How Long to Refund Steam Hardware
Dev calls out player who refunded his game afterwards saying it was 'amazing,' role player apologizes and rebuys information technology
Past many accounts, Before Your Eyes is a smart and affecting game, and the control system seems cool: It uses your webcam to determine when you glimmer. It's too a brusk game, and at least 1 player took advantage of that fact by completing it in nether two hours and then refunding it on Steam.
Steam'due south refund policy allows users to return games "within two weeks of buy and with less than 2 hours of playtime" for any reason. Information technology doesn't matter whether or not they finished the game, or if they liked it. Before Your Optics lead designer and programmer Bela Messex knew someone had refunded the game despite enjoying the whole thing considering they left a Steam user review, calling Before Your Optics "amazing" before getting their coin back.
"Yes we made a short game," wrote Messex, responding to the review in a widely shared tweet. "I think there should be more brusk games. I call up short games shouldn't get refunded for delivering an astonishing experience."
aye we made a short game. I retrieve at that place should be more brusque games. I recall curt games shouldn't get refunded for delivering an astonishing experience pic.twitter.com/bdngjVUpBDApril 12, 2021
A day later, the reviewer, whose proper name is Travis, repurchased the game and added a new paragraph to the review.
"Yes, the game is short, but it has an underlying reason for this," wrote Travis in the edited review. "Life itself is short and can be gone in the blink of an eye, which kinda seems to exist the point of making the game controlled by blinking in the first place. It's worth your $x and even if you lot crush the game in plenty time to practice so, you shouldn't exploit Steam's organization and refund it."
Separately, Travis apologized to Messex on Twitter, maxim that information technology had been "scummy" to refund the game subsequently finishing and enjoying it, despite beingness on "a fleck of a budget."
The debate most refund policies
Steam and Ballsy say they may stop accepting refund requests from those found to be 'abusing' them.
That was a nice ending (and nosotros must cherish them when we see them), just the disharmonize between refund policies and short games is ongoing. Valve doesn't publish detailed information about refunds, and then I can't say for sure whether or non short games are actually refunded more than oftentimes than long ones, but it's been a business organization since Steam introduced the policy in 2015.
"What bugs me is [information technology's] a one-size-fits-all render policy that'southward pretty clearly designed for 'large' games, the sort that are $60 on launch day," Glass Lesser Games founder Megan Fob told PC Gamer at the time. "Two weeks and 2 hours makes perfect sense if you're talking near Far Cry 4, but and so look at something like The Stanley Parable. It's a game you can easily 'beat' in under two hours, the first fourth dimension y'all sit down with it, and likely walk abroad feeling satisfied. Or something similar [PS3 exploration game] Journey, where y'all literally have to beat it in i sitting, since there'due south no saving."
In office, Steam'south refund policy exists to comply with regional regulations. In the Eu, for case, consumers must exist allowed to return online orders within two weeks of purchase "for any reason and without a justification." However, that Eu "correct of withdrawal" dominion ends as shortly equally the heir-apparent uses the production. For a shirt, that would include removing the tags or putting information technology in the washing machine. For software purchased online, downloading it is plenty to end Valve'southward refund obligation.
That means Valve's refund policy is more permissive than European union law calls for, and the ii hr dominion isn't even a hard rule. If you've played a Steam game for more than two hours, yous tin however submit a refund request. It won't be approved automatically, but Valve will review information technology and may approve information technology.
The Epic Games Shop's refund policy is about identical to Steam'due south: Request a refund within xiv days of purchase and with nether two hours played, and it'southward yours. GOG's refund policy is more generous than Steam and Epic's, giving players thirty days to request a refund and specifying no maximum playtime. Withal, GOG tin't truly 'have dorsum' a game anyway, every bit it just sells DRM-costless software which is yours so long as you keep a copy of the data. Any stipulations about playtime would be based on the honor organization.
None of the stores mention the length of the games existence refunded, but they do put vague caveats on their policies. GOG says that information technology may deny refunds that it believes are being requested "to hurt the developers that put their time and heart into making corking games." Steam and Epic say they may stop accepting refund requests from those found to be "abusing" them. Individual players take been criticized before for refunding a game subsequently finishing it, just I haven't heard much nearly mass refund abuse over the by 6 years.
If the player hitting a push button within v seconds of that timer reaching two hours, the game would exit and they'd get a Steam achievement.
According to its support statistics folio, Steam receives over 100,000 refund requests a twenty-four hour period, and given that volume information technology's somewhat surprising that there hasn't been more controversy over refunds. It helps, perhaps, that they're very popular amidst Steam users: The ability to return games that don't work out has been great, especially considering user-specific technical issues tin can return $60 purchases worthless.
For creators of short games, though, the arrangement can be read every bit a suggestion that their work isn't worth anything. Ii hours and nether? That'due south a free game, for those willing to make it 1.
A pitch for "Refund This Game"
When he tweeted about the Before Your Eyes review, Messex had wanted to defend brusque games, not bring on a mass scolding of Steam or Travis. In a couple of other lighthearted tweets, he as well pitched an idea for a new Steam game, which I promise he actually makes.
The game would be called "Refund This Game," and would brandish a timer that counts out two hours in real time. If the role player hit a push button within 5 seconds of that timer reaching two hours, the game would exit and they'd get a Steam achievement. If they let the timer run by two hours, zero would happen—except that they'd have a harder time getting a refund. Messex's proposed toll for Refund This Game is $99.99.
Messex really could make Refund This Game, although I wonder whether Steam would permit its release. When Valve opened up Steam to all game submissions in 2018, it made two rules: aught illegal, and no "trolling." Valve could classify Refund This Game as trolling, or make a new rule that metagames which involve Steam'southward policies and customer service systems aren't allowed (it'd be kind of hard to blame them).
I just submitted "Refund This Game" to Steam. Watch a timer count to 2 hours and quit within the last 5 seconds for an achievement. Proposed toll $99.99. Release date TBA. film.twitter.com/xaywcZ86mjApril 13, 2021
Information technology'southward a funny idea, though, and I promise Messex tries to release information technology for real, if just to see if Valve reacts at all. For now, he's not too serious about it. "Nosotros've spent years making Before Your Eyes into the emotional journey that people finally got to feel final calendar week, and I want that to be the focus of my energy correct now," he said.
On that note, Before Your Eyes is $10 on Steam. Or, it's $x, and then $0 after you lot refund information technology, and then $10 once more after you experience guilty virtually refunding it and repurchase it—however you desire to go about it. At the fourth dimension of writing, Before Your Eyes has 537 reviews with an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating.
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