3 ms·

I'm curious to see if publishers will be willing to opt into this. On one hand, letting someone sit through the install time and see if they enjoy the game befo

I'm curious to see if publishers will be willing to opt into this. On one hand, letting someone sit through the install time and see if they enjoy the game before paying for it probably significantly reduces the hurdle of "hmm, do I really want this game" for many consumers. On the other hand, if your PC port is a shameless, unoptimized moneygrab then players realizing that fact might balk rather than committing to actually buying the game. It could also end up encouraging longer "tutorial" sections at the beginning of games, which you can aggressively optimize to give players a misplaced confidence that their computers can run the game effectively.

progbits 3y ago
Valve will refund any Steam purchase if made within 2 weeks and with less than 2 hours play time (see https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/ https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/). Therefore this doesn't really change much when it comes to realization that the game sucks very early on. I suppose there is some small risk difference between "play 90 minutes for free, then decide to pay" vs "play 120 minutes for full game price, then get it back". But in my experience and from what I've heard over the years the refund policy is reliably honored.
- Pet_Ant 3y ago
  Honestly, I've always been too wary of playing 2.0001 hours and losing access. I like this system much better.
  - ThatMedicIsASpy 3y ago
    You dont lose access. Just repeat the process to get a human review.
- gabythenerd 3y ago
  I have about 150 games in the backlog that I buy in sales to play later, when I don't like them after 30 minutes I just refund them. Steam has been pretty good with this, doesn't matter if I bought it months before, they will still refund them. I guess the demos would be better for Steam as they don't lose credit card fees.
  - aaomidi 3y ago
    I think refunds don’t cost the company. Chargebacks do.
    - zamnos 3y ago
      Refunds don't generally get the fees returned, so I buy a game for $10, $0.30 in fees goes to Paypal, Steam gets $9.70. I return the game, Steam gives me $10, but PayPal only gives them $9.70, so they're out $0.30. Across a million returns that adds up.
  - vorvac 3y ago
    Anecdotally, I've had this experience lately: "We will not be granting a refund at this time. The date of the purchase exceeds 2 weeks (our refund policy maximum)."
    - DANmode 3y ago
      Interesting. How much was the game in this anecdote?
- whartung 3y ago
  > Valve will refund any Steam purchase if made within 2 weeks and with less than 2 hours play time Yea, I tried to take advantage of this when I picked up Stellaris, but that's not a game (I don't think) that you can evaluate in 2 hours. I gave it a couple of stabs, but found it just way more complex than I was interested it. I obviously played it more than 2 hours, and they wouldn't refund my money. No harm, no foul, but for some games, 2 hours isn't enough.
  - bityard 3y ago
    We must be very different people... If a game or movie doesn't grab my attention within the first 15 minutes, it goes in the round file. Life is too short for mediocre entertainment!
    - suddenclarity 3y ago
      Being complex and taking time to get into is quite different than being mediocre. Some games take hours to just grasp the rules and its first by the fourth or fifth time you're playing that they become amazing. It's like dunking on racing because a guy without license can't figure out how to change gear.
    - sieongioetnio 3y ago
      I don't have much use for mediocrity either, which is why I will always choose a flawed masterpiece over something merely competent. None of my favorite books have grabbed my attention in the first fifteen pages. Several of my favorite games took over 40 hours to become even tolerable. They made up for it by being uncommonly beautiful by the end. A slow start is a flaw, but in my eyes a forgivable one.
  - 000ooo000 3y ago
    >2 hours isn't enough MS Flight Sim comes to mind. Apparently game content is downloaded in-game, and it's in the region of 120GB, so many folk blow through 2 hours before they even get to play the game.
    - 3y ago
- willcipriano 3y ago
  The only angle I see is now you don't need to distribute the game data with your pirated software. let the user download the trial and apply a patch to that.
  - throwawaymobule 3y ago
    As a software pirate, I hate this idea, or anything like it. I can see this being useful to fill up a steam cache though, depending on how it works.
metalang 3y ago
Steam already offers no questions asked refunds if a game is played for under 2 hours (and based on my experience will give refunds outside of that policy if the game won't run).
- j5155 3y ago
  From what other comments have said they also seem to give refunds outside of that if you have a good explanation (“questions asked” I guess)
lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
I've long believed that a market culture of releasing limited game demos increases the quality of games. If someone has the opportunity to play some section of the game they'll be able to judge the game on something other than marketing copy and curated screenshots. > It could also end up encouraging longer "tutorial" sections at the beginning of games, which you can aggressively optimize to give players a misplaced confidence that their computers can run the game effectively. This made me wonder about "optimizing the tutorial" for content of the game such that it actually takes the same amount of or less time to play through the rest of the game after. I wouldn't be surprised if this is attempted in some cases and it would be pretty disheartening to see it widespread.
moomin 3y ago
My kid can spend longer than that in the character designer.
- IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago
  That would be a "character" flaw...
marcod 3y ago
Yeah, my first thought was "interesting approach in the age of 100 GB games" ... And I had the same thought last weekend, when Diablo 4 had their Server Slam for 2 days (70 GB download).
themoonisachees 3y ago
Publishers who use denuvo won't, because that implies giving random accounts either a non-protected copy of the exe, or generating a lot of denuvo keys that get revoked after a very short time (which doesn't break it but significantly weakens it)
- SentientNo4 3y ago
  The first game to offer a trial is Dead Space which uses Denuvo. Game is also published by EA which would be at the tail of my list of consumer friendly publishers.

progbits 3y ago

Valve will refund any Steam purchase if made within 2 weeks and with less than 2 hours play time (see https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/ https://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/). Therefore this doesn't really change much when it comes to realization that the game sucks very early on. I suppose there is some small risk difference between "play 90 minutes for free, then decide to pay" vs "play 120 minutes for full game price, then get it back". But in my experience and from what I've heard over the years the refund policy is reliably honored.

Pet_Ant 3y ago
Honestly, I've always been too wary of playing 2.0001 hours and losing access. I like this system much better.
- ThatMedicIsASpy 3y ago
  You dont lose access. Just repeat the process to get a human review.
gabythenerd 3y ago
I have about 150 games in the backlog that I buy in sales to play later, when I don't like them after 30 minutes I just refund them. Steam has been pretty good with this, doesn't matter if I bought it months before, they will still refund them. I guess the demos would be better for Steam as they don't lose credit card fees.
- aaomidi 3y ago
  I think refunds don’t cost the company. Chargebacks do.
  - zamnos 3y ago
    Refunds don't generally get the fees returned, so I buy a game for $10, $0.30 in fees goes to Paypal, Steam gets $9.70. I return the game, Steam gives me $10, but PayPal only gives them $9.70, so they're out $0.30. Across a million returns that adds up.
- vorvac 3y ago
  Anecdotally, I've had this experience lately: "We will not be granting a refund at this time. The date of the purchase exceeds 2 weeks (our refund policy maximum)."
  - DANmode 3y ago
    Interesting. How much was the game in this anecdote?
whartung 3y ago
> Valve will refund any Steam purchase if made within 2 weeks and with less than 2 hours play time Yea, I tried to take advantage of this when I picked up Stellaris, but that's not a game (I don't think) that you can evaluate in 2 hours. I gave it a couple of stabs, but found it just way more complex than I was interested it. I obviously played it more than 2 hours, and they wouldn't refund my money. No harm, no foul, but for some games, 2 hours isn't enough.
- bityard 3y ago
  We must be very different people... If a game or movie doesn't grab my attention within the first 15 minutes, it goes in the round file. Life is too short for mediocre entertainment!
  - suddenclarity 3y ago
    Being complex and taking time to get into is quite different than being mediocre. Some games take hours to just grasp the rules and its first by the fourth or fifth time you're playing that they become amazing. It's like dunking on racing because a guy without license can't figure out how to change gear.
  - sieongioetnio 3y ago
    I don't have much use for mediocrity either, which is why I will always choose a flawed masterpiece over something merely competent. None of my favorite books have grabbed my attention in the first fifteen pages. Several of my favorite games took over 40 hours to become even tolerable. They made up for it by being uncommonly beautiful by the end. A slow start is a flaw, but in my eyes a forgivable one.
- 000ooo000 3y ago
  >2 hours isn't enough MS Flight Sim comes to mind. Apparently game content is downloaded in-game, and it's in the region of 120GB, so many folk blow through 2 hours before they even get to play the game.
  - 3y ago
willcipriano 3y ago
The only angle I see is now you don't need to distribute the game data with your pirated software. let the user download the trial and apply a patch to that.
- throwawaymobule 3y ago
  As a software pirate, I hate this idea, or anything like it. I can see this being useful to fill up a steam cache though, depending on how it works.

metalang 3y ago

Steam already offers no questions asked refunds if a game is played for under 2 hours (and based on my experience will give refunds outside of that policy if the game won't run).

j5155 3y ago
From what other comments have said they also seem to give refunds outside of that if you have a good explanation (“questions asked” I guess)

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago

I've long believed that a market culture of releasing limited game demos increases the quality of games. If someone has the opportunity to play some section of the game they'll be able to judge the game on something other than marketing copy and curated screenshots. > It could also end up encouraging longer "tutorial" sections at the beginning of games, which you can aggressively optimize to give players a misplaced confidence that their computers can run the game effectively. This made me wonder about "optimizing the tutorial" for content of the game such that it actually takes the same amount of or less time to play through the rest of the game after. I wouldn't be surprised if this is attempted in some cases and it would be pretty disheartening to see it widespread.

moomin 3y ago

My kid can spend longer than that in the character designer.

IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago
That would be a "character" flaw...

marcod 3y ago

Yeah, my first thought was "interesting approach in the age of 100 GB games" ... And I had the same thought last weekend, when Diablo 4 had their Server Slam for 2 days (70 GB download).

themoonisachees 3y ago

Publishers who use denuvo won't, because that implies giving random accounts either a non-protected copy of the exe, or generating a lot of denuvo keys that get revoked after a very short time (which doesn't break it but significantly weakens it)

SentientNo4 3y ago
The first game to offer a trial is Dead Space which uses Denuvo. Game is also published by EA which would be at the tail of my list of consumer friendly publishers.