Mountainmohawk
Member
Tried 3 times to refund thru steam. I've played 9 hrs. They keep saying no.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
WOW OMG: Steam is refunding No Man's Sky even if you played more then 2 hours
- Thread starter Tony Iron Man Stark
- Start date
LookAtMeGo
Member
Its my own fault for continuing to play the game despite the constant crashing. I played it quite a bit but its basically unplayable right now. I doubt they are going to give me a refund after the amount of time I spent with it. It just sucks I cant even play the game right now.
Id rather use that money on something that works then come back to NMS when they fix it. Oh well. Lesson kearned here for sure. Never buy a game digitally. I dont know what I was thinking.
Veggy
Member
Try opening up a ticket or you'll just get the standard automated response
Air Zombie Meat
Member
Sony offer a one time goodwill gesture refund. People are using theirs on this game so it's not like they're losing nothing by refunding. They're just using their one get out of jail free card here.
These are digital copies. People with the physical version can just sell the game if they don't like it. Digital buyers are stuck with it. I think it's good to give digital buyers some recourse for buying a dud.
These are digital copies. People with the physical version can just sell the game if they don't like it. Digital buyers are stuck with it. I think it's good to give digital buyers some recourse for buying a dud.
I just booted up my PS4 and can confirm that No Man's Sky still loads. I won't be playing it, however. Amazon has me as a customer for life now. Their customer service is the same reason why Nordstrom and Apple have me as a customer for life.
This is 1:1 what happened to me with Destiny, except it was just a boring as fuck game rather than technical issues. Know the feel of digital buying - the ultimate buyers remorse.
Hahaha, in what other medium is it OK to not offer a refund on something when you're unhappy with the product? If you feel as if you've been misled and the product was falsely advertised? Good lord, if you enjoy the game then go enjoy the game. Stop telling others that they're wrong about feeling misled.
TheFinalCut
Member
I seriously don't believe there was a malicious intent during the development and promotion to deceive people. I honestly think they believed the features that people are so angry about were going to be in the game when it shipped, but many of those interviews are old. Working in games, theatre, web dev, and film I can empathize with the fact that the idealized vision a group can have for a project might only be understood as unrealistic or unfeasible until near the end.
The disappointment by some players is completely justified based on the earlier information that was provided. For me, the only sin Hello Games committed was not being forward with how certain elements were shaping up for launch. What I don't understand is commentators going on the extreme aggressive without any appreciation of other people.
Enigmatic Rainbow
Member
Is there a source for this? Didn't have any problems refunding this on the SO's account, and this is the 4th refund we have done.
Flying Toaster
Member
I can see feeling bored but Destiny with all it's flaws was never actually broken like this is.
JacksUsername
Member
I just got a refund from an Amazon digital purchase. Really surprised that they allowed this; went into chat fully expecting to be rejected. Chat transcript below:
Couple of quick notes - I did in fact contact Sony before Amazon. I thought I had purchased the game on PSN, but forgot I had pre-purchased through Amazon. I wasn't making up that I reached out to them first. I also did have many perfomance problems with the game, and I think I was averaging at least one crash per play session.
I'm also guessing that this is going to be on a very case-by-case basis. I order from Amazon a lot and don't really have a history of refunds or returns, so that may have helped in the outcome.
Couple of quick notes - I did in fact contact Sony before Amazon. I thought I had purchased the game on PSN, but forgot I had pre-purchased through Amazon. I wasn't making up that I reached out to them first. I also did have many perfomance problems with the game, and I think I was averaging at least one crash per play session.
I'm also guessing that this is going to be on a very case-by-case basis. I order from Amazon a lot and don't really have a history of refunds or returns, so that may have helped in the outcome.
Air Zombie Meat
Member
When you refuse to respond like Murray did you leave the door open for people to speculate. Thats why I think addressing issues would have been better. People are going to think the worst if you go into hiding.
Perhaps I'm wrong then. I've seen a bunch of posts saying that the rep said it was the one time goodwill gesture.
But that's everything, isn't it? They continued to act as if everything was awesome and all the features were in the game up right up between a few months from launch until launch day. They knew months ago they'd be shipping a game without any of the features they've talked about and that in no way resembles the game they've been describing, but they continued to describe it as if it was that game.
They were content to deceive people and take their money. I don't understand how you can chalk it up to "oops, my bad". It's purely cynical, purely malicious, purely dishonest.
And what should seal it for you is the total closure of communication once the game came out and people started to notice the emperor had no clothes. They just fled town. Their valued customers have questions and concerns and complaints, the people who bought their game, and they refuse to even talk to them.
Masterspeed
Member
I submitted my ticket yesterday and have yet to get a response :/
But indie devs are innocent and pure compared to big bad corporations who lie,cheat, and steal.
Some people just cant accept the fact that maybe the people you put on a pedestal are just as scummy as the people you revile.
Nicktendo86
Member
Sorry but I think it's bullshit, he said just six months ago the universe was realistic with actual physics dictating the rotations of planets and their obits of the sun, that you could travel to stars and you could freely travel between systems. I cannot believe that they had none of this in six months before release and planned to add it all.
Murray is a bare faced liar as far as I'm concerned.
LookAtMeGo
Member
It will appear eventually. I had the same thing.
It is working. I went through the same thing this morning. The timer they have isn't accurate, though. I waited about thirty minutes with that screen before it loaded the chat.
JacksUsername
Member
Nah, that's normal. Eventually the chat interface will load when a rep is available. Actual wait time was much longer than 10 minutes for me.
Joelstinton14
Member
+1
Personally i think this sets a dangerous precedent. Where do you draw the line.
Pretty much everything single game released as polished and tarted up trailers, NMS is not the first, and won't be the last to do so, even the Witcher 3 uses bullshots on it's steam page for example, also a game that i think as 23 patches.
The difference is , one game is on the end of a gamer outrage that is blown way of out of proportion.
Flying Toaster
Member
Wait and the chat will pop up when an agent is available.
Veggy
Member
Same here, steam are taking their sweet time here in the UK (probably doesn't help that its Sunday also)
The difference is, one game has been lied about for months and the dev has stayed silent on the matter both before and after release. Also for many people, it crashes constantly and is unplayable because of these crashes which is quite important as you can't enjoy a game that crashes so much.
The other game is the Witcher 3.
TheFinalCut
Member
They've been putting out patches at a blistering pace, and communicating that it is their current priority.
Obviously since I enjoy the game I don't feel they missed their core features. Also, it'a very clear there won't be convincing either side here until Hello Games directly discusses these concerns.
I haven't been playing since the first day so I don't know, really, but what have they been patching? hsa any content or features been added?
Purely bug fixes. It's onto version 1.07 now, fixes for getting stuck at Space Station without pulse drive to take off etc.
Castef
Banned
Do not get me wrong: some games could be considered pieces of digital art.
What I mean is: in the scope of a refund, a game is a game. Period. You can't deny it because "the game is art".
Castef
Banned
What if, acfer a certain amount of hours, the game become unplayable due to continuous crashes?
In that case the game IS broken.
When i refunded Persona Arena because it was region locked and the store page didn't say anything about it. The customer support guy told me the same thing about how they would refund one game for me once and after that they wouldn't do it no matter the cause.
whoa. just got my refund from SONY! no questions asked. I was scared at first because the rep said I got a refund, asked for my email, then the chat closed (must of been them who closed it). I initially waited like 20 mins to start that chat amd I was pissed that I might have to wait again; as I started to fill out the form for another chat, boom, I get the email stating my refund was sent. Checked my PSN Wallet. $59.99. Sorry, No Man's Sky, just wasn't meant to be.
TheFinalCut
Member
All of the current patches I've seen released so far have been focused on bugs with some minor feature improvements focused on PC hardware. The current experimental steam patch and the next PS4 patch has minor feature updates and QoL changes. Around 7 patches since release.
Not communicating about the discussed features additions isn't great but hearing from those who know Murray and the Hello Games team mention how they are very single minded in the way they tackle problems. Not great for PR or community engagement but good for solving people's technical problems and getting updates out the door. The rubber will have to meet the road and switch to talking about feature updates soon though.
I feel it's too late now.
IF it was 1 to 2 weeks ago, it would have calmed down a lot of people. But they stayed quiet which made the situation a lot worse now because people keep on digging for some answers and in turn exposed Sean Murray of what kind of a developer he is.
Here is an example made by orthodoxy1095.
Xisiqomelir
Member
I'd like to remind you that much of GAF is on your side!
hydragonwarrior
Member
Iunno, i don't think it matters how many hours you play - if your game keeps crashing (and you carry on with high hopes), then that's not a functioning game. Nevermind the promises and what not. Completely separate reasoning.
And moreso they haven't sent any indication that said crashing bugs are going to be fixed anytime soon. In a game like NMS where everyone has a possibility of doing something different, it's possible you can end up in an unfortunate scenario where the game just dies with whatever you do next.
Sure there's patches but that doesn't help when there's no communication down the pipeline, and especially if they are software critical fixes like a game crash. In short, a game that frequently crashes is probably what should determine a refund.
And moreso they haven't sent any indication that said crashing bugs are going to be fixed anytime soon. In a game like NMS where everyone has a possibility of doing something different, it's possible you can end up in an unfortunate scenario where the game just dies with whatever you do next.
Sure there's patches but that doesn't help when there's no communication down the pipeline, and especially if they are software critical fixes like a game crash. In short, a game that frequently crashes is probably what should determine a refund.
Joelstinton14
Member
Personally i don't feel "lied" too, i feel that HG have been naive and vague, but i don;t think there was any malicious intent on their part.
What i am suggesting is, that some games for what ever reason (often pathetic, although i understand that some have genuine problems with the game and are in their right to at least ask), a game finds it self on the end of a gamer tantrum, and things get way out of hand. Any game that may not live up to expectation or hype could easily fall foul of this. Especially considering what i have seen people ask for refunds for on other games.
I guess what i am saying is that the constant negativity and cynicism feels a bit like the boy who cried wolf.
On the flipside if this means that the big studios followed Nintendo route and generally only show of games 6 months or so before release than maybe this is a route worth taking, but then people would just moan why are there no games coming out?
Eh i guess i really am jaded by the gaming community
Yeah I want to thank those that have been supportive and actually bothered to read my case before judging.
TheFinalCut
Member
Personally i don't feel "lied" too, i feel that HG have been naive and vague, but i don;t think there was any malicious intent on their part.
What i am suggesting is, that some games for what ever reason (often pathetic, although i understand that some have genuine problems with the game and are in their right to at least ask), a game finds it self on the end of a gamer tantrum, and things get way out of hand. Any game that may not live up to expectation or hype could easily fall foul of this. Especially considering what i have seen people ask for refunds for on other games.
I guess what i am saying is that the constant negativity and cynicism feels a bit like the boy who cried wolf.
On the flipside if this means that the big studios followed Nintendo route and generally only show of games 6 months or so before release than maybe this is a route worth taking, but then people would just moan why are there no games coming out?
Eh i guess i really am jaded by the gaming community
This is exactly how I feel as well. +1
Made the same mistake. I feel your pain. Have contacted iam8bit asking for refund/cancellation. Let's see what they come up with.I regret buying the collector's edition of this game.
Enjoy your refunds. Wish I could do the same.
But why are those practices acceptable? Regardless of where the ire is directed, neither case is OK. Hopefully in general this will be a wake-up call to developers to stop bullshitting everyone and showing their games 3 years early to generate hype. And "every single game" is a huge overstatement. There are entire publishers that won't stoop that low, i.e. Nintendo.
BouncyFrag
Member
I find it difficult to believe that the 2014 e3 trailer was procedurally generated having 'finished' the game myself and not seeing anything remotely comparable. I googled NMS trailer and that e3 tailer is the second hit. That shit needs to be taken down.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
It wasn't, it was entirely scripted and all of it is still in the files for everyone to see.
gaffer datamined the game, it wasn't.
TheSpoiler
Member
Personally i don't feel "lied" too, i feel that HG have been naive and vague, but i don;t think there was any malicious intent on their part.
What i am suggesting is, that some games for what ever reason (often pathetic, although i understand that some have genuine problems with the game and are in their right to at least ask), a game finds it self on the end of a gamer tantrum, and things get way out of hand. Any game that may not live up to expectation or hype could easily fall foul of this. Especially considering what i have seen people ask for refunds for on other games.
I guess what i am saying is that the constant negativity and cynicism feels a bit like the boy who cried wolf.
On the flipside if this means that the big studios followed Nintendo route and generally only show of games 6 months or so before release than maybe this is a route worth taking, but then people would just moan why are there no games coming out?
Eh i guess i really am jaded by the gaming community
I honestly don't get this mentality.
You fear a tantrum of gamers, but ignore the fact that HG's brought all the bad PR and broken promises on themselves. The result is consumers exercising their rights for a refund because of a broken game. The majority of the people in this topic have given their reasons, even if they don't have to, and it gets glossed over due to "lol gamers are just being mad
". Like, take the time to read some of the posts. I think your viewpoint is getting too colored by the negativity, and you start swirling it and removing the context. Your last point isn't even a good one. Developers can and have talked about their games all the time. That's not the problem here, and it's hilariously insulting to other developers that are open to their consumers when things change.
Once again, these companies are run by adults. They don't need to be babied. Sony and Steam can handle the refunds as they see fit given the situation.
Don't blame your jaded outlook on the gaming community in this situation, because for once the majority of the people here are speaking out against bug ridden, falsely advertised games. It's sad that somehow, this is seen as a tantrum.
Downgraded visuals, bullshots and misleading vertical slices are an industry wide problem. One consumers have failed time and again to hold developers accountable for.
However, comparing Witcher 3, which actually did catch plenty of flak for its downgrades and early launch issues, never falsely advertised numerous features up until release day and then went silent as the lies began to unravel one after another. All while the game that was promised turned out to be a rather simplistic game marred by enormous bugs and for some, crashing so frequent it becomes unplayable.
That strong cocktail of fuckery is what separates NMS from The Witcher.
Though what both games should tell people is that pre-orders and day one purchases(especially on games that withhold review copies or have release day or post release moratoriums) always carry significant risk, even coming from the most well regarded companies, and these lessons should serve as a cautionary tales for future behavior.
Xisiqomelir
Member
Lots.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sean+murray+lie
This one is very recent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ-tgaE37UE