Home Gaming People are getting refunds for No Man’s Sky regardless of time played

People are getting refunds for No Man’s Sky regardless of time played

2 min read
78

NMS

No Man’s Sky is one of this generation’s biggest games. It’s become a media sensation – for both good and bad reasons. In the marketing build up for the game, No Man’s Sky managed to ignite the imaginations of would-be galactic explorers. It created a whirlwind of hype that I’ve never seen surround a single game before.

Unfortunately, expectations and reality seldom overlap. Since its release, there have been thousands of players upset with the game, believing that Hello Games and Sean Murray lied about how expansive the game and its systems were, making promises could never be lived up to.

I’m not going to point fingers and accuse anyone of lying, but I will say that the amazing maths behind it aside, No Man’s Sky ended up being a boring game to play once you’ve scratched its surface. On PC, its initial quarter of a million active players dropped to around 15 000 within the space of two weeks. While it’s normal for any game to lose players after launch, No Man’s Sky’s low player count is worrying both because it’s so large, and because many expected the game to be something that could play forever.

The player count is possibly set to drop even further. Steam, Sony and Amazon have, unusually, extended the period for refunds on the game. Steam’s refund window is usually capped to two hours of playtime, but that window has been extended to allow anyone who’s bought the game to get a refund. Sony’s PlayStation Network allows for refunds within 14 days, but only if the game hasn’t been downloaded and installed. They too, seem to be offering refunds.

For what it’s worth, Steam’s updated the No Man’s Sky page to ssert that they’re not offering extended refunds (anymore?).

The standard Steam refund policy applies to No Man’s Sky. There are no special exemptions available. Click here for more detail on the Steam refund policy.

Users on reddit and neoGAF seem to have taken advantage of the refunds.

“Just heard on a random twitch channel they’re giving refund so I gave it a shot even though I tried the day it came out, AND HOLY S*** IT WORKED. I should mention I had 8 hours in the game, and a negative review,” wrote one user on reddit.

“I got my refund from PSN customer support a couple nights ago. 50+ hours of playtime,” says NeoGAF user Kyoufu. “Not surprised to see Steam doing the same thing.”

Personally, while I like the idea of being able to get refunds on games that are fundamentally broken (like Arkham Knight on PC was for many users), I think the idea of getting a refund from a game you’ve sunk 50 hours in to seems a little disingenuous.

Former Sony UK employee Sahid Ahmad likens it to thievery – and I can’t really disagree.

Last Updated: August 29, 2016

78 Comments

  1. Pariah

    August 29, 2016 at 08:08

    No refund required. This week I’ll probs be playing a lot while I wait for the new Exp of Path of Exile to drop – as well as the Humble Monthly (both on Friday).

    That is exactly what I wanted this game for. And I Just bought a wicked looking new ship. So yeah. I enjoy it a lot so far. Had a planet that just gave and gave and gave and gave.

    And yeah I’m running on literally min graphic settings, which sort of removes some of the visual charm. But hey.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      August 29, 2016 at 08:10

      I’ll stick to Deus Ex whilst praying silently that some sort of 5Gig patch drops that contains maybe half of the stuff Shaun babbled about

      Reply

      • Pariah

        August 29, 2016 at 08:11

        haha yeah. I expected little more than “fly to planet. Muck about a bit. Repeat” from the game anyway. I wasn’t disappointed. There’s not much more to it, but I didn’t expect much more. 🙂

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          August 29, 2016 at 08:13

          I made the mistake of watching Angry Joe’s review of NMS and suddenly the game looked a lot less shiny

          Reply

          • Pariah

            August 29, 2016 at 08:17

            I don’t like Angry Joe. Not even a little.

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            August 29, 2016 at 08:19

            Did not know that, I like him because he takes shots at publishers… and he’s angry

          • CypherGate

            August 29, 2016 at 09:47

            His awesome. Love the interviews being theme based on his reviews and when it’s a shitty game. The anger goes to the next level lol one of his best reviews is the Rambo Game. Damn I laughed so much.

          • CypherGate

            August 29, 2016 at 09:46

            Why not? His quite funny and he does make some good points on this game.

          • Pariah

            August 29, 2016 at 10:25

            What we consider funny is very, very different. And many people make many good points. But I’ve played it. Plan to do so for a lot more time. I can make up my own mind, I don’t need some dumb hispanic guy shouting or being a douche to tell me anything. 🙂

          • CypherGate

            August 29, 2016 at 10:30

            Lol I get that and do agree each person has there own version of what they find funny. Like I mentioned to Hammerstein the Rambo review. I found that to be hilarious because on all honesty I’ve played that Rambo Game and wow was it so close to the same things I’ve picked up and his added parody In-between I found funny personally. Ill most probably be trying out the game, but from everything I’ve read on the game it’s been extremely disappointing that u can’t meet ur buddy and do things together. Which I find to be quite a good thing if it was added in there. Maybe later dlc or patches they will change things a bit 🙂

          • CypherGate

            August 29, 2016 at 09:45

            Lol his review was fair though. In all honesty I kinda knew this game would tank. Reason? Lots of interviews of the game convinced me of many things that are just too ambitious and boring. I knew the game would be boring. Especially since u cant ever meet ur buddies online etc. Thats a key part that was messed up for me. Dont get me wrong u was super excited for the game but the more I heard of it the less I found myself being excited cause there were many key things missing

      • Ir0nseraph

        August 29, 2016 at 08:19

        *Sean

        Reply

        • Pariah

          August 29, 2016 at 08:21

          *Prawn

          Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          August 29, 2016 at 08:43

          No, you’re Shaun

          Reply

  2. Uberutang

    August 29, 2016 at 08:08

    Yet the Sony guy has no issue with Sony selling a product under false advertising and broken promises? How is charging somebody full price for a incomplete and broken game not theft also?

    Reply

    • Pariah

      August 29, 2016 at 08:08

      Because AAA vs Indie?

      Reply

      • Uberutang

        August 29, 2016 at 08:11

        Indie with AAA price tag? GITFS. If NMS launched at $20 and mod support people would be praising it.
        launching with half the promised features missing at FULL price? They can go fly a kite.

        Reply

        • Pariah

          August 29, 2016 at 08:15

          You saw the question mark. You missed the point of my comment. You’re right. You’re angry. I get it. You’re not the only one, not by a long shot.

          But Indie games have a lot more “flexibility” to give refunds like this than AAA studios. Because $$$, annual reports, staff in the hundreds etc. Giving refunds on this scale would bankrupt a good number of AAA studios. So they actually can’t.

          Reply

          • Uberutang

            August 29, 2016 at 08:16

            Market Darwinism. Let the those who lie, die.

          • Pariah

            August 29, 2016 at 08:16

            I agree. But it’s not up to us who gives refunds over and above official policies. It’s solely their discretion. You can guess already whether it’s going to happen though.

  3. Ottokie

    August 29, 2016 at 08:09

    This turned out to be fake. Also read the post on Saturday. Took a shot for the laughs (not really) 15 hours played. Denied refund

    Reply

    • Ottokie

      August 29, 2016 at 08:28

      Here is the screenshot (refresh)

      Now I don’t actually hate the game, I do enjoy playing it. But I do not want to support developers like this. Before I bought no mans sky I was off the hype train because I saw a lot of sketchy crap going on. And on release day the true colours showed for Hello Games.

      Reply

      • HairyEwok

        August 29, 2016 at 08:34

        I have 12 hours played and my refund has also been denied. I even said in the description that I’d rather take the refund money and buy Deus Ex.

        Reply

        • Uberutang

          August 29, 2016 at 09:30

          Submit a support ticket. You can then make a case to get a refund, after the auto refund fails.

          Reply

          • HairyEwok

            August 29, 2016 at 11:22

            Thanks will do.

          • ZePinkZamboni

            August 30, 2016 at 07:02

            Mine with 20 hours got refunded in less than a day.

          • ZePinkZamboni

            August 30, 2016 at 07:05

            (semi-proof)

      • Uberutang

        August 29, 2016 at 09:30

        Submit a support ticket. You can then make a case to get a refund

        Reply

        • Ottokie

          August 29, 2016 at 09:54

          Submitted. Will report back soon with answer 😛

          Reply

          • Johann

            August 29, 2016 at 15:24

            Let us know if this works, also tried the auto refund and got denied.

          • Ottokie

            August 29, 2016 at 15:40

            Been 5 hours, no reply yet

    • Aries

      August 29, 2016 at 12:15

      I had 6 hours and a Negative review, and got the refund, they changed my game time to 2 hours

      Reply

  4. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    August 29, 2016 at 08:09

    Well, of the 50 hours played I bet most people spent 40 hours shooting a laser beam at rocks.

    Reply

    • Original Heretic

      August 29, 2016 at 08:13

      Is that a dig at Afrikaners??!? Nee, man, stoppit.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        August 29, 2016 at 08:14

        O_o

        Reply

    • Dane

      August 29, 2016 at 10:18

      Ha! I upvoted YOUR comment for once. How does it feel, huh?!

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        August 29, 2016 at 11:54

        XD

        Reply

    • The Order of the Banana

      August 29, 2016 at 12:41

      GLORIOUS!!!!!

      This is my brain after your comment!

      http://somethingsensitive.com/Smileys/default/hkbMEl5.gif

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        August 29, 2016 at 13:24

        BEST GIF EVER!

        Reply

  5. Gavin Mannion

    August 29, 2016 at 08:10

    Honestly I feel nothing for people who fell for the hype and then bought a game before the review only to find out it’s crap…

    Stop buying games before they are reviewed people, you are just feeding the marketing machine and taking cash from the developers.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      August 29, 2016 at 08:11

      But, but Shaun was like 🙁

      Reply

      • Ir0nseraph

        August 29, 2016 at 08:17

        Lies for breakfast I see, not a good diet 😛

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          August 29, 2016 at 08:19

          Empty calories T-T

          Reply

    • Original Heretic

      August 29, 2016 at 08:12

      My sentiments exactly. I was really looking forward to this game, but with much trepidation. I hoped and hoped for good reviews.

      Reply

    • Darren Peach

      August 29, 2016 at 09:01

      I should feel aggrieved at your comment but I can’t bring myself to disagree with you. My whole career is a lie…. 🙁

      Reply

    • Kromas GG

      August 29, 2016 at 09:07

      This is pretty much my sentiment for a lot of things. Oh no … Steve Irwin died! It was so unexpected and saddening!

      No you idiots he kept provoking dangerous animals for a living it was bound to happen.

      Oh no my pre-ordered game sucked but the trailers were amazing! Well maybe wait for reviews/release and stop buying into pre-order culture!

      Then again I have to pre-order for those sweet sweet CE games. 😛

      Reply

    • TheCellGames

      August 29, 2016 at 15:45

      I still believe in preorders, though Devs are the ones to loose if they screw up with games. Considering NMS was a bigger screw up than Mighty No. 9 I wouldn’t expect another game from Hello Games for a while. Concept has a chance to redeem itself with Recore (a game I’ve preordered based off the gameplay I’ve seen). Then again, we were able to see unadulterated gameplay from different gamers at Gamescom and E3 while most of what I’ve seen from NMS came from Sean Murry or Sony’s E3.

      Reply

    • Spy Master Tokashi

      August 30, 2016 at 10:50

      I wish I could upvote 1000 times and then sacrifice my left nut to get another 1000 votes.

      Reply

  6. HairyEwok

    August 29, 2016 at 08:33

    BS! I’ve asked for a refund and Steam said I can’t get it due to the 2 hour condition being broken.

    Reply

    • Uberutang

      August 29, 2016 at 09:30

      Submit a support ticket for the refund.

      Reply

    • Aries

      August 29, 2016 at 12:12

      Got mine, did it on the weekend, got my money last night

      Reply

  7. AfricanTime

    August 29, 2016 at 08:40

    didnt understand the “hype”, all they ever showed was that you walking around in random generated planet with random generated animals and plants, now people are upset that all you do is walking around on random generated plane, i dont get the “outrage”…

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      August 29, 2016 at 08:44

      There’s reddit posts with essays on all the stuff that’s not in the game, that’s where the rage stems from

      Reply

    • HairyEwok

      August 29, 2016 at 08:48

      As hammer said. People are outraged because the game advertised and shown the whole time is not the game that was released.

      To place it into perspective. You buy a Ferrari and you open up the bonnet only to find out there’s a donkey that powers it.

      Reply

      • AfricanTime

        August 29, 2016 at 08:52

        yes i seen the “missing” list for NMS, however i still dont see how the game would get anymore exicting/better if added…

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          August 29, 2016 at 09:13

          Different strokes for different folks. What you see as utter trash could be a treasure trove to somebody else.

          Reply

          • Allykhat

            August 29, 2016 at 10:50

            Here’s my 2c. Multiplayer wise, My friends and I wanted to get together at some point if we could. When base building came in, we planned to terraforming a planet into a deathstar of sorts just for shits and giggles. Eventually larger ships and frigates were promised, we would build out fleet and eventually form the first NMS empire. Based on how things have gone already, no MP, so we can’t get together. No MP so no PVP and there isn’t even enough NPCs to fight. The base building I can only assume will be terribly basic… like a little hut and some walls with a launch pad and the large ships at this point I dont think will be pilotable. Eventually, maybe, so I’ll rather wait until this becomes the game we were promised before I play it again.

          • HairyEwok

            August 29, 2016 at 11:30

            TLDR way below.

            I feel the same way. I wanted to meet other people (even if Sean said it’ll be near 0% chance). I wanted to see the alien factions fight and pick a side to align with and help them. I wanted to build an awesome base on a lush planet with huge trees.

            There’s many things I wanted that’s not in the game that I honestly thought would be in (Since they never told us they’re removing nearly all of it). If they said before launch, listen we’re not placing these features in but they will be in later, I would have still purchased the game and waited for those features.

            TLDR, I feel lied to by the developer, that’s why I want my refund.

          • Allykhat

            August 29, 2016 at 13:00

            That is basically my entire argument to be honest.

  8. Darren Peach

    August 29, 2016 at 08:57

    I’m just happy to be playing video games again…….

    Reply

  9. Guild

    August 29, 2016 at 09:21

    I estimate I put about 15 hours into the game but there are things that have been revealed about the game only later on. One of the main points that caught me on the game was the ability to name everything you discover. I liked it as a legacy type thing were people could potentially arrive and see where I have been and what I discovered. It only came out now that all your naming and effort you put in is wiped from the servers after 2 weeks. This on top of all the other issues, my game would crash at least once while playing, etc. I’ve deleted it and requested a refund from Sony. Don’t think I’ll get one but I can try.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      August 29, 2016 at 09:33

      LOL!

      Reply

  10. The Order of the Banana

    August 29, 2016 at 09:27

    Love the game – so no refund required, but I have to agree with whatsisface, if you request a refund after 50+ hours of gameplay, you are a dick!

    Reply

    • The Order of the Banana

      August 29, 2016 at 09:29

      I sincerely hope Sony does a Steam and retroactively ban their accounts. It’s fine if you played an hour or two and then realise “Nah, this isnt what I wanted, so I reckon I can get a refund”. But 50 hours? 50 HOURS? The little shits need to be punished and made an example of.

      Reply

      • Guild

        August 29, 2016 at 09:32

        I’m requesting a refund after about 15 hours. There is info that was only revealed after 2 weeks that I’m not happy about. So I’ve deleted the game and asking for a refund.

        Reply

        • The Order of the Banana

          August 29, 2016 at 09:37

          But 50 hours? That’s Brianna Wu levels of thuggery and scam artistry.

          Reply

          • Guild

            August 29, 2016 at 09:55

            I agree, 50 hours is excessive. But I suppose same can be said for my game time.

          • Allykhat

            August 29, 2016 at 10:42

            Yes and no. 50 hours is, IMO, definitely wrong. I didnt follow the game at all because I sort of knew something like this would happen, but my Brother really wanted it so we got it on PSN. Between the two of us we racked up 10 hours and by then, all the controversy and evidence of what was left out was doing the rounds. We both agreed that if the game was sold and marketted as an indie game for 20$ then fine, we’d suck it up. The fact it was mis-marketted and sold at a AAA price swayed us. I put a refund request through to sony, pending outcome and I’ll pick this game up again when it’s pricing actually falls in-line with what I think it’s worth.

    • Spy Master Tokashi

      August 30, 2016 at 10:53

      If Sean didnt tell the world his BS lies, there wouldn’t be a problem with the refunding. Hello Games are also a bunch of dicks for not coming out clean and tell the world what is the cause for this.

      Should have, would have, could have ….

      I think it is perfectly fair to get 50+ hours refund, it will serve them right for telling lies.

      Reply

  11. Gaming Expert

    August 29, 2016 at 10:14

    I hope physical disc can be refunded too. Hello games take back your shit. No one wants it.

    Reply

  12. Alien Emperor Trevor

    August 29, 2016 at 10:25

    OMG King, can you believe the number of refund requests after the shock heel turn of The Heartbreak Kid, Sean Murraychaels!?

    Reply

  13. Audacity (or-das-it-eeee-eee)

    August 29, 2016 at 11:11

    Couldn’t stop laughing at this

    Reply

  14. The Order of the Banana

    August 29, 2016 at 11:23

    The amount of salt this game has produced from critics and gamerdom has been awesome! The last time I had this much fun was during the releases of Titanfail 1, Dragon Age 2, Garth’s review of Dragon’s Dogma and Evolve.

    http://media2.giphy.com/media/R0TrhAtNeUC0E/200.gif

    Reply

  15. b1nd3r

    August 29, 2016 at 11:29

    just got my refund….now was on steams top selling list 😛 (help me)

    Reply

  16. konfab

    August 29, 2016 at 12:12

    I am glad I pre-ordered it.

    I wouldn’t have bought it otherwise given the sheer amount of hate for it. And I would have missed out on a game I really enjoy.

    Reply

  17. Johann

    August 29, 2016 at 15:44

    The game itself has a lot of potential, whether they will actually release frequent updates and proper add-ons (without charging an arm and a leg for each) is still up for debate. Also, way too many performance issues on decent machines.

    Reply

  18. Johann

    August 31, 2016 at 08:11

    So I logged a ticket and Steam replied with “There has been a lot of confusion regarding refunds for this game and they’re not giving refunds on this after 2 hours played bla bla bla”

    Reply

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