No Man's Sky has been a hot topic this month for all of the wrong reasons. After much hype and anticipation, the game's release came and went the way of Spore, pitching a great idea but only going about half way. As a result, the internet did what it usually does, and lost its collective mind, pointed fingers, claimed mental trauma, etc. which led many to ask for refunds. The players who asked for refunds seem to have very wide variations in gameplay time, leading one ex-Sony employee to question the integrity of some of the refund claimants.
Shahid Kamal Ahmad a former Strategist Content Director for Sony, who also had a hand in securing No Man's Sky, seems to have an issue with the people who have been playing the game for 50+ hours and are demanding (and getting) refunds. He expressed his thoughts in a series of Tweets.
Here’s the good news: Most players are not thieves. Most players are decent, honest people without whose support there could be no industry.
— Shahid Kamal Ahmad (@shahidkamal) August 28, 2016
We’re not talking about a consumer product in the factory sense. We’re talking about a work of art. You can’t just treat it like a widget.
— Shahid Kamal Ahmad (@shahidkamal) August 28, 2016
In forty years of buying tens of thousands of pounds worth of games, to my knowledge, I have not *once* asked for my money back.
— Shahid Kamal Ahmad (@shahidkamal) August 28, 2016
As a customer and a player before I was ever a developer, I’d only have asked for my money back if the game was broken at boot time.
— Shahid Kamal Ahmad (@shahidkamal) August 28, 2016
I have no dog in this race. Just my 2p. I’ve been a dev, a pub and a funder for decades, and a player for longer than all of that.
— Shahid Kamal Ahmad (@shahidkamal) August 28, 2016
I’ll say it again. 50 hours. How long do they need, 5 billion hours? They still wouldn’t have seen it all. https://t.co/sHVZSR1G8R
— Shahid Kamal Ahmad (@shahidkamal) August 28, 2016
The fact that players are getting refunds for games after being played for 50 hours is something that's pretty unheard of for PSN and Steam. Steam's refund policy, though relatively new, only qualifies you to have spend 2 or fewer hours of game time, but its competitor, GOG.com lets players return the game after 30 days. However, Steam is making an exception in this case due to high demand.
Do you agree with Shahid? Do you think players should know before investing 50 hours whether a game is worth playing or not? Or do you think games should have return policies similar to GOG's 30-day policy?
Source: [Gear Nuke]
