3 ms·

IIRC, the refund window used to be longer, but was abused. It still is abused for short indie games, with people buying them with the intention of speed-runnin

IIRC, the refund window used to be longer, but was abused. It still is abused for short indie games, with people buying them with the intention of speed-running through and refunding. The refund policy is intended more for “crashed repeatedly”, “far too slow despite my machine matching the stated specs”, and “simply wouldn't run”, type problems, rather than not liking the game. There isn't much a service like Steam can do about that, that won't be abused, other than offer demos (enough for you to try out those core mechanics) which is really down to the game creators and out of their power. Other than that you just have to not be first in line, and wait for reviews from sources you trust.

lolinder 3y ago
Right, I get that. I've added a note to my comment above clarifying that I'm not critiquing the policy, just trying to clarify that "no questions asked" isn't a good characterization of it. It's a very good return policy for the industry and medium Steam operates in, but it has hard limits that are worth being aware of.
jstarfish 3y ago
I wish more devs offered shareware/demo releases. Not doing so was unthinkable in the hardware hell of the 90s. Too much shovelware on Steam these days, and the user has to pay retail price to even try it.