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

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
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.

Read more
Fortnite jacked Peter Griffin
Parents are suing Epic over Fortnite item shop 'FOMO' timers they say are inaccurate and manipulative
Characters in The Bazaar, a Hero-Builder game by Tempo, stand confidently with their weapons of choice raised.
Early backers of game decry 'bait and switch' after it backtracks on monetisation promises, dev chooses to stir the pot: 'Seeing Reddit lose it today lets me breathe a huge sigh of relief'
New Taric art, shirtless Fabio-type
Riot admits it 'screwed up' League of Legends' new reward system, because somebody forgot to add a big chunk of numbers in the new XP calculations
Genshin Impact 5.0 codes - Murata
FTC says Genshin Impact 'deceived children' and orders its publisher to pay a $20 million fine and stop selling loot boxes to kids
A busy marketplace in The Bazaar.
The Bazaar could be the future of autobattlers, if it stops strangling itself to death with its own microtransactions
helldivers 2 killzone crossover
Helldivers 2 players rip into Arrowhead for 'straight-up ridiculous' Killzone crossover prices, CEO defends the choice: 'The more of this we sell, the more Illuminate-type stuff we can keep dropping for free'
Latest in Battle Royale
Shohei Ohtani wearing Samurai Shohei outfit in Fortnite
The best baseball player alive is coming to Fortnite, and so is his dog
Fortnite jacked Peter Griffin
Parents are suing Epic over Fortnite item shop 'FOMO' timers they say are inaccurate and manipulative
talk to the joneses fortnite
Epic's war against the Fortnite fraudsters sees it simultaneously name and shame alleged ne'er-do-wells as its high-powered lawyers sue them
Twisted Metal - Sweet Tooth
Apparently the canceled Twisted Metal game would have been a battle royale where you could get out of your car for some reason
talk to the joneses fortnite
Epic will give Fortnite cheaters 'a second chance' with a new, more forgiving ban policy, as long as they didn't do anything too awful or illegal
Fortnite skin for Master Chief from Halo
Don't stress, Epic Games says you can still unlock Fortnite's Xbox-exclusive Master Chief skin
Latest in News
Crying laughing emoji with disturbing realistic elements for REPO
REPO's first update will add a new map and a 'duck bucket' so we can finally give that pesky quacker a time out
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021