surfaced from those players.

It’s something that’s definitely earned Sony some brownie points.

“Rare Sony W when it comes to refunds,” remarked Reddit user cugameswilliam.

Others joked about Highguard’s low player count.

“What's that total? $8 and a picture of Geoff?” said ChildoftheApocolypse, while Server6 added, “Let’s be honest, they’re probably not refunding much. $75, some pocket lint and a stick of chewing gum is my guess.”

I’m assuming Sony has been influenced by just how brief Highguard’s tenure was; you probably wouldn’t see this for an established game.

I dread the day Fortnite shuts down, if that ever comes to pass. God, I’ll lose so much in V-Bucks.