contract-law consumer-protection
Can class action lawsuits be filed against game developers that release broken games?
<p>When game developers release games that are unplayable at launch, are there any applicable laws that protect the consumers that paid for the game?</p>

<p>Most recently, Rockstar Games released <strong>Red Dead Redemption II</strong> on PC and it has been riddled with numerous issues, most of which have <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/06/red-dead-redemption-2-suffering-serious-launch-issues-pc-11051184/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">prevented consumers</a> <a href="https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2019/11/06/red-dead-redemption-2-pc-launch-review-problems-bugs-issues-fixes/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">from actually playing</a> <a href="https://www.windowscentral.com/red-dead-redemption-2-pc-version-suffering-crashes-bugs-and-failure-start" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the game</a> <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/06/red-dead-redemption-2-pc-launch-problems/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">they purchased</a>.</p>

<p>While that is just one example, we are seeing this happening more and more lately. In most cases, subsequent patches and updates <strong>do</strong> fix the issues eventually, but this is not always true.</p>

<p>So my question is this: are there any legal protections for consumers that purchase a defective digital product? If a game were never patched/fixed to an acceptable point, could a class action lawsuit be filed? How long do developers have to deliver that viable product to the consumer?</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/australia" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;australia&#39;" rel="tag">australia</a></p>

<h2>Consumers can get a refund</h2>

<p>Two of the consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law is that a product must be fit for purpose and of merchantable quality. A piece of software that doesn’t work is clearly neither.</p>
