Gamers Demanding a No Man's Sky Refund Aren't Happy with Sony

AND another reason i prefer Physical over Digital

if i don't like a game i can just get rid of it, with NO ISSUES

It crashed 3 times in 10 minutes for me the other night. I'm still enjoying it.

I think the game is exactly what was promised. The problem - once again - seems to be that some people built up so much hype for the game in their own head that they were inevitably going to feel disappointed. Which sucks, but... well... they only have themselves to blame. But no-one takes responsibility these days, it's always someone else's fault.

@get2sammyb Depends how quick you are. I bought The Order 1886 for £40 on Amazon when it was released, and got £38 for it when I'd finished it and traded it in.

@get2sammyb that's true but at least i get a bit back of course depending on where you go to trade it and how quick you are you can still get a lot back for the game

Why buy digital? You never actually own anything. A physical purchase, as others have said, gives you the ability to trade/sell.
Companies want us to switch to digital and avoid the production costs of physical format but wouldn't pass those savings to the consumer.

This is why:
A) You don't preorder Western games unless the developers have a track record of excellence with regard to performance (I wouldn't really worry about Rockstar's next big game not running well at launch, for example).
B) If you do preorder a Western game, you don't do so digitally on console.
C) You RESEARCH games before you buy them.

This is why you don't pre-order in general with games like this. If you pre-order and it's broken/not satisfactory on release, you lose all bargaining power.

The Peasants Revolt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasants%27_Revolt

Commander Shepard your mission is simple create havoc at Sony H.Q. for the People.

What a load of crap...its exactly what they said it would be(and my GoT)grow up and learn some patience and the try playing it,people complaining about this should get exactly what they deserve from Sony...NOTHING.

@get2sammyb I'm some US shops, gamestop, they give a full refund within a week.

I purchased a copy of NBA 2K16 a week later it was on P.S.plus I guess dem de breaks .

It will be great if sony can offer refund like in steam, just give a 1 hour limit before the refund windows is over. But because sony doesn't offer it, buyer should read a review, watch youtube stream or buy the physical version that can be sold rather than blindly preordered it digitally on psn.

@glassmusic Can you tell me what they have been promised thats not on the game? To me sony only promised 4 thing in their launch trailer: explore, fight, trade and survive, and we're getting all of that in no man sky.

@Ralizah Agree on all fronts.

@Nifty Because some discount on psn is really good, $8 on god of war 3 remastered, $10 on shadow of mordor, $8 on the order, etc.

Pretty much agree with everything above.
£50 to buy it off PSN, with no ability to refund or trade it in, vs. £45 from Amazon or the local supermarket on release day, then sell it for £40 if you play it for a couple of days and find its not for you or want to switch to the PC version (as I did).
I still don't understand why anyone buys off PSN unless its a serious sale, and even then my last dealing with Sony's support when something I bought wasn't downloadable (a couple of SingStar songs for my partner, took them over a month to sort out) means I hesitate to even do that now.

Unless its Steam then I would suggest physical for games your caution on and digital for games you know you want to play over and over so nothing happens to it.

@get2sammyb full refund if faulty

Not that I've followed Empty Man's Sky very closely... But people's impressions after playing the game are exactly what I expected when the game was announced.
1.Of course a game of such ridiculous magnitude is going to crash.
2.I remember them emphasizing this is a single player experience.
3.The game never looked like it had interesting gameplay (IMO). How could a randomly generated game about non- focused exploration possibly match the tight gameplay of a carefully crafted game? Not to mention the small size of the development team.

People got too excited about the size of the universe and ignored all the warning signs that suggested the game wasn't worth the hype.

I've put about 30 hours into it so far and I think I've had 3 crashes and all of them were upon booting the game, I've certainly played far worse performing titles and suspect as a whole these niggles are blown out of proportion.

Also whilst Sony's refund policy definitely needs looking at, it's all on there in black and white and everyone knows it's much easier to get a refund at retail. So at the end of the day it's there own poor decision making in either not really researching what the game is and how to buy it, but of course in today's increasing blame culture you always need a villain and in turn a victim

I just want to clarify that despite my trash opinion of the game, I think the team who made NMS should be proud of themselves. They pulled off something very ambitious that plenty of people are enjoying.
It's not their fault that people's expectations snowballed out of control. The game was designed to appeal to a niche market but somehow people thought it was going to be made to appeal to the mainstream gamer.

God this kinda crap makes me thank god i play most of my games on steam. I had no mans sky refunded and money back in my account 24 hours after asking for one.

If nothing else, physical will always get you better customer service. Picked up Until Dawn in a shop for $40 and 2 days later the price dropped to $20, I had no problem getting the difference back, if I had bought digital I wouldve kissed that cash goodbye.

> "It's not their fault that people's expectations snowballed out of control."

Actually.. It kind of is. Hello Games kept promoting the game with demos, footage and features that are not in the final game. Here's a rather rambling summary making rounds in reddits of the internet:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/4y1h9i/wheres_the_no_mans_sky_we_were_sold_on_a_big_list/

Here's another quote: "When he desired the possibility of green skies, the team had to redesign the periodic table to create atmospheric particles that would diffract light at just the right wavelength."
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/02/artificial-universe-no-mans-sky/463308/

Such total, utter marketing.

The more you re-read their PR leading to the launch, the nastier it gets, actually. Up to the very days until release when Murray pleaded people not to "spoil the experience" for themselves (by watching actual final gameplay footage) - or worse yet, to cancel that pre-order..

_{Language -Tasuki-}

@sketchturner I'm someone enjoying the game immensely right now and I think your opinion is dead on when it comes to the game being niche. NMS is a wide open game with an extremely narrow focus. The marketing has been vague enough that people filled in a lot of the blanks on their own and that mostly became: This game has something for me in it. What that something was, was different for each person hyped about the game, and collectively people formed the impression that it was a game with something for everyone. At no point in any of the interviews, trailers, or marketing for this game did I ever feel like this was going to have broad appeal, but I also knew that I was part of the niche it was trying to fill, and I've been fully satisfied.

@carlos82 I've put in about the same number of hours as you and I've only had 4 crashes. There are definitely problems, but I've played worse games at launch and I agree that it seems blown way out of proportion. There doesn't seem to be any middle ground with NMS, people either love it or loathe it.

@get2sammyb If the physical copy is ordered from an online store can't you just return it within two weeks? Or is the refund policies different in UK?

Their refund policy is atrocious. If you choose to get one, you're banned from ever playing it again on your account? That's quite a load of BS.

@Ralizah Rockstar is a pretty poor example, especially on PC. GTA4 ran horribly on release. GTAV runs...ok...but it should run flawlessly considering they had more than a year to optimize the pc version.

@johncalmc
Em, yes, you should have saved your progress, common sense, isn't it, whether working or playing.

Crashing was extreme on my PS4, second only to Wasteland 2. Heck I didn't even have this many issues with AC:Unity. I spent maybe 50 hours with it while chasing the plat and it crashed probably 35 times, mostly when using the hyperdrive or uploading discoveries. I had to start over, as the first of the three hard system locks I experienced while playing ended up corrupting my data. Even playing offline, it had crashes, yet thankfully not as many. I can understand why people would want a refund based of the technical issues, let alone the absent features discussed on numerous occasions. I still enjoyed the gameplay loop, yet I resold that thing as soon as I unlocked my plat.

This is why we can't have nice things.

I only had the game crash once when I was waiting for the game to load up, and frame drops a couple times. Other than that, I've had no problems with it.

@get2sammyb sorry but I made a mistake and click report to your comment. I meant to hit reply. Like the other guy said that this is a reason to not buy a AAA game digitally. I would be happy if I got a full digital refund and wouldn't care if I could ever buy the game again digitally or physical. I didn't know Sony can ban you from playing the game with a physical copy as well. Very interesting. If you are going to buy a digitally game always get it for $20 or less dollars which doesn't nearly bother me as much if the game is a dud.

I have no idea why people insist on buying digital games when they don't even get it discounted like so many physical copy preorders. Even if you don't preorder it Amazon and bestbuy discount new games by 20%. Best Buy only require you to pay $30 for 2 yrs and you make that money back quickly. Where as Amazon you pay $100 but of course you get so many deals on other products.

@Napples On PC, sure, but I don't recall their console releases having much in the way of issues. As such, I wouldn't worry about the next Rockstar game on PS4 having issues.

It's not an issue with PC because you can just get a refund from Steam if it runs poorly.

I thought about using CDProjektRed as an example, but TW3 had performance issues at launch on consoles.

@SoakedCarrot In the Netherlands seal removed no refunds.

Cry baby says "it's not what I wanted" yeah yeah, now and then video games crash. Pathetic.

@Ralizah what's with the racism lol

@Bad-MuthaAdebisi Racism? What the hell are you talking about?

I've not had a single crash yet and all you muppets are jinxing me!!

(only joking I love you all)

But still, from what I've read I'm waiting for it to happen! Really enjoying myself so far about 20-ish hours in, although it's definitely a night time chill out game so far, for me anyway.

@Ralizah western games lol that's a bit specific

@Tasuki its only over hyped for those not enjoying it...

Is this cause steam lets you refund within 2 hours of gameplay?

@adf86 Good point.

Well, I don't really think people have a right to be upset with Sony over this. It's not their game, right? I totally understand why they would go to Sony for a refund but to actually be angry with them instead of the developers or publisher is unwarranted in my opinion

From a personal point of view, crashes happen and so on and that sucks but is the nature of software.

What is a problem though is routine crashes ON LAUNCH.
I bought Digital, I have at least 3 crashes every single time I play and ALWAYS have a crash at launch, where youre flying through space at the title.
Every single time.

Now to me that would be "unfit for purpose".
Temporary fixes such as "restart it" do not solve this.
Imagine if this happened in other areas of life, "oh your phone crashes on startup the first time you try it every time? Its ok just restart."
Not acceptable, and neither should it be here.

@get2sammyb Depends how much of a stink you make and how okay you are with being hated.

@Bad-MuthaAdebisi Yeah. Most Japanese games only release overseas after they've come out in Japan and, as such, already have most of their bugs patched out by the time they come over.

my main issue is all the storm NMS dev came out with regarding the early released footage & gameplay. Quote it would spoil it for everyone. Watched all the videos it just bored me. (no ref game I can watch a review video but id rather play than watch). But heres the biggie it didnt spoil SFA.
But the vague comments from the developer obviously missing elements. & boasts of the game that its same as nearly any other game just smoke & mirrors. Hopefully like the similar drive club. It might end up being close to the game it promised boasted to be

_{Language -Tasuki-}

Digital copies are great except for returns, small hard drives, slow internet, selling used, trade ins, loaning, and gifting.

In the fall of 2009 i purchased a goty edition of Fallout 3 that was very buggy and crashed very frequently. After another new copy performed the same the game store allowed a trade for another new game, That is how i became introduced to the Borderlands series.

A year later in 2010, and after new patches, i was not restricted from purchasing and playing individual dlc content with my original copy of Fallout 3 that i purchased when released in 2008. However the Broken Steel dlc still bugs the game while the remaining dlc work well post patching.

Way too many people jumped on the bandwagon having no idea what this game was and blindly bought it. I for one love the game but took the time to research what it was and knew what I was getting in to.

The crashes and things like that suck but I feel that will get worked out in time.

@Neolit That's slightly wrong, by default EU's law doesn't defines digital goods consumed after the customer downloaded the digital content, you actually have by law 14 days for get a refund on any digital good you purchased, no matter what you did with it or why you wish to get refunded.
However all digital stores won't allow you to download anything if you don't decline your right for a refund first (or simply state that you are accepting to decline it by doing your purchase).
So... Yes, at the end it's absolutely true, Sony have no obligation in offering a refund, but things are a bit more shady then "the law says they can", it's more like "the law poorly tries and therefore fail to protect the customers". Not Sony fault anyway, everyone does this and it's crazy how the EU made such a nonsensical and easy to avoid rule regarding the refund policy of one of the most growing markets of our time -.-;;;

@Utena-mobile Yeah, I don't think crowdfunding has really made its way to Japan yet.

They don't even have a huge indie scene like we do. The closest is "doujin games" that almost never tend to see mass distribution.

A lot of this probably comes down to the fact that, outside of VNs and eroge, there's not much of a PC gaming culture in Japan, and most game development has turned toward mobile platforms.

this is why people should not be hyped before games even got released, people tend to hype everything and in must of times just because some sneaky trailers, really people, when I knew this game will cost a full retail game price, 59.99dl I said NO WAY, since there are lot of games this year I am plan to buy.

I like No Mans Sky. And if I was in a position where I was unprepared to give up my $60 for good if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have bought it. No refunds means no refunds.

suck it up people. you dont like the game, deal with it. rent it first.

@Ralizah I love Japanese developers, more off them appear to put some actual time love and care into their product, heck quite a few don't require patches, as for western developers, I've noticed some can get quite sloppy and before you know a year has passed, 8-10 patches have been applied and the game MAY work to a reasonable standard.

For them to be blaming anyone other then themselves is unwarranted

Although i will admit that i fail into the blind hype crowd too and was a bit disappointed at first but after playing many hours of the game I've come to really like it and it rarely crashes for me

@Habondee Not denying anything. I know it's not perfect. I said the game crashed for me 3 times in 10 minutes. Most of the time it has run flawlessly for long sessions.

Most of what's pointed out there are just glitches, which given the nature of the game are to be expected. I've had the land-based, nose-diving whales myself. Didn't really bother me... I just killed for for some easy resources.

People are complaining that they haven't seen this or that in the game. Yeah, that's true - every planet I've visited so far has been quite barren. No lush grass or trees, just rocks and desert of varying styles. Similarly, most of the creatures I've encountered have been some form of crustacean or reptillian in origin. But there are billions of planets out there, and I know from the screenshots others have posted that there's a lot of variety out there. Just because someone hasn't seen something yet, doesn't mean it's not there. That's what fuels my desire to keep exploring, along with the knowledge of what they plan to add. It seems some people were expecting it to be like the God Mode shown in the videos and to see everything in 30 minutes.

I left one planet with a hold full of valuable pearls the other day. A fleet of freighters warped in, followed by a swarm of pirates who started attacking them. Then I received a 'hostile scan' warning, and the pirates broke off from the freighters and came after me. I had to make a run for it, and only just made it to a space station to get away.

The very nature of the game means that it's going to be a different experience for everyone. Sure, some people are having issues, and that's a shame. For me, the game so far has been a great experience, with a handful of crashes, and a few glitches.

One thing I do want is more control over my ship. I want to be able to fly lower, the possibility of crashing, the ability to hover when on a planet, and the ability to come to a full stop when in space.

But for me, it is essentially the game I was expecting, so for me there's no disappointment. Whatever others thought they'd be getting... well, that's not my problem.

So this story is about people who knew about the refund policy but decided to pretend they didn't so they could complain?

Some are saying certain features shown in the reveal trailer are missing, and thus feel it is false advertising. Something for trading standards to decide?

It's another case of people falling for the most hyped games. When that many people pre order, of course you will get more unhappy buyers early on. 
I only ever buy sale games digitally from PS Store, otherwise hard copy every time.

'gamers aren't happy...'

Surprise!

Let haters hate. If you are unsure of a game wait for a review or until gameplay is up on youtube or something. As far as I'm concerned Hello Games delivered on what they promised- a procedurally generated universe with multiplayer/social elements. If you thought a video game was going to change your life, its probably best to re-evaluate things. Refunds on digital purchases is also a pandoras box i'm sure Sony wouldn't want to open. They might be more inclined to help in isolated situations, but with a game as divisive and big as NMS i'm sure that would then set a new precedent for any other digital purchase. They have to stick to their guns on this one.

I can however understand wanting a refund due to crashes. I'm sure that there are gamers out there that bought this game retail due to the solo experience and lacking internet and therefore patches are not a option (as is the case with a friend of mine).

Not a very good month for Sony.

however We do get folders.

It's always the same. People are stupid. I waited with my purchase, watched a few livestreams and commentary and then got it. I knew what I was getting. I was informed. I don't mind the crashing, as it's obvious that it will be (and actually for me seems to BE already at the time of writing) PATCHED. I bet it's all those thin-skinned social-justice-indoctrinees that now whine because someone did something UNJUST to them instead mature up, shut up and inform yourself before ANY purchase like rational thinking beings do. LAWL.

@get2sammyb i got DOOM for £30 and traded it in for £31 😎

ive clocked in 20 hours now and ive not had one crash ive been really lucky and im having a blast as well, only warped once and been to 7 planets its a joy to play imo

If they try any of this in Australia then ACCC will step in.
False advertising means they have to offer a refund.

@Paranoimia Considering they advertised being able to find others in game and it was a lie, people who bought the game based on that false advertising deserve a refund.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Except they didn't deliver on the multiplayer they promised.

@MadAdam81 No, they really don't. That's one tiny aspect of the game, and we don't even know for sure yet that it's not possible. Yes, I've read that story, but there are also reasons why they may not have been able to see each other.

Either way, that alone does not justify a refund.

@GlynCR I too have played for over 20 hours and haven't had a crash. I think we must be lucky as it may be certain planet combinations that are causing crashes and we haven't come across one yet.

"I was told I couldn't re-buy it off the store digitally, and I couldn't buy a physical copy because whatever system they employ in the background wouldn't let me run it. They delete the license from your account, and that seems to put a block on it,"

Does he want it or not?

@MadAdam81 Again multiplayer elements, not a true multiplayer game. Let's not forget that the game does not require PS+. I remember Sean Murray stating on multiple occasions that if you're looking for a multiplayer game you should look elsewhere. The game lets you scan for other players planets & visit them & it lets you share your own discoveries & that for me qualifies enough. I'm certain they'll also be expanding on these premises.

I bought a physical copy of the witcher 3 when it released. After putting countless hours in I decided to let a "friend" borrow the game. That game never came back. There was a sale on the UK PSN so, after checking to see if my game save would work on a digital copy, purchased and downloaded. After loading the game up it was then that I realised that my physical copy game saves weren't compatible with the digital game. My season pass was though. I contacted Sony to see if there was a possibility for a refund as there was no definitive information on game save compatibility. They refused and stood firm to their policies. A lesson was learnt and now I'm more vigilant with my purchases. I would be very surprised if anyone actually got a refund from Sony based on their complaints about No man's sky. I am actually enjoying the game with only a few crashes. I'm confident Sean and the team will patch the game going forward though.

@Nifty
If you buy a digital game, it stays in your console forever until you delete it or until your console stops functioning or you sell it and your account. It's yours. And if the game is still supported by then and poop happens, you can redownload it on another console. Physical and digital have both their pros and cons. By your logic, most physical games are useless in the future anyway because you can't redownload patches when the servers go offline.

I don't buy digital anymore it's simply not worth it unless there's something in the sale. Sony need to drop the price's in store of new release's, I eventualy got fed up with the fact if the game isn't for you your stuck with it forever but I never asked for me money back lol! Sony should adopt the Steam approach for the PSN store and think about their customer's rather than their pocket's for a change.

I wonder if the guy who paid $1,300 wants a refund? Didn't Sony block his videos? He could argue Sony deprived him of 'fair use' of the Share button system feature.

Just kidding guys...even so I won't be buying a Day One game till Diablo 4.

this is just people that bought the game and then read reviews or something after it and if others don't like it, they don't like it. or they just happened to buy something they didn't like.

All I have to say to that is, suck it up and understand that you will buy some games you thought you may like, but don't.

@Splatburst valid point but also a moot one. When I buy a game I play it to its max. After that I can sell/lend it, because I own it. I have no cares for patches or hdd space being taken up once I have completed it. I'm a gamer not a collector.

@Nifty
That's why a mix of both works for me. The games I wanna keep and will play again and again, I buy digitally (mostly on sale). For games with no patches or DLCs that I want to keep (complete editions), I buy it physically. For games I wanna play once and give away or sell later, I buy it physically.

They should create a Digital market place with the ability to resell used digital games to other users at a discounted rate depending on the games age. Sony can even take a 10% cut. But it'd be something especially after we 100% complete a game, most people don't go back to it.

@Switters right?! that just irks me.

@Kamikaze_Krunch right? I bought overwatch and played it twice. it is sitting on my shelf getting dusty. i'm not crying to best buy because something is wrong with it for me.

I don't agree with refunds for not liking the game when you decide to buy digital. Research first, don't buy day 1 and maybe trial it. I am still not sure this is the game for me so I am waiting to see what comes out patch and price wise.

I do agree though that multiple crashes constitute a breach of quality and should get a refund.

Plus, I think that the experience sold is not 100% as advertised on day one. Sure, some people got overhyped and it could never live up to that but I was one that thought that you could meet other players, even if it were unlikely. Seems you can't. Personally, I think that was pulled during the release delay as it wouldn't work.

Happy that most people love the game, glad it was released and kudos to the development team but I think some complainers have a point.

https://archive.is/V5Zns

And i thought all DLC was going to be free?

I also think we can all agree this No Mans Sky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjKTJblJpw0 hasn't come out yet and probably never will.

@banacheck Shame look's like a game I would have defo picked up 4 month's ago before they started cutting stuff from it, wasn't that about the time sony joined forces and revealed the rather hefty pricetag?

Game rentals are still a thing, you can always try before you buy and stop jumping the gun when buying into hype.

Buying digital is,for me personally,such a good option for the simply reason of being able to buy a game at full price and share to my kids ps4...not going to coment about nms because I did that earlier on here,but I honestly believe the hello games have made something truly special and deserve nothing but praise

That's why, ditigal copy should have been always cheaper than physical copy.

That's why, ditigal copy should have been always cheaper than physical copy.

@Paranoimia

Not to start something or to be rude but honestly you have no idea what your saying when you say it's exactly what was promised, and it's the fault of gamers haveing to high of expectations. Now pep haveing high expectations is true, but their is lagitamit reasons for this. The guy that gave all the many interviews and demos promised an incredible amount of things and then took it a step further and kept showing the same wrold over and over again. When asked why, his response was "it's just a pretty wrold that was procedurally generated". This as it turns out was yet another lie and one of, if not the bigest of the many lies. The wrold as it turns out was painstakingly created to show off a game that does not exist. You can find a list of the many lies on redit. Ty for your time.

@Paranoimia

Not to start something or to be rude but honestly you have no idea what your saying when you say it's exactly what was promised, and it's the fault of gamers haveing to high of expectations. Now pep haveing high expectations is true, but their is lagitamit reasons for this. The guy that gave all the many interviews and demos promised an incredible amount of things and then took it a step further and kept showing the same wrold over and over again. When asked why, his response was "it's just a pretty wrold that was procedurally generated". This as it turns out was yet another lie and one of, if not the bigest of the many lies. The wrold as it turns out was painstakingly created to show off a game that does not exist. You can find a list of the many lies on redit. Ty for your time.

@metal_cka He promised a game of exploration and discovery in a huge procedurally generated universe. That's what we got.

Sure, it's not perfect. It's not a 10/10 game. There are some things about it I dislike, some a little, some a lot. But over all, it hasn't left me disappointed, and I'm looking forward to what they plan to add to it.