Fan plays video game for 35,000 hours and then demands a refund

A frustrated fan of dinosaur game Ark: Survival Evolved wants a refund, even after playing it for four years straight.

While it’s important that digital platforms allow you to get refunds on video games you’ve purchased, there obviously need to be restrictions in place to prevent people from just playing the game all the way through and then asking for their money back.

That becomes tricky when it’s a multiplayer game, but Steam’s refund policy states that you not only need to request a refund within two weeks of purchase, but you must also have played the game for less than two hours.

There’s an argument to be had about whether two hours is enough time to determine if a game is right for you, but we can all agree that if you’ve sunk in 35,000 hours, it’s too late to be asking for your money back. And yet, one fan of dinosaur themed MMO Ark: Survival Evolved has done exactly that.

If you visit the game’s Steam page, you’ll find the user review at the top of the ‘most helpful’ section is a scathing takedown written by a player claiming to have ‘enjoyed Ark for 35,000 hours, one of my favourite games to play with friends and family.’

35,000 hours is equivalent to playing the game for almost four years straight, which we don’t need to tell you is a wee bit more than Steam’s two hour limit for refund requests.

As for why they’re only now asking for a refund, the fan says it’s because their own custom server, that makes use of fan-made mods, no longer works. The review was posted on July 16, the same day as an update for the game and its Aquatica DLC, so the assumption is that the update is responsible for this.

‘Server doesn’t match, mods don’t work, and of all this is to force us to [Ark: Survival Ascended],’ continues the review, ‘I have that game as well, and It sucks.’

For context, Survival Ascended is a remaster of Survival Evolved currently in early access and is meant to serve as a replacement, since the original game’s official servers are shut down. Not that that’s stopped fans from sticking with it through custom servers.

Surprisingly or not, there are plenty of other fans who agree with the sentiment. One reply to the review on Steam reads, ‘Ark was one of my best games, but after this I will be joining the guy with the 35,000 hours…I also want my refund.’

Another adds, ‘When the guy with 35K hours is saying this… you as a company need to pack it up and go home.’

Not everyone is sympathetic, though, with others pointing out the obscene playtime.

‘Buddy you are not getting a refund, in no world would you get a refund for anything you spend this much damn time on,’ reads one response on Steam. Another simply says, ‘Bro go outside.’

Recent reactions to the review on Reddit are also split, with some mocking the player’s refund demand while others think it’s justified and agree that the new update is a ploy to push fans into getting the remaster (which, for the record, is a separate paid product).

There’s no indication of how much he paid for the game originally but while it’s £12.79 at the moment it cost as much as £54.99 during its peak. The remaster is currently £37.99.

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