Valve’s soft platform Steam will be generous with refunds in the future.
Returning digital goods is always a tricky matter: You can’t just walk into a store, slam the game on the counter, and complain that you no longer want this or that game. Since last night, Steam has introduced a new refund system that allows players to return purchased games without stating any reason and receive a full refund!
The Refund Rules
If you are already rubbing your hands together because you want to play as many games for free as possible and then return them right away, you will be disappointed. There are, of course, some rules for the refund, the two most important ones are probably these:
- The purchase must not be older than 14 days
- The game must not have been played for more than 2 hours
So, you can’t just “play” a game for free and then hand it back. However, the system offers other advantages: If you are not sure whether your computer can handle a certain title in terms of performance, you can buy the game, start it, and simply return it if it doesn’t work.
Special Promotional Prices and Exclusion from the System
It is even explicitly allowed to do the following: You bought a game at full price, and the next day it is offered for half price in one of the many Steam sales. You can now return the game at full price and immediately buy the game again – at the reduced price. Of course, this only works as long as the above-mentioned rule about the maximum of 2 hours of playtime is adhered to.
Steam naturally reserves the right to exclude people from this system if they abuse it. Cheaters will also not be tolerated: If someone has committed a VAC violation in a game, they can no longer return it. Anyone interested in all the details can read them here: steampowered.com.
