No Man’s Sky has become one of the most controversial games of the year. Complaints have piled up since launch as consumers have become to realize that the game isn’t very much like what was promised.

Not only has the game suffered from an abnormally high rate of GameStop trade-ins, but it has devastated the reputation of Lead Designer Sean Murray, previously known for his outstanding work on the Burnout series.

As word has gotten out about how much different the game actually is versus what was sold by Sean Murray, refund requests on Steam have piled up in the thousands. This might explain why its sales have slowed down astronomically, and active playtime has dived more than 85% since launch.

It gets even more interesting when you look at how Steam is handling refunds in the case of No Man’s Sky. Typically, Steam refunds are only granted when the user has logged two hours or less of playtime. Even then, Valve uses discretion to determine if a user is abusing the system with constant refund requests.

In the case of No Man’s Sky, Valve is being unusually lenient. Dozens of PC gamers are reporting that they’ve been granted a refund despite having 9, 12, or even 13 hours of playtime logged on their account.

As someone outraged by how much the development team lied about what No Man’s Sky would be, I have personally issued my own refund request. Although I won’t necessary recommend that everyone do the same, this is an extreme case where such action is probably warranted. Even Valve appears to understand the circumstances.

In the event that you request a refund, please let us know what the outcome is in the comments below.

If you’re feeling as burned out as me, I would recommend checking out Elite: Dangerous. While it has its own faults, it tries much harder to be a fulfilling space sim, and at a more reasonable price.

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