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Since the first trailers and viewable gameplay from E3 in 2014, Hello Games' No Man's Sky had been one of the most hotly anticipated releases of recent times. But even before the game was finally launched for the PlayStation 4 and PC a few months ago, it had already attracted some controversy. BSkyB was in a legal battle over the 'Sky' part of the game's title, and the Dutch company Genicap was claiming that Hello Games used it superformula code without permission to create the 18 quintillion planets the game famously offers.

Most of the pre-launch problems, though, were brushed under the carpet when the game was finally released on the PS4. However, that wasn't the end of Hello Games' problems.

The PS4 release was rocky. Frequent crashes, graphical glitches, a virtually unreadable UI and countless other flaws were being reported by the minute. Most of these were fixed, to some degree, with a quick update, but players weren't best pleased with the result.

The PC gaming community was equally anxious, after having seen what the game was like on the PS4. When the PC version was finally available to install, many were hoping that the problems plaguing the console version wouldn't rear their ugly heads on a more versatile and powerful platform. They were quite wrong.

The PC release was the final nail in the coffin for No Man's Sky. Within mere days, tens of thousands of players had bombarded Steam with overwhelmingly negative reviews - at present 46, 299 negative versus 24,419 positive. 212,620 users were reportedly playing at the same time within the first few days of the game's release. But as the problems continued, and the users realised that the game wasn't quite what they had in mind, that number quickly dropped to 25,689 by week two and finally to just 3,122 players in the last 30 days (from 30th September).

What went wrong then? Can it all be blamed on a buggy release, or is there something else rotten within the core of the game?

The game trailers from 2014 and in the run-up to the game displayed dense woodland, butterflies flitting about, a neat and effective user interface and herds of varying sized animals, from scuttling rabbit-like creatures to great brontosaurus-sized monsters. The reality though is quite different and incredibly misleading.

AzzerUK, a Reddit user, was one such user who was a little miffed at what he'd been sold. "The marketing of the game was very different to the end game. The end game is a shallow screenshot generator and in some ways it reminded me of Spore," he told Eurogamer in response to him filing a complaint with the Advertising Standards Agency.

Since the initial filing, many more have added to it, forcing the agency to open an investigation with Hello Games and Valve, which it believes misrepresents the game with the images and videos on its Steam Store page.

The complaint includes the behaviour of the animals within the game, the large-scale combat between warring factions and the ship flight mechanics and behaviour. All are radically different from the trailers and screenshots used.

The ASA is remaining understandably tight-lipped over the investigation at the moment, so we'll have to wait and see what the final verdict is and what will be done about what's been discovered. But the damage is done, to both Hello Games and Valve.

Producing non-in-game footage is certainly nothing new. Many of you will no doubt recall the 8-bit era, when you'd look at the back of a cassette box and see the jaw-dropping graphics of a particular game, only to load it up on the Spectrum and discover something like a purple blob moving around the screen! It wasn't right then, and it's certainly unacceptable today, when publishers should know better.

Another problem with No Man's Sky is the hype that surrounded it since those first glimpses at E3. The gaming media went into overdrive and Hello Games lead developer Sean Murray was one of the most recognisable faces on the Internet.

The interviews with Murray, the quick 20-minute gameplay walkthroughs and the constant attention fuelled the fandom. Sony took the game on as a PS4 exclusive, pushing the anticipation for the game to fever pitch.

With expectations far higher than the game could ever live up to, the only way left for No Man's Sky was down. And on its release that same media hype turned a full 180 degrees and started to attack the game, being further bolstered by negative reviews and angry YouTube videos. Sony's Worldwide Studios president, Shuhei Yoshida, even went on record blaming Hello Games' PR strategy for building up unrealistic expectations.

#OneMansLies has since become a popular hashtag on Twitter, where angry gamers have expressed their views on the game, and at Sean Murray for his interview comments and promises.

There's been considerable anger toward Murray ever since it was discovered that the multiplayer functionality that he promised (there are countless videos available of him doing so) wasn't actually in the game at all! This and numerous other broken promises have angered gamers.

The situation hasn't been helped by the silence from both Hello Games and Murray himself since the game's release for the PC. His last tweet, from his personal account, is dated 18th August - well over a month old now. The Hello Games Twitter page is a little better, having recently started tweeting again (23rd September) after a month of silence. However, there's been no interview regarding the game's problems and the players' comments.

"I understand some of the criticisms, especially Sean Murray, is getting," Yoshida said, "because he sounded like he was promising more features in the game from day one. It wasn't a great PR strategy, because he didn't have a PR person helping him, and in the end he is an indie developer." But it's worth mentioning that he continues with a confirmation that the developers are working on improving the game.

It's difficult to see how much damage has been done to the developer at this stage. Thousands of players demanded a refund from both Sony and Valve upon receiving a game that didn't match their expectations, and despite the lack of a refund offered by Sony and Valve's refund policy, there was most likely a significant amount of money lost from the coffers of Hello Games.

The developer has announced a new community management team, and that it is actively reading the feedback, but it makes you wonder how long the company can continue flogging this apparently dead horse.

I personally would love to see the game evolve and continue. Despite the negativity and the obvious lack of promised features, I still enjoy the exploration and 'feel' of No Man's Sky. I've defended it, written at 8/10 review for it in this magazine and remained a loyal player, but even I have my limits.

As reported on Eurogamer, some PS4 players who demanded a refund for No Man's Sky were sent the following response from Sony:

"Hi,
We have reviewed your refund request for your purchase of No Man's Sky.

We are aware of comments online from some players expressing disappointment with the release features of No Man's Sky. During the development process, the game changed and evolved based on thousands of hours of user testing and feedback on what worked and what didn't to bring you the best gameplay experience and the most fun. Hello Games made choices during this development which they believed would provide the best experience for the players.

No Man's Sky was intended to be something unique, vast and inventive and we feel Hello Games delivered that. They are also working to ensure that No Man's Sky will continue to evolve and benefit from new features over the coming months and, as such, we are not making any exceptions to our standard refund policy.

Furthermore, we are also aware and regret that some players experienced glitches upon initial release. However, since then, Hello Games have been working hard to release a number of patches to address those glitches. If you continue to experience problems after downloading these patches, we'd recommend you report your experience to Hello Games via email at feedback@hellogames.co.uk so that they are aware. As there is a rolling programme of patches (with the next patch expected the week commencing 5th September) we will not be making exceptions to our standard refund policy.

As per that refund policy, any games, game add-ons, season passes, in-game consumables or PlayStation Video titles that have started being downloaded or streamed are not eligible for a refund.

As you have already downloaded No Man's Sky, we will not be issuing a refund for this purchase.

You can read our full policy here, PlayStation Store cancellation policy If you have any other questions in the future, feel free to drop us a line.

Thanks,
PlayStation Support specialist PlayStation Support"

The Sony policy states that will only refund on a game with faulty, in-game technical problems. Those who experience such as then required to run through some troubleshooting options with a customer services rep.

Stream's policy is simple enough: you need to have "played for less than two hours within 14 days of purchasing it". The company has even taken to reminding everyone of the policy on the No Man's Sky Steam page.