'No Man's Sky' PS4 Refunds Slammed By Former Sony Director, Calls Those That Return The Game Robbers

“No Man’s Sky” for PS4 is getting limited refunds over Sony’s PlayStation Network, and one former company man isn’t too happy about it. Various tweets from Shahid Ahmad of Ultimatum Games express a heated point of view.

Before taking a directorship at a game developer, Ahmad used to be Sony’s strategic content director. As a part of that job, he worked with developers like Hello Games to ensure publishing rights for indie titles. As one would expect, he was more than a little ticked to find out that refunds were being issued to gamers that were dissatisfied with “No Man’s Sky.”

His rant bergan by saying “If you’re getting a refund after playing a game for 50 hours you’re a thief.” He then qualified that statement by saying “Here’s the good news: most players are not thieves. Most players are decent, honest people without whose support there could be no industry.” When probed directly by followers about his hardline stance, he suggested that games should be treated as art rather than something made at a factory. “You can’t just treat it like a widget,” he said.

In other words, artists generally don’t refund paintings simply because the buyer doesn’t like what they bought. Ahmad seemingly believes that games should be judged on a similar scale. “I’d only have asked for my money back if the game was broken at boot time,” he assured. Especially in PS4’s case, “No Man’s Sky” has never been quite that troubled.

The major issue that’s been causing controversy since the game’s release is the lack of features that Hello Games advertised prior to launch. Accoutrements like factions, multiplayer and nameable ships were openly discussed but never made it to the day-one build. As such, many customers feel that they were cheated into buying a product that doesn’t represent those qualities.

It’s been confirmed via several sources that refunds of the PS4 game are happening over the PlayStation Network but only after certain technical troubleshooting steps have been attempted first. Some customers also report limited refund success as a “goodwill” gesture from representatives as a one-time reprieve. Ahmad’s frustration isn’t targeted at those that can’t get the game to run well but rather those that played the game around launch and have just decided to return it now.

In contrast to offering PS4 returns, Steam recently posted a notice on its “No Man’s Sky” PC product page that states returns will only be valid if the game has been played for less than two hours.

“No Man’s Sky” is available now on PS4 and PC.

Do you agree with Ahmad’s remarks? Are some “No Man’s Sky” refunders thieves? Tell us in the comments section!