OS Neutral Steam to offer refunds

[malman89]

Another reason to hate Steam... Steam now offers video game refunds for 'any reason'

Play up to 2 hours within the first two weeks and request a refund. May not apply to DLC or in-game purchases, but may if you don't use them/up to Valve's discretion.

Seems like a good deal. Read some reviews or view some game play, think you might like it, try it out. Most games you'll probably find out right away or within that two hours whether it was a good choice. I'm sure someone will find reason to complain (it should be unlimited time so I can blitz through it and ask for a refund!!), but it seems like a fair offer.

 

[Dirtyharry50]

Credit where it is due, that is good and reasonable given how many games tend to be short when it comes to indies in particular. Personally, I think the most valuable benefit of this is being able to get a refund easily in those cases where a game has obviously show stopping issues on your system, like it won't even start, crashes soon thereafter, etc. An awful lot of people have been burned by such issues historically I suspect so this does address that problem effectively.

Otherwise though, bad Steam! Bad! Bad Gabe! Bad Valve! Bad, bad buggy Mac client! Bad horrible support! Bad DRM! Badness! Terrible, terrible badness!

 

[erayser]

Another reason to hate Steam... Steam now offers video game refunds for 'any reason'

I kind of understand the hate for steam in this forum... but this made me LOL...

 

[xSinghx]

Another reason to hate Steam... Steam now offers video game refunds for 'any reason'

There's still plenty of reason to hate Steam but we can keep that to Dirtyharry's thread. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/i-am-growing-tired-of-steam.1870369/

As for this refund policy, it's hard to give Valve much credit for a feature all of their competitors have carried for a while now. Valve appears to have simply been dragged to the party on this, after all customer service is not Valve's priority.

We shouldn't overlook that having online companies decide for themselves what is best (for them) is counterproductive to what's fair for consumers. This is why (traditionally speaking) laws have governed the refund policies of the sales of physical goods. We need the same protections in this digital age.

It's therefore quite telling when the article steers the reader away from questioning or even thinking in that direction as it immediately sides with business by imagining abuse of the small concession a refund system offers.

 

[Cougarcat]

As for this refund policy, it's hard to give Valve much credit for a feature all of their competitors have carried for a while now.

I wouldn't say it's the norm. AFAIK only EA and GoG have them. GoG's is by far the best, 30-day window. EA's is within 24 hours, but it's only for EA games and some select others, I think.

 

[erayser]

More then half of the problems Dirtyharry listed either does not effect or I don't mind. I don't have issues with connection issues or random disconnects... games launch fast for me. I've experienced bugs in games... but I don't blame steam for it. Most games I've purchased play fine on my rig at ultra settings and 60 to 100 fps... until TW3... LOL... Most of my latest issues are driver issues. Easiest fix for me at this point is upgrading my GPU's. I'm sure everyone has a legit reason to hate.. and that's fine. People hate EA/Origins... and I don't mind them either.

I agree Valve is late in the game on their refund policy... I wish they did this a couple weeks earlier... so I can get a refund for TW3 until I upgrade my GPU's...

 

[xSinghx]

I wouldn't say it's the norm...GoG's is by far the best...

Agreed, it should be more pervasive than it is currently.

I agree Valve is late in the game on their refund policy...

Especially so given their monopoly and resources. It's obvious the timing of it now is simply a response to the growing popularity and pressures of other platforms like GoG.com and the increasing number of Steam users who are vocally frustrated with it, abandoning the platform all together or weening themselves off it (myself and DirtyHarry obviously being in this group).

...problems Dirtyharry listed either does not effect [sic] or I don't mind..

The white-knighting for Steam against Dirtyharry's list of complaints should be confined to his thread and not this one. Let's stick to the topic of refunds here.

 

[erayser]

Sure thing... sticking with the topic.. good for steam for finally adopting a refund policy that other competitors already do. Gives us gamers purchase options, and buy AAA games the day they launched with the peace of mind that we can return it if the game doesn't run or start... crashes, or we are just unhappy with it. LOL... I guess I can't post good experiences here... Love this forum. I don't mind people posting hate and their frustrations. I am just as interested on what they have to say... even if I don't have the same experience. In the end... just as long as they are happy on where they purchase their games... that's all that matters.

 

[xSinghx]

Gives us gamers purchase options...

I suspect Ubisoft games will have a high rate of return now that people have an exit option from the hidden tagging and double DRM that is Uplay.

And you're welcome to post your experiences with refunds here. I'd certainly like to see how it shakes out with users, given the terrible track record that is Steam customer service. This new policy will definitely put a larger spotlight on it.

 

[roadbloc]

Sweet. Bout time this happened. Valve may be slow but they always seem to deliver in the end.

 

[garnerx]

Next up, they should offer refunds when the episodic game for which you paid in advance is still incomplete, two years after the scheduled delivery date. Or the 'early access' scam you foolishly bought into shows no sign of ever being a finished product.

 

[Huntn]

Credit where it is due, that is good and reasonable given how many games tend to be short when it comes to indies in particular. Personally, I think the most valuable benefit of this is being able to get a refund easily in those cases where a game has obviously show stopping issues on your system, like it won't even start, crashes soon thereafter, etc. An awful lot of people have been burned by such issues historically I suspect so this does address that problem effectively.

Otherwise though, bad Steam! Bad! Bad Gabe! Bad Valve! Bad, bad buggy Mac client! Bad horrible support! Bad DRM! Badness! Terrible, terrible badness!

We should always hate DRM, never let that hate die!!

 

[keysofanxiety]

Just to add my voice to the ever-expanding choir, I too am growing tired of Steam's buggy performance on OS X. It's slow, unreliable, crashes, sometimes doesn't load games at all (when opening the game through a shortcut rather than Steam), then the layered DRM/notifications that you have to press Shift-Tab to close is annoying as well.

That said, the idea of refunds certainly is a good one. There are a number of impulse purchases that I haven't touched after immediately disliking them. If only there was an option to gift/permanently transfer games that are already in your library ...

 

[malman89]

I wouldn't say it's the norm. AFAIK only EA and GoG have them. GoG's is by far the best, 30-day window. EA's is within 24 hours, but it's only for EA games and some select others, I think.

While GoG does have a 30 day policy, it is limited to technical issues or game bugs, so that's really rather limited.

"If, within 30 days after the purchase of your game, you experience technical problems or game-breaking bugs that prevent you from finishing your game, contact our customer support."

So if you spend money on an awful game that runs, you're SOL. Steam and EA let you at least return it based on quality of play, but 24 hours is a bit limited for EA.

 

[keysofanxiety]

While GoG does have a 30 day policy, it is limited to technical issues or game bugs, so that's really rather limited.

"If, within 30 days after the purchase of your game, you experience technical problems or game-breaking bugs that prevent you from finishing your game, contact our customer support."

So if you spend money on an awful game that runs, you're SOL. Steam and EA let you at least return it based on quality of play, but 24 hours is a bit limited for EA.

With respect, most people buying games from GOG.com are aware of what they're getting, because they're likely to have played them before. It's about keeping old games alive in a DRM-free environment and at a reasonable price. You're only SoL if you haven't done an appropriate amount of research or don't know what you're buying -- plus the lack of DRM means the risk of people buying, then sharing on p2p, and returning the game, would be much higher.

In that regard I have no quarrel at all with GOG.

 

[Cougarcat]

While GoG does have a 30 day policy, it is limited to technical issues or game bugs, so that's really rather limited.

Technically, but all you have to say is that it doesn't run and they'll refund you.

With respect, most people buying games from GOG.com are aware of what they're getting, because they're likely to have played them before. You're only SoL if you haven't done an appropriate amount of research or don't know what you're buying -- plus the lack of DRM means the risk of people buying, then sharing on p2p, and returning the game, would be much higher.

I don't think this is necessarily true, or even the most common situation. I have only bought one game I'd played before on GoG. Everything else have been games that were either before my time, or I'd passed over for whatever reason. Also, GoG is increasingly the home of newer games, especially indies. There's a reason they go by only as their acronym nowadays.

I don't think the lack of DRM is relevant. You can find torrents of these games online anyway. People who are going to do that aren't going to buy from GoG in the first place. As long as there's some manual oversight in the returns process, it's fine.

 

[saturnotaku]

You're only SoL if you haven't done an appropriate amount of research or don't know what you're buying

You can say that about any consumer purchase from a video game to a house.

 

[Suture]

It's about time... there are at least 2 games I can recall off the top of my head that have never run for me: Jade Empire and Poker Night at the Inventory. Purchased them a long time ago and was never able to play them due to crashing before any gameplay.