What a (NOT) nice surprise! I ended 2016 with an Error message on my PS4 (CE-34878-0).

I wanted to surprise my son for Xmas and bought 2 games he wanted eagerly: Uncharted 4 and Mirrors Edge Catalyst (disc editions). To make it short, these games are unplayable. After a couple minutes I get the error message and both games crash (Uncharted right in the first part, Mirrors Edge gives you at leas 10-15 minutes of gameplay) .

Ok, so lets call the seller. Progamingshop.sk told me both games are brand new and genuine, the problem lies in my console. They offered me a contact to Sony’s support, but forgot to share it. Never mind I found it.

This is where the misery starts. The call-in queues are 10-15 minutes, the email feedback is 1-2 days. At the end I tried everything (reinstall the games, renew licences, rebuild database, system initiation) and the problem was here to stay.

It lies in the console. I bought my PS4 among the first ones in Slovakia. This is my warning to all early adopters: the first PS4 consoles might be buggy especially with new games.  Sony does not provide information whether its the graphic card or the disc reader. Their solution is to offer a replacement console for 189 EUR, because the warranty for the first consoles is long gone.

My last hope was to complain on the Playstation Facebook page. Of course the complaint was not shown on the wall (I was not expecting this), but what was really shocking: Sony din not even bother to write me on messenger, saying they are at least sorry for what happened.

Once I checked the developer’s site bug forum I saw this issue is VERY real (almost 500 user comments) and it lies in the early consoles.

To summarise my experience in one word, it would be: FRUSTRATING.

Dear Sony, I design software for living and work extensively in the field of User Experience. I know sh*t happens, but there are ways how to deal with it. What your customer care is doing could be the case study for how NOT to do it.