Nearly two full years after EA's Origin began offering refunds, Steam has decided to follow suit, though much in its own way. The general rules are this: if it's been no more than two weeks since your purchase, and you haven't played the game in question for more than two hours, you can get a refund. This refund will first come in the form of whatever payment method you used to initially purchase the game, but if for some reason that doesn't work, the refund amount will be credited to your Steam Wallet. Only certain payment methods allow for refunds, and it varies by country, though you can find your relevant list here.
DLC and pre-purchased titles are also refundable, as are in-game purchases for Valve games, though the latter must be refunded within 48 hours of purchase. Third-party developers have the option of offering refunds, though it is not required. Steam Wallet funds are also allowed refunds, provided it's been within14 days and you haven't spent any of the funds yet. Movies, gifts, and purchases made outside of Steam are not refundable, and if you abuse the system, you will no longer have the option to refund your games.
This is clearly in direct competition to Origin's own Great Game Guarantee policy, which has only a one-week window to refund your game from purchase, or 24 hours from first launching the title. Regardless, it is nice to see Steam acting on competition, and we will likely see EA's own refund policy modified sometime in the future to follow suit.
Posted 09-06-2015, 12:54
I can see how this will hurt some indie devs, Steam market has changed and their are a lot of smaller games on it now, (yes and crap ones too) but small doesn't mean bad, Journey (not a PC game) is very short but was released to critical aclaim, and there are many others that can be played in under two hours and that doesn't make them bad, especially when they have a price point that can be in the pennies.
I can totally understand Indie devs concerns here, and it concerns me that this may change the Steam in ways that mean we see less innovation again.
I do agree Steam needs some kind of returns policy, but why do I get the feeling that this one was pushed through by the same marketing team who suggested payed mods?
Posted 07-06-2015, 17:21
And indie devs are already screaming that it's going to kill them.
Maybe you should make better games then
Posted 05-06-2015, 08:50
Competition is good for everyone who enjoys spending money on games, really. Wishful thinking has me wondering if this will result in a "refund war" over the best policy, but it's at least nice that we have it now.
Posted 04-06-2015, 18:47
This is likely a direct response to the refund policies of EA and GOG along with the recent successful introduction of GOG Galaxy.
Posted 03-06-2015, 18:40
As much as I hate to admit it, Origin has really improved since it first came out and it's nice that Steam is getting some competition. What was the name of Stardock's offering, again? I suppose there is Desura, but that is sort of a different market. Also, I think GOG has one, but I haven't really looked into it. I wonder if Humble Bundle will try its hand.