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Microsoft Mistakenly Sold Fallout 4 For Free On Xbox (polygon.com)
On Thursday the $110 Deluxe Edition Bundle of Fallout 4 appeared in the Xbox store priced at $0.00. The Escapist reports that "The mistake went viral, and there's no telling how people were able to take advantage before the error was corrected..." An anonymous reader shares their report:
If you grabbed Fallout 4 for free on Xbox One, it will be disappearing from your account... Microsoft has confirmed that any copies obtained due to the error will have their license revoked, and the games will disappear from the user's Xbox One library.
Now Microsoft is telling affected users that "your free download will no longer work. For the inconvenience we will deposit $10 by the end of June in your Microsoft Account."
Now Microsoft is telling affected users that "your free download will no longer work. For the inconvenience we will deposit $10 by the end of June in your Microsoft Account."
"Our offer of a free upgrade to Windows 10 was an error. Your license will be revoked and the OS will disappear from your PC. For the inconvenience we'll give you a $10 discount on the retail price of Windows 10."
In what way is it a consumer right to get something for free that was not meant to be free?
If an online store offers something for sale at price X and I give them X dollars, then it belongs to me.
If Microsoft didn't want to make that deal ... wait for it ... they shouldn't have offered it.
That X happens to have been 0 is no concern to consumer protection laws.
It sounded like he was saying that no longer being able to use the software isn't a serious loss to the person who obtained it for free. The loss does go both ways though as if Microsoft let them continue to use it the opportunity to sell them it for the price they want to sell it at would be lost, legitimately or otherwise. It seems that some people don't think in terms of legitimate and illegitimate losses. Once you've sold something, the ability to sell that something again is generally considered to be legitimately lost to you.
I think Microsoft could afford it. and wouldn't it be swell if mean old Microsoft said, "our bad you lucky freaks can keep your game and thanks for buying Xbox over that Sony thing" (and somewhere in Puget Sound, the body of a careless Microsoft employee is slowly picked-apart by the fishes). There, all's well, the universe made right. Would sure make me feel better about buying an Xbox. Instead, Microsoft exercises its DRM muscle to claw back those game licenses that it, entirely by its own mistake, let loose for a few hours. and next time, they'll take your little dog, too.
In other words, the $0.00 price was entirely their problem, their fault. They should man up and eat it. Instead, it becomes everyone else's problem because, you know, fuck those consumers we don't owe them anything fuck 'em. Well, thanks for nothing, Microsoft. Didn't I read something somewhere about a new 4K Playstation?
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Because the mistake was Microsoft's fault. It's not like someone hacked in and changed the price.
What next, they sell a game for $50 and the next week decide they want more, so bump the price to $100 and revoke the licenses from everyone who bought at $50?
Really, slippery slope argument for an obvious pricing mistake? Sigh.
There are free games and apps. $0 is often a legitimate price.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
Was the free Windows 10 upgrade a mistake too?
It was heavily advertised as free, so obviously not a mistake. Is everyone on Slashdot autistic? unable to understand empathy, or subjective logic.
The obvious mistake was a mistake. The obvious non-mistake wasn't a mistake. How is that confusing to hundreds here?
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