Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Players Are Trying To Get Refunds

After the latest Pokémon adventure for Switch launched in a buggy state, some players have had enough

An image of a Pokémon Scarlet and Violet character putting their hands together.
Screenshot: Game Freak

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the new monster-collecting RPGs from Game Freak, have been getting dragged since they launched on November 18 for objectively terrible technical performance that is only outshone by the immense number of glitches. (At least one bug is good: It lets you hunt for shiny Pokémon more easily). These two games clearly weren’t ready for prime time, and now some players are seeking refunds from Nintendo.

Read More: The Nintendo Switch Can’t Seem To Handle Pokémon Scarlet And Violet

Scarlet and Violet has had one janky-ass launch. Among the shortcomings are framerates that slow to a crawl, horrendous graphics pop-in, and characters and monsters clipping through each other. Even Pokéballs create some peculiar issues, such as causing the scenery to disappear or making the camera go haywire. The flaws are seemingly endless, impacting gameplay so much that Scarlet and Violet have become the worst-reviewed games in the series. Over on Reddit, buyers have been demanding refunds for their digital purchases since the games’ official launch last Friday, November 18. What’s more, many are claiming success.

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“I got a refund from the eshop last night of Violet after feeling the game is not in a state I feel acceptable for a AAA release,” Redditor Hotdog_Daddy posted to r/Pokémon on November 20. “The rep actually told me that given the situation regarding the state of Pokémon S/V she would elevate my case to ensure the refund was approved. It was approved an hour later.”

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“Welcome to the refund team,” came one reply. “Honestly, it sucks to have to even do this. But we are actually potentially making some decent backlash. Maybe we will get a decent patch and updates, in which case I’ll buy the game used. Until then, never will [I] buy a new Pokémon game unless it’s actually AAA tier.”

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In another post, user Jaded_Goth garnered thousands of upvotes saying, “Refunded. I will no longer be part of the problem. […] There will be a lot of people that will defend this franchise till the day they die. But could you honestly look at this game and tell me this was their best effort? The FPS and the graphics made me double check if I was accidentally playing this on a toaster. They somehow got away with removing so many great features and quality of life things like showings status animations, decisions with exp share, turning off battle animations I could go on.”

They concluded: “Since I complained about the state of this game I can no longer be part of this problem. Got my money back and am feeling much better.”

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In these and a fair few other threads, various Redditors are sharing their own experiences attempting to get refunds from Nintendo. Many claim success, but some say that Nintendo customer support requires some finessing before acquiescing to a refund.

Kotaku reached out to Nintendo for comment but couldn’t independently confirm details of refunds being issued.

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Read More: This Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Glitch Seems Made For Speedrun Exploitation

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is the latest entry in the series, and though it is buggy as hell, the games at least introduce some new monsters to collect. This includes a cute murderous ghost dog, an Apple Jacks-looking mascot, and a yassified peacock. Maybe future patches will make the game around them easier to enjoy. One can hope, right?

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