Arknights: Endfield Launch Facing Payment Issues That Charge Players Random Amounts

After some pretty massive hype, the launch day for Arknights: Endfield has finally arrived! The newest free-to-play title from Hypergryph studio seemed to have everything in place for a successful debut.

That’s because the game’s launch follows a bunch of highly positive previews and a staggering milestone of over 35 million pre-registrations, which is quite impressive.

However, the celebration was quickly overshadowed as players began reporting severe payment issues right at the start of the day.

According to several reports about Arknights: Endfield on Reddit this Thursday (here, here, and here), players have discovered that using PayPal to purchase in-game passes resulted in random (and sometimes massive) amounts being deducted from their accounts without their permission.

“My whole bank account balance of £1.2k got wiped clean, and I’ve got bills to pay tomorrow,” wrote one distressed user, calling the situation "absolutely batsh*t insane and unacceptable." Another player reported a similar error on a smaller scale, being charged $69.99 while attempting to buy a simple monthly pass.

The situation reached a breaking point with reports of extreme financial impact, such as one user who wrote he “will never financially recover from this,” sharing a screenshot of an apparent €15,264.19 transaction.

Upon analyzing these fans’ reports, the amounts charged appear to vary wildly, but they all share a common thread: the transactions were processed via PayPal, seemingly sparing those who used credit cards, debit cards, or other payment methods.

Given the severity of the situation, it didn't take long for the developers to issue a statement acknowledging the problem. The team at Hypergryph quickly confirmed they are actively working on a fix after the first reports and assured the community that all improper charges would be refunded as soon as possible.

“Dear Endministrator, we have received reports that the PayPal payment channel is currently undergoing temporary maintenance and upgrades. All affected Endministrators are advised to use other available payment channels,” the studio wrote on the official Arknights: Endfield X (formerly Twitter) profile.

In a follow-up announcement a bit later today, the developers explained that the error affected a small group of players who bought via PayPal using the official launcher (as well as PayPal top-ups). “In these cases, there was an inconsistency between the order and item delivery. The issue only impacted a limited set of orders,” they clarified.

The studio also stated that most refunds should be processed within four hours. However, if the money does not return within that window, players are urged to contact the support team at [email protected] with their account server and UID.

Finally, the developers announced that a fix had already been deployed and offered a sincere apology for the chaotic launch experience. “Providing a stable and reliable service is a top priority for us. Data security is foundational to our services and a core priority for GRYPHLINE. The PayPal payment option will remain disabled and will only be re-enabled after the issue has been fully resolved and thoroughly tested,” they concluded. “We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience.”