PSA: Monday is the last day for H1Z1 refunds
Following complaints over a change of heart regarding the selling of vital resources in zombie survival game H1Z1, Sony Online Entertainment is offering refunds for those upset with the change in design. SOE President John Smedley tweeted instructions for unsatisfied survivors on Friday, noting in the game's Reddit community that the no-questions-asked refund policy will be available until Monday, January 20 for those that purchased H1Z1 before 10:30 PST on January 16.
The offer follows unrest from a change in plans for the types of supplies that can be gained from in-game transactions, such as the purchasable tickets for airdrops. In an eight-month-old Reddit thread, Smedley stressed that the team would "NOT be selling Guns, Ammo, Food, [or] Water," explaining that it would "suck in our opinion if we did that." Those plans have since changed.
Smedley addressed backlash in a separate Reddit post on Friday, stating that claims of the team's dishonesty regarding the supplies in airdrops were "untrue to an extreme." Smedley claimed there has been "numerous streams and interviews where we've been quite public" about the change in plans and referenced a page (dated January 15, 2015) that explains what fans can expect from H1Z1 in Early Access. This page notes that H1Z1 will "allow paid for airdrops into the game with things like guns and other things being randomly selected as part of the airdrop."
In the same Reddit thread, "Slikker2142" linked to a livestream from January 12 on H1Z1's YouTube channel, in which H1Z1 Game Designer Adam Clegg states that "you can't buy ammo, you can't buy guns, you can't get them out of a crate. There's zero way – you have to find them in the world." Clegg has since clarified that he meant players "can't buy a gun or ammo and have it go into your starting loadout, or your loadout immediately like you were buying a gun from the gun store." Clegg added that despite his intentions, he can "totally understand how what I said was at the time lying to you guys and I apologize."
Confusion aside, Smedley tweeted that as of Friday evening, only .5 percent of those that purchased H1Z1 have requested a refund. If you intend to do the same, Smedley's post regarding refunds explains that Sony Online Entertainment is handling them, not Valve, which means the process "may take a day or two." Smedley also noted that the team has reached out to Valve to allow self-refunds directly through Steam, adding that the team will let players know more as they do.
[Image: SOE]
