Steam offers From Dust refunds

Steam has begun offering refunds to gamers angry that PC versions of From Dust require an internet connection to play.

Owners of the Ubisoft god game are being contacted and offered their money back, reports Rock Paper Shotgun. This is despite plans for a forthcoming patch to remove the controversial always-online DRM already having been announced.

"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," the message from Steam support reads.

"If you would still like your purchase of From Dust refunded, please reply to this ticket."

It's a dramatic move for Steam - its company policy clearly states Steam does not offer refunds, except to cancel pre-orders.

Earlier this week Ubisoft announced it was backtracking on From Dust's controversial always-online policy, announcing a DRM-killing patch would be released within two weeks.

Ubisoft is also tweaking Driver: San Francisco's DRM policy so gamers still required to sign-in at launch can subsequently play the rest of their session offline.

Less than a month ago Ubisoft was defending its new DRM strategy, claiming it "a success" due to a demonstrable drop in game piracy.

But Minecraft creator Marcus 'Notch' Persson last week branded Ubisoft's demands as "insane", suggesting the DRM actually encouraged piracy among gamers trying to circumvent Ubisoft's restrictions.