The release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet was plagued with bugs, ranging from weird graphical glitches, useful exploits, to a more frustrating set of gameplay crashes and performance issues. In addition to complaints about the game’s design, some fans have decided to request refunds for their copies of Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet.
Shortly after the game launched, threads began popping up in the Pokemon subreddit with players recounting their attempts to request a refund from Nintendo customer service. Although the Nintendo eShop has a flat policy that prohibits refunds due to change of mind, accidental purchase, or because players don’t like the game, it will honor refunds for defective products.
Players should go through customer service to request a refund, where they will speak to a Nintendo representative to plead their case. Most Reddit users who have posted about successful refunds say they used performance issues and game crashes to claim the game is flawed and in need of a refund. User u/Hotdog_Daddy even claimed that “the rep actually told me that given the situation regarding the status of Pokemon S/V, she would raise my case to make sure the refund was approved.”
So far, players have reported successful refunds in a number of regions, with some countries having strong consumer protection laws that allow customers to be refunded in cases where a product is faulty or different from what is listed. was announced. However, not all refund seekers were successful, and others said the process for them to be accepted for a refund was intentionally cumbersome.
Pokemon Violet barely works on my OLED Switch, it has bugs everywhere, it runs at 20FPS or less, and the classroom scene just hurts my eyes. I’m asking for a refund for this, because it’s downright unplayable. I guess it’s not something they do.#PokemonScarletPurple pic.twitter.com/HXPr79tBSJ
— SantaSkeffi | Goddess of Dreams (PRE-DEBUT) (@Skeffi__) November 22, 2022
Nintendo has not released any official statements on Pokemon refunds at this time. While complaints about performance issues have been widespread, Pokemon Violet and Scarlet are unlikely to reach the same widespread level of refunds that prompted Cyberpunk 2077 to offer an unconditional refund window after release. Despite its issues, Pokemon Violet and Scarlet have sold a huge number of units since release, setting records not just for the Pokemon series, but for Nintendo games in general.
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