Battlefield 6 player claims to have received Steam refund after 470 hours due to surprise mode removal

First spotted by Eurogamer, ExplorEverythingOnce on the Battlefield subreddit claims to have received a full refund on Battlefield 6 from Steam support after 470 hours logged, well in excess of the platform’s standard refund window of two hours within two weeks.

ExplorEverythingOnce supplied a redacted screenshot of their Steam purchase history, showing a full refund of BF6’s more deluxe “Phantom Edition,” which they claim to have purchased on launch day. They did not supply proof of playtime or communication with Steam support, leaving an outside chance that a rapid purchase and refund was made to back up the initial post.

Steam just fully r*funded me for Battlefield 6 after 470 hours played due to so many game modes being removed at once. from r/Battlefield

But Steam does have a history of offering refunds outside the usual window in extenuating circumstances. In this case, Explor’s stated reason for pursuing the refund, which they claim proved persuasive to Steam support, was the surprise removal of multiple popular modes from Battlefield 6’s standard quickplay queue. For Explor, the killer was the removal of Rush, their preferred gametype across those 470 hours.

A small, school marmy part of me wants to point out that you might have gotten your money’s worth with a game after 470 hours. At the same time, if you make a live service game, you should prepare for live service outrage. It is, I think, a failure on Battlefield Studios’ part to effectively downgrade the experience like this.

“I’ve been a Steam customer for 22 years and have 2500 games on my account,” Explor wrote in a comment on the original post. “I have only ever requested a refund once in that entire time until today.”

Battlefield Studios presented the controversial mode removal as being in the interest of queue times and healthy matchmaking, consolidating the bulk of the playerbase into a smaller number of supposedly more popular modes. It’s going over like a lead balloon, though, with a wave of negative recent reviews on Steam criticizing the decision. Comments under Battlefield Studios’ announcement on X and posts on the Battlefield 6 subreddit are similarly hostile.

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