Games Hit with Mass Refund Requests Over Bad Updates

The gaming world often gets really excited about new releases, but sometimes those games don’t live up to the hype, leading to frustrated players. When updates don’t fix important problems or actually make the game worse, players often ask for refunds. This can force game companies to apologize publicly or adjust their refund rules to protect their reputation. Several games have faced a lot of refund requests after updates didn’t meet what players were hoping for, whether due to technical issues or unpopular changes to how the game makes money.

‘Concord’ (2024)

Sony and Firewalk Studios launched ‘Concord’, a paid hero shooter, but it struggled to attract players in a market where most similar games are free. Just two weeks after release, Sony made the surprising decision to shut down the game’s servers and offered full refunds to everyone who bought it on PlayStation 5, Steam, or the Epic Games Store. This came after the company revealed disappointing player numbers and concerns about the game’s future. As a result, Firewalk Studios was closed and the game was removed from sale.

‘The Day Before’ (2023)

After years of hype, the game ‘The Day Before’ launched to widespread disappointment. Marketed as a large-scale, online survival game, it arrived with numerous technical problems, few features, and server issues. The developers, Fntastic, quickly shut down after the initial release and a failed attempt to fix the game. Steam and the publisher then offered full refunds to all players, and the game’s servers were taken offline shortly after.

‘Cyberpunk 2077’ (2020)

The launch of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ was a major disaster for CD Projekt Red, becoming one of the biggest controversies in gaming history. The game was plagued with serious technical problems, especially on older PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Even after a launch-day update, many players on those consoles found the game nearly impossible to play. The public reacted strongly, and Sony even removed the game from its online store for several months. CD Projekt Red responded by offering full refunds to unhappy customers on all platforms. It took years of updates and the release of the ‘Phantom Liberty’ expansion for the company to rebuild its reputation.

‘Overwatch 2’ (2022)

Blizzard replaced the original ‘Overwatch’ with ‘Overwatch 2’, originally promising a large single-player campaign. However, when Blizzard announced the cancellation of the planned Hero Mode and character progression system, many players who pre-purchased the ‘Watchpoint Pack’ asked for their money back. The negative reaction grew when ‘Overwatch 2’ launched on Steam and received overwhelmingly negative reviews, with players feeling betrayed by the broken promises. Players who bought the sequel for its story content were particularly disappointed with the change in plans. Blizzard is now focusing on smaller, seasonal story missions to provide some narrative content.

‘Cities: Skylines II’ (2023)

‘Cities: Skylines II’ had a rocky start, with players frustrated by performance problems and missing features. Things got worse when the ‘Beach Properties’ DLC was released – many felt it didn’t offer enough for the price. After a lot of criticism, Paradox Interactive apologized and made the DLC free for everyone. They also offered full refunds to those who had already bought it. Now, the studio is prioritizing improvements to the PC version of the game and has postponed releasing it on consoles until those issues are resolved.

‘Warcraft III: Reforged’ (2020)

Blizzard Entertainment attempted to update the beloved real-time strategy game ‘Warcraft III’ with ‘Reforged,’ but the release fell short of expectations. Many promised improvements, like updated cinematic scenes, were absent, and the new user interface wasn’t as effective as the original. To make matters worse, players were automatically switched to the buggy new version. Faced with widespread criticism, Blizzard began offering full refunds to anyone who requested them, regardless of how long they’d played. This release severely damaged the company’s relationship with its dedicated fans.

‘Battlefield 2042’ (2021)

When ‘Battlefield 2042’ was released by Electronic Arts and DICE, it was missing features players expected, like a standard scoreboard and voice chat. The game also launched with technical problems and updates didn’t fix gameplay imbalances, causing a large number of players to stop playing. A Change.org petition asking for refunds received over 200,000 signatures. Although EA didn’t offer refunds to everyone, many players were able to get their money back through Steam and Microsoft’s support teams. The game’s developers then spent several months significantly updating the maps and character classes in an effort to win back players’ confidence.

‘Redfall’ (2023)

‘Redfall,’ a game released by Bethesda Softworks and Arkane Austin, received very negative reviews because of its poor artificial intelligence and many technical problems. Players were especially disappointed that it didn’t run at a smooth 60 frames per second on Xbox Series X|S consoles, a standard expectation for modern shooting games. After initial updates didn’t fix the core issues, many players asked for their money back. Ultimately, Microsoft closed Arkane Austin as part of a larger company reorganization. Before stopping development completely, a final update was released to add an offline mode.

‘The Last of Us Part I’ (2023)

Okay, so I was really excited when ‘The Last of Us Part I’ finally came to PC, but honestly, the launch was a mess. Naughty Dog worked with Iron Galaxy on the port, but it was seriously under-optimized. I, along with a ton of other players, kept running into crashes, and the game took forever to load shaders. Plus, there were some really weird visual glitches that totally broke the immersion. Steam reviews were brutal – mostly negative – and refund requests were flying everywhere. The developers tried to fix things with a bunch of hotfixes, but it took months of patching to get the PC version anywhere close to the quality of the PS5 game. It was a rough start, to say the least.

‘Star Wars Battlefront II’ (2017)

The launch of ‘Star Wars Battlefront II’ caused a worldwide debate about loot boxes due to its problematic progression system. Players criticized the game for allowing those who spent more money to gain an unfair advantage. Following significant negative feedback and canceled pre-orders, Electronic Arts and DICE quickly removed all in-game purchases just before the game officially released. However, many players still requested refunds. Eventually, the game was completely reworked to eliminate the randomized loot box system altogether.

‘Fallout 76’ (2018)

When ‘Fallout 76’ launched, it faced major criticism. Players were upset that the game was only multiplayer and filled with technical problems. Things got worse when customers who pre-ordered the ‘Power Armor Edition’ received cheaper nylon bags instead of the promised canvas ones. This issue with the physical goods, along with the game’s bugs, led to legal complaints and many requests for refunds. Bethesda initially refused many of these refunds, drawing attention from consumer rights organizations. The game has improved considerably since then, especially with the ‘Wastelanders’ update, which added characters and more traditional quests.

‘Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition’ (2021)

Rockstar Games and Grove Street Games released a remastered collection of the classic ‘Grand Theft Auto’ trilogy, but the launch was plagued with problems. Players reported numerous graphical errors, poor performance, and missing music. The PC version was briefly removed from sale after Rockstar discovered it included hidden files. This caused a wave of refund requests from disappointed fans who felt the remasters didn’t do justice to the original games. Rockstar later apologized and offered PC players the original versions as a free gift.

‘Anthem’ (2019)

Electronic Arts and BioWare aimed for ‘Anthem’ to be a consistently updated, popular game, but it struggled with technical issues and a lack of things to do. Attempts to improve the game’s reward system often unintentionally made things worse, upsetting players. When news about the difficult development process came out, many people asked for their money back from Sony and Microsoft. BioWare initially planned a major revamp, called ‘Anthem 2.0’, to fix the game, but EA ultimately canceled those plans. While the original version of ‘Anthem’ is still available to play, it won’t receive any new updates or content.

‘No Man’s Sky’ (2016)

When ‘No Man’s Sky’ first launched, Hello Games and Sony faced significant criticism because the game didn’t include many of the features they had shown in trailers and interviews. Players were disappointed to find that promised features like multiplayer and detailed planets weren’t in the initial release. This led to a flood of refund requests on Steam and PlayStation, and some stores even broke their usual rules to offer returns. The game’s marketing was even investigated by the UK’s advertising watchdog. Over the following years, Hello Games worked hard to deliver on their original vision through a series of large, free updates, ultimately surpassing player expectations.

‘SimCity’ (2013)

The launch of ‘SimCity’ was a major failure due to a requirement that players always be connected to the internet. This caused the game’s servers to crash immediately, preventing many people from playing the game they’d bought. Attempts to fix the problem by removing some online features didn’t help. The situation was so bad that Amazon stopped selling the digital version temporarily, and EA had to offer players a free game as an apology. It wasn’t until almost a year later that developers released an update allowing players to play offline.

We’d love to hear your opinions on the recent game updates and the issues some players are having with refunds. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

2026-01-14 05:46