Anthem players claim game bricked PS4 consoles, Sony offers refunds

Some PlayStation 4 owners have reported successfully getting refunds for Anthem, claiming that Sony readily offered them their money back upon request. Online reports from customers claim they were provided a full refund after citing the game's "broken" nature to chat representatives. News of the refunds comes amid new reports claiming the BioWare game is causing some PS4 consoles to crash and, in some cases, bricking them.Anthem, an online multiplayer action game from BioWare, was published by Electronic Arts on February 22. The game is available for the Xbox One and PS4 consoles, as well as PC, but many players have reported a slew of problems with the title. An update was released in recent days that was supposed to fix the issues, but instead PS4 players say a new problem has emerged.

Over the last 24 hours or so, a number of Anthem players have published reports online claiming the game causes their PlayStation 4 consoles to completely shutdown as if the device had been physically unplugged. In a Reddit post published today, user "TheMadTitanGuantlet" claimed that their PS4 "has been completely bricked to the point of not even turning on because of Anthem."

Another user claims they received a CE-36329-1 'System Software Error' after the game caused their PS4 to crash and completely shut down. It's unclear when this problem started; most reports have been published within the last day or two, though a small number go back farther. Reports from users indicate that all variety of PlayStation 4 consoles are impacted by these bugs.

Amid the crash reports comes other news: Sony is apparently offering PlayStation 4 owners full game refunds for Anthem upon request. Variety reports having successfully requested a refund with "no questions asked," and a growing number of players have offered similar anecdotal reports online.