Sony made a very generous move this week for PlayStation Plus subscribers regarding Tripwire Interactive's Maneater. A Reddit user who recently purchased the survival game logged on to find that Sony had refunded them for Maneater since the ShaRkPG is being added to PS Plus for free in January. The automatic refund was a pleasant surprise for PS Plus subscribers, since users typically have to ask customer service for refunds in these scenarios.
Maneater was released back in May for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with later ports on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. A Nintendo Switch version is slated to arrive in the first half of 2021. The game sees players take control of a female bull shark who must evolve and survive in the ocean by attacking people, with an ultimate goal of taking down the fisherman who disfigured the shark and killed her mother. The single-player adventure was initially meant to be an expansion for the 2014 multiplayer shark game Depth, but grew to become a standalone product. Maneater even includes collectibles from the classic Jaws series and was said to draw inspiration from Jaws Unleashed.
Reddit user BraeWhyit revealed that when they booted up their PS5, they noticed that Sony offered them a refund for Maneater, which they had purchased last month. According to the message, Sony will refund the purchase price of the game to users' PlayStation Store wallets because of Maneater's addition to PS Plus, where subscribers receive monthly free games and access to online multiplayer. "This will not affect your ability to play the game as we have not removed the game from your library," the message added.
After receiving a few questions about how the license works with PS Plus, BraeWhyit clarified that they do get to keep the license and will not lose the game if they end their PS Plus subscription. In other words, unlike typical PS Plus titles downloaded during their free period, users will get to hold onto Maneater forever and for free if they purchased it before January, even if they drop their subscription.
The open world RPG's addition to PS Plus comes just months after players received free next-gen Maneater upgrades alongside the arrival of the PS5 and Series X|S. The upgrades brought ray-traced graphics to the game, as well as 4K and 60 FPS gameplay and haptic feedback on the PS5 DualSense controller. PC players can also expect an upgrade for the hit title in 2021.
These automatic refunds for Maneater are certainly an unexpected yet pleasant gesture from Sony, considering the money they'd be losing from the offer. As fans may know, it is possible to receive refunds on newly-free games that PS Plus subscribers recently purchased, but only if negotiated with Sony customer service. Sony has really been pushing PS Plus alongside the PS5, so this Maneater gesture could be another effort to draw fans to the service. Perhaps other games will receive the same treatment in the future.