The competition watchdog has launched legal action against global tech giant Sony for allegedly breaching Australian Consumer Law by restricting refunds to consumers for faulty games.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has begun Federal Court proceedings against Sony, the company behind the popular PlayStation gaming console, for "making false or misleading representations to Australian consumers".

Sony is facing court action after the ACCC claimed it misled customers. Credit:Bloomberg

Central to the ACCC claim is that since October 2017, Sony Europe has allegedly applied a more onerous and restrictive refund policy than is acceptable under Australian consumer law protections.

Britain-based Sony Europe is responsible for the PlayStation terms of service that Australian consumers must agree to when creating and using a gaming account, and runs the gaming console's local support centre for players who run into issues with their PlayStation games.