PLAYSTATION TERMS OF SERVICE

1. Who are we?

1.1 We are Sony Interactive Entertainment Network Europe Limited, company number 06020283, incorporated in England and Wales (“SIENE”, “we”, “us” or “our”).

1.2 If you live in the European Economic Area we act through our branch in the Netherlands at Olympia 1, 1213NS Hilversum, Netherlands under establishment number 000051647869.

2. When do these Terms apply?

2.1  An account for PlayStation (an “Account”) is required to use online services delivered by us. Throughout these Terms we call these online services the “PlayStation Online Services”.

2.2 These Terms apply to every Account and all use of that Account.

2.3 PlayStation Online Services are delivered over the internet and connect you with other players and provides access to a range of PlayStation services.

In some

countries, we may only offer Accounts that

do not give

2.4 full access to all PlayStation Online Services. For example, these Accounts may only allow you to link your Account with certain third-party services or only allow limited use of your Account on certain Authorised Systems.

2.5 There is no charge for creating an Account but there is a charge for some services available via your Account.

3. Defined Words and Phrases.

3.1 We want our Terms to be easy to understand. So, when you see the following words with a capital letter in our Terms, here’s what we mean:

“Approved Payment Method”: the payment methods we accept on PlayStation Online Services

“Authorised Systems”: any of our games consoles or handheld devices, the PlayStation Mobile App on iOS or Android, selected third party services available on PC and other devices that we approve from time to time.

“Child Family Member Account”: an Account for someone whose date of birth indicates they are under 18.

“Child Family Member": someone with a Child Family Member Account.

“Digital Products”: all the digital content and digital services available via PlayStation Online Services. Digital Products may be free or paid-for and may include games, music, movies, subscriptions or PlayStation Store Wallet Funds. Available Digital Products vary depending on which Authorised System you are using and where you live. Some Digital Products may not be available in your preferred language.

“Family Manager”: the adult Account holder who creates a Child Family Member Account is the Family Manager. A holder of an adult Account who invites other holders of an adult Account to join their “family” is also a Family Manager.

“Family Member”: any Account holder who belongs to a “family”.

“Guardian”: an adult Family Member nominated by the Family Manager who can set Parental Controls for Child Family Members.

“Parental Controls”: settingsenabling a Family Manager or Guardian to tailor the experience of Child Family Members. Find more information about Parental Controls at: www.playstation.com/safety.

“PlayStation Store Wallet” holds the funds you add to your Account to spend on the PlayStation Store.

“PlayStation Store Wallet Funds”: funds in yourPlayStation Store Wallet.

“User Generated Content”, or “UGC”: text, messages, comments, pictures, photographs, voice, music, videos, game assets, game videos and game-related information and other materials (i) created by you or others on PlayStation Online Services and/or (ii) shared by you or others via PlayStation Online Services.

4. Who can create an Account?

4.1  Only people aged 7 and over can have an Account.

4.2  If you are 7 to 17 years old, you need your Responsible Adult to agree to you having a Child Family Member Account and help you to create it.

4.3  If you are 18 years old or over, you can create an Account by yourself. Create your Account first. Then you may create separate Child Family Member Account(s) for each child for whom you are the Responsible Adult.

4.4  Set Parental Controls on each Child Family Member Account to tailor their activity. For more detail, see section 10 below.

5. What happens if you breach these Terms?

5.1  If you breach these Terms, which includes the documents referred to in section 7, we may take various actions as set out in section 22, including suspending your Account. While suspended, you will not be able to use PlayStation Online Services. That means you will not be able to use some Digital Products, even those you paid for.

6. Your commitment to us.

6.1 You must be honest with us. Give us accurate personal information, including any information about yourself such as where you live, your date of birth and any Child Family Members. Keep that information up to date via account management.

6.2 Why it matters

6.1.1       This is important because we rely on the information you provide. For example, we send important information to the email addresses you give us and we use the information that you provide about yourself to tailor your experience.

6.1.2       If you give us false information we may suspend the affected Accounts. For example, we may suspend adult Accounts if children are using them. When an account is suspended, you may lose access to PlayStation Online Services and some Digital Products, even paid for ones. You can contact customer services (see section 28 for information on how to do this) to understand why your Account or a Child Family Member has been suspended and what you can do. 

7. What other terms apply when you use PlayStation Online Services?

7.1. In addition to these Terms, the following terms apply and form part of your contract with us:

7.1.1       PlayStation Code of Conduct (sets out what behaviour we expect from you when using PlayStation Online Services).

7.1.2       PlayStation Privacy Policy (explains what data we collect and how we use and share it).

7.1.3       System Software Licence (governs use of the software embedded in an Authorised System).

7.1.4       PlayStation Software Application End User License Agreement (govern your use of PlayStation game and application software developed to operate on one or more of the Authorised Systems).

7.1.5       PlayStation Stars Terms (governs your membership and use of PlayStation Stars).

7.1.6       PlayStation Plus Usage Terms (if you are a PlayStation Plus subscriber, it explains how the PlayStation Plus subscription works).

7.1.7       PlayStation Physical Goods Terms of Purchase (governs your purchase of physical items from us).

7.2 Find those documents at www.playstation.com/legal/terms/.

7.3 To access some Digital Products, you must agree to specific terms notified to you by us or the publisher of that Digital Product.

7.4 If you fail to obey any of the terms mentioned above you will breach these Terms.

8. Your Account security.

8.1 We use appropriate technical measures to secure PlayStation Online Services and the information we hold about you.

8.2 You must play your part too. You are responsible for all use of your Account, unless:

8.2.1 someone else used the Account because we failed to use appropriate technical measures to secure PlayStation Online Services or the information we hold about you; or

8.2.2 someone else used the Account but you had taken reasonable steps to prevent that happening including those in section 8.3.

8.3 Some steps to stop others using your Account:

8.3.1 Sign out of your Account at the end of each session.

8.3.2 Set a passcode or passkey to prevent anyone with access to your Authorised System logging in to your Account.

8.3.3 Use a passkey or strong password, different from any you use for other online services, and turn on “Require Password at Checkout” to prevent others spending on your Account.

8.3.4     Never share your Account details with anyone else.

8.3.5 Never let anyone else use your Account, not even a family member or friend.

8.4 What if something goes wrong?

8.4.1 Change your passkey or password immediately if you think anyone else knows it.

8.4.2 Notify us immediately if you think someone else has control of your Account.

8.4.3 Notify law enforcement if you are a victim of crime in relation to your use of PlayStation Online Services. For example, someone else using your payment details on PlayStation Online Services.

9. Your Child Family Members.

9.1 You must create a separate Child Family Member Account for each child and set appropriate Parental Controls. See section 10 for more information about Parental Controls.

9.2 Child Family Members have access to our PlayStation Store. See section 10 for more information about Parental Controls. One of the Parental Controls is a monthly spend limit. We set it to zero. You can increase it. Only allow Child Family Members a monthly spend limit higher than zero if you are satisfied they are able to understand the purchase flow and make purchase decisions up to that value.

9.3 By setting a spend limit for a Child Family Member (or appointing a Guardian who does so), you are telling us:

9.3.1 the child can understand (i) the concept of a purchase; (ii) the cost; and (iii) an online purchase flow; and

9.3.2 you pre-approve and agree to pay for all PlayStation Store purchases by that Child Family Member up to the spend limit.

9.4 For each Child Family Member Account, you must:

9.4.1 provide accurate information (including age) see section 6;

9.4.1.1 Why? This affects how we deal with them. We will use their age to tailor what they can see, buy and do on PlayStation Online Services. However, not all Digital Products available via PlayStation Online Services are rated and some contain adult language and material which your Child Family Members may see.

9.4.2 explain to your Child Family Member how they should behave when using the PlayStation Online Services or dealing with us or the PlayStation Online Services community – see our Code of Conduct available here: https://www.playstation.com/legal/code-of-conduct/;

9.4.3 set appropriate Parental Controls – see section 10 for more information about Parental Controls;

9.4.4 appropriately monitor their use of the PlayStation Online Services;

9.4.4.1 Why? Your Child Family Members may receive communications from other PlayStation Online Services users that will not be copied to you.

9.4.5 agree to supervise, and therefore accept responsibility for, your Child Family Member’s Account(s) activity to ensure they comply with these Terms. This will not apply:

9.4.5.1 if someone else used the Account because we failed to use appropriate technical measures to secure PlayStation Online Services or the information we hold about your Child Family Members; or

9.4.5.2 if someone else used the Account but you and your Child Family Member had taken reasonable steps to stop that happening. 

10. Parental Controls.

10.1 We offer a variety of Parental Controls. You can read about them at www.playstation.com/safety.

10.2 Important information about our Parental Controls:

10.2.1 Guardians can set Parental Controls and adjust the ones you’ve set.

10.2.2 We will not notify you of Parental Control changes made by Guardians.

10.2.3 Only appoint Guardians you completely trust. 

11. Do we track what you do online?

11.1 Yes, but we can’t track all activity and we make no commitment to do so.

11.2 We may track and record your activity on PlayStation Online Services and remove any of your UGC that breaches these Terms, without further notice to you. Other users may report things they see and send them to us for review and, if appropriate, removal.

11.3 Information we get can include your content, voice and text communications, gameplay videos, the time and location of your activities, your real name, your PlayStation Online ID and IP address.

11.4 We (or our affiliated companies) use that information to enforce these Terms, to comply with the law, to protect our rights and those of our licensors and users, and to protect our community. We may pass this information to the police or other appropriate authorities.

11.5 We may also take additional steps to protect our users from illegal content and content that is harmful to children, including terrorism content, child exploitation content, pornographic content or content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions for suicide, self-harm, self-injury or eating disorders.

11.6 This means that we may use technology (such as hash-matching or other automated tools) that automatically detects online activities, communications, and content that may breach these Terms. This includes the detection of profane or hateful language, harmful URLs, spam messages or accounts, child exploitation content, illegal content and other content which may breach the Terms.

11.7 We perform these checks in a way that we consider to be proportionate.  If you think we have made a mistake or if you disagree with a decision that we have made, you can contact our customer services – see section 28.  Alternatively, in some countries if you have had your Account permanently suspended, you can appeal this decision at: https://www.playstation.com/support/account/suspensions/. We handle appeals and reviews in a timely, non-discriminatory, diligent and objective manner. If your appeal is justified and we have made a mistake, as far as it is technically possible and reasonable, we will reverse the contested decision or measure.

11.8 See our Privacy Policy at www.playstation.com/legal/terms/ for more details about this use of your information. 

12. PlayStation Store.

12.1 Everything you buy from PlayStation Store, you buy from us. That includes PlayStation Store Wallet Funds and anything bought using PlayStation Store Wallet Funds.

12.2 You can pay for purchases on PlayStation Store using an Approved Payment Method.

12.3 The price displayed is inclusive of applicable VAT and equivalent taxes. You must pay any import VAT and duties that apply (if any). Additionally, you must pay any foreign exchange and bank or card charges that may apply as a result of our processing of your payment method in accordance with your purchase.

12.4 For Child Family Members:

12.4.1 We filter the rated content a Child Family Member can see and buy on PlayStation Store based on their date of birth and any Parental Controls you set.

12.4.2 The cost of Digital Products that Child Family Members can buy comes out of your PlayStation Store Wallet, up to the monthly spend limit you set for each Child Family Member (see section 9.3.2). If you do not accept this, do not change the Child Family Member’s spend limit from the default of zero and do not appoint a Guardian who can change it.

12.4.3 Child Family Members cannot instigate a charge to your Approved Payment Method. Their purchases of Digital Products will only be successful if you have enough funds in your PlayStation Store Wallet.

12.5 If you purchase a physical item from us (such as an Authorised System, a controller or a boxed game) the PlayStation Physical Goods Terms of Purchase at www.playstation.com/legal/terms/ will apply to your purchase. You should review these terms before completing your purchase, as they include important details on the rules that apply to your purchase.

13. Shopping on PlayStation Store.

13.1 Make sure your Child Family Members understand how PlayStation Store works. What follows applies to them as well as you, except where indicated.

13.2 We guide you through the buying process from choosing what to buy, to purchase confirmation via a series of screens and instructions.

13.2.1 Read the information we show you during your purchase carefully. It affects the cancellation rights you may otherwise have under applicable local laws – see section 14.

13.3 When you press the final button when making a purchase from the PlayStation Store:

13.3.1 we deduct the funds from your PlayStation Store Wallet or your Approved Payment Method; and

13.3.2 you send the order to us.

13.4 If we cannot fulfil your order we will refund any sums deducted from your:

13.4.1 PlayStation Store Wallet to your PlayStation Store Wallet;

13.4.2 Approved Payment Method to that payment method unless it is one of the Approved Payment Methods for which we cannot do that. In those cases, we send the refund to your PlayStation Store Wallet.

13.5 When you purchase or download A Digital Product from the PlayStation Store:

13.5.1 You buy a personal licence to use Digital Products for private use. Your licence to use Digital Products is not transferrable unless your local applicable laws say it must be.

13.5.2 This means you can use a Digital Product in the ways described in the licence but you do not own the Digital Product.

13.5.3 We tell you where to find the licence terms during the purchase flow.

13.5.4 If you delete or close the purchasing Account, or if the purchasing Account is suspended, you may lose access to and use of the Digital Product.

13.5.5 If a third party published the Digital Product, you may need to associate or link your Account to an account you hold with that third party to use the Digital Product. The Digital Product may become linked to that third party account as well as the purchasing Account. If you unlink the third party account from your Account or if your third party account is closed, suspended or deleted, you may lose access to the Digital Product.

14. Can I cancel my purchases just because I changed my mind?

14.1 Yes, in limited circumstances and when you request it within certain timeframes. See our Cancellation Policy at www.playstation.com/legal/playstation-store-cancellation-policy.

14.2 Read the information we show you during your purchases carefully. When you buy, we provide information and follow a process which limits the change-of-mind cancellation rights for Digital Products that you might otherwise have under applicable local laws.

14.3 In some countries, local law says that, when you buy products online, you have time to change your mind, cancel your purchase and get a refund. In countries of the European Economic Area, for example:

14.3.1 When you buy digital content (like a digital copy of a game, you can cancel for any reason within 14 days of your transaction.

14.3.2 When you buy services (like a subscription), you can cancel for any reason within 14 days of your transaction.

14.3.3 But, the law also says that, if you consent to immediate delivery of the digital content or immediate supply of the service, we can provide them immediately and limit your right to cancel those orders provided we explain to you how that affects your cancellation rights.

14.3.4 Because most of our customers want to use their purchases straight away, we design our purchase flows to get your consent to immediate delivery of digital content and services and we provide you with clear information about how that affects your cancellation rights.

14.4 So, unless a Digital Product is faulty or you have other rights to cancel your order under applicable local laws, when you shop with us:

14.4.1 You will not be able to change your mind and cancel your digital content purchase once you begin to download or stream the content; and

14.4.2 You can change your mind and receive a refund for your subscription service purchase within 14 days of purchase, but the amount we refund can be less than your purchase price (to account for the use you have had of the service). Alternatively, if you want to end your subscription when your next payment becomes due, you can do this by adjusting your subscription settings at any time before your next payment date (see www.playstation.com/cancel-subscription for more info).If you do this your subscription will not end immediately (you can continue to use it until your next payment date) but it will stop future subscription payments being taken.

14.5 For information on change-of-mind cancellation rights for physical items, see the PlayStation Physical Goods Terms of Purchase available at www.playstation.com/legal/terms/.

16. Payment Methods.

16.1 We store your credit and debit card and PayPal account details when you use them for a transaction. We use them for future purchases unless you delete them through your Account settings.

16.2 We do not store your payment card’s 3-digit security number. You do not need to enter it for future purchases.

16.3 For other Approved Payment Methods you may need to enter the details each time you buy something.

16.4 When you buy a Digital Product using mobile billing your mobile network provider charges you the amount of the purchase. They may charge you their standard messaging rate on top. 

17. Chargebacks.

17.1 A chargeback happens when your payment service provider (i.e. the supplier of your payment method such as a bank, or PayPal), reverses a payment you made. A chargeback of a sum paid to us for purchases that we have delivered to you results in a debt to us equal to the amount of the chargeback.

17.2 As a chargeback can indicate you suspect fraud or Account take-over, we will suspend your Account or console to protect it while we investigate. If there is no lawful reason for the chargeback, your Account will remain suspended until the debt is repaid. We may deduct funds from your PlayStation Store Wallet to pay any debt owed by you to us.