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If You're So Inclined, Steam Now Offering From Dust Refunds

Ubisoft appears to have told the service to give customers their money back.

It's too bad most of what's been written about From Dust lately is about a bad PC port. It's a great game!
It's too bad most of what's been written about From Dust lately is about a bad PC port. It's a great game!

The sordid tale of From Dust's is-it-or-isn't-it digital rights management appears to be finally coming to a close. Ubisoft has promised a patch within the next few weeks to make the game completely playable offline, and I've just received word that Steam is offering refunds to unsatisfied owners of the game.

There were reports of Steam offering refunds to aggitated From Dust owners last week, but when I personally submitted a customer support ticket asking about a refund, Steam flatly denied it was a possibility.

In light of recent events, appears Ubisoft has asked Steam to give players the option to get their money back.

"Ubisoft has just announced that they are working on a patch that will eliminate the need for any online authentication for From Dust," reads the updated support ticket sent my way tonight. "The patch will release in approximately two weeks. 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 for this title. If you would still like your purchase of From Dust refunded, please reply to this ticket."

I haven't purchased From Dust on PC, only inquired about the refund through my Steam account, but it appears anyone who has picked up From Dust and would like to reverse that decision has the option.

Customers were upset at Ubisoft for originally announcing From Dust would not have any DRM. When the game arrived on PC, in addition to other port issues, the game required users to login online at the start. Ubisoft has a history of flip-flopping on DRM for its PC ports, which has given the publisher a bad reputation amongst PC gamers.

Patrick Klepek on Google+

70 Comments

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deactivated-59e23ba4208df

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I'm getting a refund because of the controls, since after one session I had no desire to play the game again. I didn't even notice the DRM.

That'll teach me to buy before trying.

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JoeyRavn

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Edited By JoeyRavn

@SeriouslyNow: Wow. I can't believe you're still mad from that Battlefield thread. You must really like that game if you were waiting to troll me in a completely unrelated topic, even if I didn't say anything about BF3.

Keep trying, though.

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Gav47

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Edited By Gav47

Wait, what do I actually have to do to get a refund? The article makes reference to replying to a ticket but there is no link. 
Edit: nvm You have to create a ticket with Steam Support

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SockLobster

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Edited By SockLobster

The game doesn't even work for some people on 360 me included.
 
Worst purchase this year next to Brink. Really soured me on it.

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somethingdumb

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Edited By somethingdumb

I don't know, I feel like people are making a bigger deal of this than they should. Ubisoft was misleading and is fixing their mistake. I think it just boils down to PC gamers being kind of assholes. 

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Origina1Penguin

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Edited By Origina1Penguin

Game controls better than with a gamepad and has way better camera zoom and angle control. It feels strange for the first 10-15 minutes if you haven't tried the game before, but it works just fine. I'm a little disappointed that there were no graphics options, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the gameplay. Steam didn't record my time but I know I've clocked in over 8 hours and I'm still messing around with the challenge mode.

Anyways, I have no intention of getting a refund. The uPlay stuff was not a big deal to me and the DRM is getting patched out anyways.

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lockwoodx

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Edited By lockwoodx

Old News. Horrible misleading title. Steam forced UBI to give the refunds, and Valve are looking out for gamers once again.

8-18-2011 Steam is offering refunds for every "From Dust" sold.

Today is 8-24-2011 Patrick. This is why I do not come to Giantbomb for gaming news, only the quicklooks but even those are getting biased.

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EgoCheck616

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Edited By EgoCheck616

@Buzzkill said:

Old News. Horrible misleading title. Steam forced UBI to give the refunds, and Valve are looking out for gamers once again.

8-18-2011 Steam is offering refunds for every "From Dust" sold.

Today is 8-24-2011 Patrick. This is why I do not come to Giantbomb for gaming news, only the quicklooks but even those are getting biased.

At that point the news was false. Trust me, I tried to get a refund at the time and was rejected.

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mrangryface

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Edited By mrangryface

Refund? I haven't even started my first game of From Dust PC yet. It's on THE PILE

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AbombBILL

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Edited By AbombBILL

I already beat it. It wouldn't feel right asking for a refund for a game I've finished.

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subyman

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Edited By subyman

I wonder how much this DRM fiasco hurt sales compared to simple piracy (which still happened)?

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ribeye

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Edited By ribeye

@Vodun said:

@Rox360 said:

@Vodun said:

@smiddy said:

@ribeye said:

the DRM didn't bother me, i just want them to fix the fuckin' retarded controls, seriously

Exactly how I feel. I hadn't heard anything about the DRM until after I had started playing. Honestly it didn't affect my experience at all, but the controls did.

I really don't see the problem people have with the controls...it's not a cursor, so it shouldn't move like one.

I haven't played the game, so I don't know what it behaves like on the PC, but... That totally is a cursor. It's a cursor in the same way that the hand in Black & White was a cursor. An entity that moves around in the 3D world and interacts with things as it does, yes; But still a cursor.

No, it's not. It's your character. You are the "breath", it's not the thing you point at stuff to do things with, it's you. There is a rather large difference in this and how it is presented from a gameplay perspective.

Maybe I just don't understand the controls quite yet then, I've only fired it up once so far, but I was fighting the mouse controls from the second i fired it up until the second i shut it off. I'd like to shut off the mouse camera movement altogether actually. I was moving the camera around with WASD (like any good PC gamer would) but if the mouse is anywhere other than the center of the screen, it drifts in that direction, I found it completely annoying.

I do have a 360 controller for Windows and I could use that, but wtf, I could've just got it for 360 if I'd known that. I got it on PC because I have a spiffy new video card and I want to flex it, but later found out it's locked at 30fps (for no good reason apparently) and the controls are actually worse. I'm not gonna cash it back in just yet tho, I'm still trying to like this game and I want to give it another chance because I think it looks cool and I'd like to finish it. We'll see what the patch does I guess

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avidwriter

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Edited By avidwriter

Refunds... on steam? That unpossible!

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deactivated-64ba3d2213a4d

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@somethingdumb said:
I don't know, I feel like people are making a bigger deal of this than they should. Ubisoft was misleading and is fixing their mistake. I think it just boils down to PC gamers being kind of assholes. 
Complaining that a company is using DRM that hurts legitimate consumers and results in those who pirate the game having a better experience is NOT overreacting or an "asshole" thing.  
Ubisoft is fixing their mistake, it's true. But it's a mistake they have made many times before and hopefully this is the wake-up call they needed to get them to change their ways.
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SeriouslyNow

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Edited By SeriouslyNow

@JoeyRavn said:

@SeriouslyNow: Wow. I can't believe you're still mad from that Battlefield thread. You must really like that game if you were waiting to troll me in a completely unrelated topic, even if I didn't say anything about BF3.

Keep trying, though.

I played the game. The mouse controls feel fine, if a little restricted. It's not Black and White and you're silly comparing it to that game just because it's also god game in 3D. In this game the cursor control works differently from Black and White (I wonder, have you actually played those games or are you just implying that you have?) because it only moves along the surface of the world and you don't need to make any gestures to make shit happen. In other words, chill out.

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ectoplasma

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Edited By ectoplasma

@avidwriter: Lol. "Ralph, you're not even speaking your own language!"

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tourgen

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Edited By tourgen

yeah, good move.  better to do it voluntarily than wait and have the courts force them to.

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HaroldoNVU

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Edited By HaroldoNVU

@avidwriter said:

Refunds... on steam? That unpossible!

Ralphie,get off the stage sweetheart

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bwmcmaste

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Edited By bwmcmaste
@Protome:  
 
I agree, but I'm also one of those people who doesn't pay for Ubisoft games. I'm not saying it's right, but it's my preferred form of consumer protest regarding Ubisoft.
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Edited By MeatSim

What a mess this was but the quality of the PC version seems like the bigger problem.