Valve adds a 14-day 'any reason' Steam refund policy

[HEXUS]

As long as you've played the game for less than two hours during that period.

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[Noxvayl]

Finally, it is sad that the market leader for digital distribution is this late to the refund party. I don't know what has taken so long but I am happy it has finally arrived.

[cheesemp]

The 2 hour free gaming is causing some concern in the indie circles where its not uncommon for a game to be less than 2 hours long. Not sure there is any answer for it but I can understand their concerns.

[McEwin]

Not sure there is any answer for it but I can understand their concerns.

2 hour game intros/tutorials...?

[shaithis]

The 2 hour free gaming is causing some concern in the indie circles where its not uncommon for a game to be less than 2 hours long. Not sure there is any answer for it but I can understand their concerns.

There are games being SOLD that are under 2 hours long....and that isn't uncommon?

That probably explains valves reticence to add this in the past.......but seriously.....less than 2 hours of gameplay seems more like a demo or concept, rather then an actual title release :/

[virtuo]

The 2 hour free gaming is causing some concern in the indie circles where its not uncommon for a game to be less than 2 hours long. Not sure there is any answer for it but I can understand their concerns.

Maybe they could add something like a "percentage complete" check, or an achievement check so if the game has been played and completed, or played past a certain point then it becomes ineligible for a refund.

And I do think there can be some (but not many) legitimate "2 hour" games, I've purchased a couple on android hat don't take long to finish but are still well worth the money - not seen anything on Steam yet but I'm sure they are there. Look at "The Room" and "Monument Valley" as examples.

[directhex]

There are games being SOLD that are under 2 hours long....and that isn't uncommon?

That probably explains valves reticence to add this in the past.......but seriously.....less than 2 hours of gameplay seems more like a demo or concept, rather then an actual title release :/

Why not? Not every game needs to be a £40 full release by a team of 300 costing tens of millions to make. Sometimes an indie dev wants to make a fun little experience and sell it for a couple of quid. 2 hours is a feasible length of time for a single episode of a Telltale game, for example, or most visual novels.

[Biscuit]

This should go a pretty long way towards battling the currently horrificly disfunctional presale market. I'm getting really fed up of games being released that have been massively hyped up that turn out to be utterly pants and/or broken. Now hopefully we will have new, 'digital returns' statistics that can go a long way towards highlighting the titles that have done this.

The 2 hour free gaming is causing some concern in the indie circles where its not uncommon for a game to be less than 2 hours long. Not sure there is any answer for it but I can understand their concerns.

I can see why they would be concerned about this and I agree, cant see any obvious solution. I mean if i paid £40 and it was less than two hours, I would definitely get a refund... but if it was say £10 and it was a decent 2 hour story then its not so bad...

[big_hairy_rob]

Does this also apply to Green Light Games?

[gordon861]

Good on Steam for finally doing this.

This will do one of two things, either improve the quality/honesty of games through Steam, or it will mean that more companies will avoid Steam for selling/distribution in favour of their own systems.

Hopefully it will stop situations like the Aliens vs Marines bait and switch happening again because they will lose so much money with all the refunds.

Whatever it does it should make things interesting.

What's Next?
Allowing users to sell their old games to other Steam players, just charge a £5 admin fee to transfer them over and they will still make a decent profit.

[kingpotnoodle]

The 2 hour free gaming is causing some concern in the indie circles where its not uncommon for a game to be less than 2 hours long. Not sure there is any answer for it but I can understand their concerns.

It's a definite grey area, perhaps there should be a different policy on cheaper games (ignoring offers and sales), though personally if I'd spent more than a few quid on a game and finished it inside 2 hours that's grounds for wanting at least a partial refund. I've clocked hundreds of hours on games costing £20-£40 (i.e. Rome II, Attila, Skyrim) so a 2 hour game isn't worth a lot to me.

[crossy]

It's a definite grey area, perhaps there should be a different policy on cheaper games (ignoring offers and sales), though personally if I'd spent more than a few quid on a game and finished it inside 2 hours that's grounds for wanting at least a partial refund. I've clocked hundreds of hours on games costing £20-£40 (i.e. Rome II, Attila, Skyrim) so a 2 hour game isn't worth a lot to me.

I think we'll need a "Refund Policy mk 2" - as has been said above the two hour limit doesn't make much sense to the £2-and-it's-yours indy title. Two ways I'd approach it:
1. Introduce bands - so "mainstream" titles are at the two hour setting, "indy" titles are down to 30 minutes and anything else is at 60 minutes.
2. Again band it, but base the banding on the initial (/launch) price and do it on a fixed scale, divide purchase cost by 5, round up to nearest integer and then multiply that by 15 minutes. So your sub-£5 indy titles would be on 15 minutes, (same as Google Play). And something like CoD at £39.99 would have a refund period of 2 hours, as it is currently. Upside of this is that it doesn't dissuade indy developers while also offering a disincentive for price gouging.

[Percy1983]

I value games based on the quality not quantity to which I have no interest in 100 hour grind fests.

As above the 2 hour limit does seem a little too long for some games, surely it takes less than 30 minutes to figure its broken/incompatible.

[aniilv]

They did note there is no abuse tolerated. So it still needs to go through valve employee who can tag it as abuse and not give you refund... 2 hour time frame then is ok imo

[ZaO]

Like pretty much everything, there are positives and negatives. I see this as probably favouring the positive more. This should help up the quality of games on release for fear of people demanding a refund. It should also help stop publishers putting out so much half arsed crap. But maybe they should make an exception of one hour instead of two hours for games that fall below a certain price point. Another thing to consider, is why would you bother paying for a game, complete it in under two hours, then ask for a refund, when you could just pirate it? I mean, if you're the sort of person that thinks they should get everything for free, I can't see why you'd go about it that way. Sure, some will. But hopefully that won't be too many people.

[Noxvayl]

Agree with you ZaO, that mentality is unlikely to be one to flourish on a platform like Steam. The danger is there, so I acknowledge that, but I don't see it as one that is likely to get away with it before Valve notice and put a lock on those accounts (by lock I mean prevent them from using the refund system). I am sure they would treat gamers like that the same way they treat cheaters, ban them.