The Star Citizen Terms of Service have changed and it's now a bit harder to get a refund.

The Terms of Service changed 10th June, reported Kotaku UK, and altered the amount of time you need to wait before you're eligible for a refund.

In the old TOS you could claim a refund if, after 18 months, the "relevant pledge items and/or the game" hadn't been delivered. But in the new TOS you can only claim a refund if "[Roberts Space Industries] has ceased development" of Star Citizen and failed to deliver what you pledged for. One Redditer compared both TOSes side by side.

That's fair enough, isn't it? Star Citizen in 2012 was a prototype and promises; in 2016 it's nearly launchable - indeed, it aims to be a release-able package at some point this year. In other words, it's happening.

What's more, even if you qualified for a refund you may have trouble getting one, as a separate part of the TOS talks about waiving your right to a refund if the money has already been spent on making the game - which it invariably has. "You agree that any Pledge amounts applied against the Pledge Item Cost and the Game Cost shall be non-refundable regardless of whether or not RSI is able to complete and deliver the Game and/or the pledge items," the TOS apparently says.

The change to TOS is worth knowing about, and there are people debating its merits - and whether it is actually enforceable (some self-proclaimed lawyers suggest 'no') - on Reddit. Oh, by the way, you're bound by whichever TOS was in effect when you pledged - so if you're an old-timer in that regard, you're covered by the '18 month' TOS.

Star Citizen, meanwhile, gets fuller and fuller - recently launching Alpha update 2.4. The universe is now persistent and saves things you do from session to session, and there's a test currency to try out on the first iteration of shopping in the game. In addition there are new ships - the seven-crew Stafarer tankers and the MISC Reliant hauler - and a new Pyroburst plasma gun for ships.

I wrote a Star Citizen preview earlier in the year as I tried to discover what the fuss was about, and while I did find the magic, it didn't come easy.