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Report: Steam offering refunds to From Dust customers

by Alexander Sliwinski on Aug 24th 2011 9:15AM

Ubisoft has authorized Valve to offer refunds to Steam customers who are unhappy with their purchase of the troubled From Dust PC port. Rock Paper Shotgun reports that some of their readers have received emails from Steam support that note: "If you don't want to wait for the patch or if you haven't played the game, per Ubisoft's request, we will issue refunds this title."

Ubisoft's From Dust PC port has been a (dark) comedy of errors. The game suffered though the usual eleventh-hour delay, mixed messaging about DRM, and then bugs and technical issues in the final release. It's quite a shame, since it's actually a pretty good game.

Source: RPS

Tags: from-dust, pc, project-dust, refund, Steam, Ubisoft

Reader Comments (23)

Was looking forward to this game more than most. after a patch or two i might pick it up. just doesnt seem like the kind of game i want to play with a controller.

@SmilinGoat

I think this is the FIRST time ever that steam gives a refund on a game that was already released, I wonder if this activates an steam Achievement something like: WE CARE FOR DRM you found the crappiest game company on steam.

@Hunter141072

Well I noticed a few days ago that there was no "Visit the forums" link in the community tab and that sorta threw up some red flags. I suspect that was probably because it contained within the white hot rage of a thousand rage suns.

Probably for the best I didn't look much past that because I am all out of SPF 10,000,000,000

While Ubisoft haven't been the most responsive when it comes to DRM, you have to hand it to them for giving out refunds. Almost no one does that these days, least of all for digital copies.

@Osmium
Wasn't this Steam's decision to allow refunds?

@ZayCube

Steam have no control on pricing at all, it's all the publisher's decision

I managed to finish it on the PC.
I can see the glaring issues, but to be honest it didn't stop me from enjoying the game. Probably because I just made the jump from Xbox to my new PC - im a bit more tolerant.

The control style did set me aback at first, no mouse optimization whatsoever, and the 4 main buttons can't be changed for some stupid reason.

"I just made the jump from Xbox to my new PC."

Me too.
i7-2600k/HD6970
Let's start a club.

@GordoJones88
Haha
i5-2500K / GTX 560-Ti here. I'll upgrade to a better CPU when Ivy Bridge launches.
The PC is definatley a better platform, but I can't complain about developers (or moreso: publishers) preferring consoles, I'm probably going to end up doing the same when I finish my Computer Science degree.

That's decent of them. But why didn't they just make sure teh game worked properly and wasn't gimped by glaringly obvious control problems before they released it? Being unable to change key bindings is a crime against humanity and inexplicable. One would think that by now they'd realise gaming on PC is NOT the same thing as gaming on a console (I make no distinction between console and PC gamers, the experience is different, not the human). By all means offer console controls, but true PC controls must be present.

Look no further than Ubisoft when it comes to shameless, rushed ports.

I thought they did remove the DRM.

@SmilinGoat They did, but that doesn't change the fact people had to deal with the headache that is Ubi DRM. I also believe they had originally said there wouldn't be "always on" internet-connected DRM, and that an internet connection would only be needed the first time you start the game, but I think they changed it just before release. On top of all that, the game was released in horrible shape with bad bugs and glitches, so I can understand why someone would want their money back. Even though Ubisoft is being stupid when it comes to PC DRM, this is actually a nice gesture. I mean, how many times has any company ever offered a refund for a DIGITAL copy of a game?

@SmilinGoat - They're going to with a patch but it hasn't been released yet.

@JoRo1986
I'll take consistent appreciation over a one time refund from a clusterpuck of a PR disaster and crappy port.

In short, I would take almost anything over anything from Ubisoft.

These are croc tears and they will never release a proper patch to fix the shoddy port.

really too bad because the game is quite enjoyable on XBLA and my only wish would have been mouse level accuracy and speed on a few of the maps.

Wow, this news is a week old. Ubisoft is REMOVING that DRM in 2 weeks.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh...HAHAHHA

HAH

@Slomoshun HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

Continue.

Meh. I just picked it up yesterday on Steam. It took a little finaggling to get the Ubisoft Game Launcher to play nice, but other than that, no major complaints.

Haven't put a ton of time into the game yet, but haven't noticed any glaring faults so far. Overall very unique, very enjoyable game.

I got my email from Valve yesterday saying they would refund it if I really wanted to. Although I had to come up with a big post showing how what Ubisoft did was bait advertising and I had to prove I was tricked.

Either way though, good for Valve (and I guess Ubisoft... Kind of) for accepting these refunds.

Damn. Although I feel lucky, I've been waiting for the game for ages but didn't get round to buying it as soon as it came out bcause I've been so busy. I was just about to get it, I won't bother now if it's that bad.

"a clear reduction in piracy of our titles which required a persistent online connection, and from that point of view the requirement is a success,"

But are sales up and are refunds down?
Ooooh sorry, too early?

inb4 Ubisoft claims the DRM was a smashing success!

Breaking News

From Dust

Report: Steam offering refunds to From Dust customers

Reader Comments (23)

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 9:25AM SmilinGoat said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 12:04PM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 1:57PM Scuffles said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 9:27AM Osmium said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 5:32PM ZayCube said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 7:00PM Osmium said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 9:32AM BlackedOut said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 11:11AM GordoJones88 said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 11:26AM BlackedOut said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 9:52AM Dick Socrates said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 10:15AM ColorblindMonk said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 10:15AM SmilinGoat said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 11:02AM JoRo1986 said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 11:09AM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 11:29AM Mmmmz said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 11:20AM fid said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 11:34AM JonahFalcon said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 11:38AM Slomoshun said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 12:53PM IAmTheBabyJeezus said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 12:22PM Apakal said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 12:32PM liquidsoap89 said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 1:49PM Misterlee said

Posted: Aug 24th 2011 2:00PM Scuffles said

From Dust Info

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