Diablo III hitches prompt refunds for Korean players

Diablo III is having a devilish time in South Korea, where the game's rocky launch has prompted Blizzard to offer full refunds to some players.

According to a Wall Street Journal report of a Korean Blizzard announcement, Diablo III players under level 40 will be able to apply for a refund before July 3. In the future, Blizzard will also give refunds to any Diablo III player within 14 days of the game's purchase, provided their characters haven't reached level 20.

While problems logging in and slow connections affected users around the world in the wake of Diablo III's launch, the situation in South Korea was bad enough that the country's Fair Trade Commission last month launched an investigation into Blizzard's latest game. Earlier this week, the head of South Korea's Internet PC Culture Association--a trade group of Internet cafe operators--said the group was planning a class-action lawsuit against Blizzard Korea because of Diablo III's ongoing server issues. The country's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will also reportedly be taking administrative guidance action against Blizzard Korea, with the first order being to increase the number of servers for the game.

As of press time, a Blizzard representative had not returned GameSpot's request for comment on whether the refund program would be extended to other regions.