As a result of lots of gamers feeling let down by No Man’s Sky, a flurry of refund requests have been made to both Steam and Sony from gamers seeking their money back. However, despite many of the requests not meeting the refund policies of both Steam and Sony, it’s been confirmed that both companies are offering refunds to gamers, probably in part due to the backlash that has surrounded No Man’s Sky.
A few days ago it emerged that it looked like discoveries you made in No Man’s Sky were wiped after two weeks. Although the original poster on Reddit of the story managed to find a solution to fix the problem, there are still people reporting that they can’t get their discoveries to reappear, with some even claiming their own discoveries have been overwritten by someone else entirely.
Sony and Steam’s refund policies are usually very strict, especially in the case of Sony. Steam does have a more reasonable refund policy which guarantees to offer a refund if the game has been purchased within two weeks and has less than 2 hours total playtime, unless it’s clear you’re abusing the system. However, it looks like Valve are giving refunds to gamers who have exceeded the 2 hour total playtime.
On the No Man’s Sky subreddit, many PC gamers are reporting that they have been successful in obtaining a refund despite having played the game for substantially longer than the 2 hours. Some gamers have been successful even when they have clocked over 10 hours of playtime.
Sony’s refund policy states that anyone can request a refund within 14 days of their purchase, however, they must not have started downloading or streaming the game. Following No Man’s Sky‘s release, there were reports that Sony were being lenient on this policy and were willing to issue refunds, although it came with a catch – No Man’s Sky would be forever blocked on their console, meaning that it would not possible to pick up the game in the future and play it. There have been lots of reports though that Sony have confirmed that this would not be the case with No Man’s Sky.
Over on NeoGAF, there are loads of success stories from people who have achieved a refund from Sony with many gamers saying that using Live Chat is the best way to be successful. It also appears that Amazon are offering refunds on No Man’s Sky. If you’re seeking a refund for No Man’s Sky, the trick seems to try to speak to an actual person and to keep trying if you’re not successful. On Steam, there are some people who have claimed to have only been successful on the sixth attempt!
I think it is safe to say that Hello Games has had a pretty rough week. Hopefully, the extra long weekend in the UK will serve as a much needed break!
