Smaller Devs Abused By Steam's "No Questions Asked" Refund Policy

[Steven Bogos]

Smaller Devs Abused By Steam's "No Questions Asked" Refund Policy

Smaller indie devs are seeing a massive surge in refund rates after the implementation of Valve's "no questions asked" refund policy. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/141003-Steam-Adds-New-Two-Week-Two-Hour-Refund-Options]

Earlier in the month, Valve finally decided to match one of "no questions asked" refund policy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127004-EA-Offers-Full-Refunds-For-Unsatisfied-Origin-Customers] that allowed gamers to get a full refund on games purchased within two weeks and played for less than two hours. However, unlike Origin which features mostly EA-made games, Steam features a wide variety of games from thousands of different developers, ranging from the very big to the very small. While the big boys will no doubt simply absorb the costs of additional refunds into their bottom line, smaller devs are starting to feel the heat, and many are considering resorting to drastic measures - like DRM - to combat it.

Qwiboo, for example, is the developer behind Tweeted [http://store.steampowered.com/app/317510/].

The key factor in Qwiboo's story is the length of it's game. As Beyond Gravity can be finished in an hour, and Valve's refund policy puts a blanket 2-hour grace period on all games, there is nothing to stop someone buying the game, finishing it, and then refunding it like some kind of free rental.

Elsewhere, other devs are considering more drastic measures. Cliff "Cliffski" Harris of Democracy and Gratuitous Space Battles has always proudly sold his games completely free of any sort of DRM, but is now worried about people simply buying his games, downloading them, getting a refund and then continuing to play them.

"Bloody hell steam refund rate has gone from 0.09% to 17%. Methinks people are taking the piss. Here comes DRM again sadly..." Harris lamented [https://twitter.com/cliffski/status/607490264475836416].

While many people initially celebrated Valve's refund policy, the blanket "2 weeks, 2 hours, no questions asked" doesn't seem particularly well thought out, and after the whole paid mod fiasco [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140608-Valve-Ends-Paid-Mod-Program-On-Steam-Workshop] may be turning into another "Valve is completely out-of-touch with its fans and its partners" PR fiasco.

Source: PC Games N [http://www.pcgamesn.com/some-developers-are-struggling-with-steam-refunds]

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[Ftaghn To You Too]

Are you kidding? This is the best thing Valve has done in years, without question. In what bizzaro world is this a PR nightmare? Players love it, and the primary complaints against it are from developers that have created games with no lasting value. Arcade games can be beaten within a couple hours and have been like that for years. The difference is that their gameplay is rich enough that multiple playthroughs continue to provide enjoyment and further depth. There will always be idiots that buy a game and get a refund after a single Playthrough, but the answer is to create games that are worth keeping, not alienate customers further by screwing them with DRM.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

That sucks but a return policy was desperately needed. I hope Valve fix this issue for smaller games.

Also "that guy" is back. The return policy is for 2 weeks/2 hours, not 2 months/2 hours.

 

[Doom972]

Earlier in the month, Valve finally decided to match one of "no questions asked" refund policy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127004-EA-Offers-Full-Refunds-For-Unsatisfied-Origin-Customers] that allowed gamers to get a full refund on games purchased within two months and played for less than two hours.

While many people initially celebrated Valve's refund policy, the blanket "2 months, 2 hours, no questions asked" doesn't seem particularly well thought out, and after the whole paid mod fiasco [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140608-Valve-Ends-Paid-Mod-Program-On-Steam-Workshop] may be turning into another "Valve is completely out-of-touch with its fans and its partners" PR fiasco.

It's two weeks, not two months. It even says so in the links your provided.

OT: If a game can be finished in under 2 hours and doesn't have enough replayability or post-game content to make people want to keep playing, it's not worth even a single dollar. If people can now get refunds for these games, then I see it as the system working.

 

[snekadid]

My favorite part is the dev quotes that are absolutely ridiculous and thoughtless. "Bloody hell steam refund rate has gone from 0.09% to 17%." and " Rate of refunds before was minimal". Holy shit, you mean that, before, when we weren't allowed to get refunds for crap games(of which gratuitous space battles falls under in my opinion) there were less refunds then there are now that people can get refunds for bad games. I'm sorry but the laws of the universe must have been suspended because you're talking magic!

I'm a little more sympathetic to Qwiboo since alot of people seem to be abusing the policy, but then again I looked at the game and the part of me that hates games that look and play like mobile ports to PC kicks in and I'll give him a 50/50 split for abuse/legitimate desire for a refund.

 

[RJ 17]

Players love it, and the primary complaints against it are from developers that have created games with no lasting value.

Indeed, the players do love it, but this policy is still turning out to be a bad one for - as the article is about - smaller companies. Not everyone has a massive budget and some have to start out with smaller games. Qwiboo wasn't trying to rip anyone off with their game. $2 for an hour or so of gameplay is a fair price...it's not like they were just raking in the cash even before the refund policy, but now they're making next to nothing.

I'd say they could solve this by putting a minimum payment requirement for the refund...like no refunds for games under $5. But that would just encourage devs to jack their prices to be above that mark.

The point is that a balance must be met. Yeah, we hate it when a policy like Paid Mods comes around and completely screws over us, the consumer. But there is another side to that coin, and this policy is detrimental to the smaller devs that are trying to make (in this case literally) a couple bucks for a small game.

Edit:
To be clear: I am all for this refund policy. After all, a refund is a basic consumer right that Steam has been lacking for too long.

 

[esserin]

Make games longer and the game devs won't have this problem. Rarely short games are worth the money spent unless it is for less than $1. Basically I have no sympathy for these devs as unless it is stated in the game's description it is a short game it feels at best like a scam to buy a game and have it end so quickly.

Should the value of a game be decided by it's length, though?
Padding a game doesn't magically make it better.

Long games can suck. Short games can be fun. Portal is a short game. that doesn't make it bad, it arguably makes it better since it doesn't wear out it's welcome.

As long as the developers are honest about the length of a game, a customer shouldn't get angry about getting exactly what they paid for.

Still think this system is better than the previous "no refunds" one, though.

 

[ShakerSilver]

If a game is good enough and offers good replayability - you know, makes people actually want to own it - why would someone refund it? Is it wrong that customers should have more control over their buying? This return policy really helps with impulse buying, something that has really plagued many Steam users (all but ones who take more than 3 seconds thinking when buying). As much as I really dislike many decisions Valve has been making in the past few years, this one is definitely something I can appreciate as it really helps give power to consumers.

 

[Zeljkia the Orc]

heres the sure-fire way to solve this problem:

Stop making shitty Indie games.

WOW.Mp4

If you game is under 2 hours long that shit had better be free because if you are going to put in the minimal amount of work into your game, then I'm going to pay the minimal price I feel your game is worth (namely, jack shit). Also I'm gonna love how those Indies are gonna put in DRM in their games, because DRM is completely flawless and it isn't like there are groups of people out there than can crack your DRM within a few days of your game being released.

On that note also, people have already said how much easier it is to outright pirate games instead of going through the refund process, if they have seen a massive uptick in refunds, then they probably have a 90-99% piracy rate for their games.

Possibly out of pitty for how bad their games are to begin with.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

It sucks for people who genuinely care about making games, but considering most of the garbage that Steam lets through the greenlight process, I'll take small sacrifices to keep the shit out. If this keeps those parasites and consumer predators from abusing customers, I'll take it.

 

[Covarr]

Why are people blaming the devs for this? What about Portal? This game was universally lauded as one of the best games of 2007. It can be completed in under two hours easily, even for a first-time player (under one hour for an experienced player).

Length and quality are not the same thing. Just because a game is short doesn't mean they put in minimal effort. Further, if the game is cheap enough ($5 or less), then it's especially hard to fault 'em for the length.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Bat Vader]

Earlier in the month, Valve finally decided to match one of "no questions asked" refund policy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127004-EA-Offers-Full-Refunds-For-Unsatisfied-Origin-Customers] that allowed gamers to get a full refund on games purchased within two months and played for less than two hours.

While many people initially celebrated Valve's refund policy, the blanket "2 months, 2 hours, no questions asked" doesn't seem particularly well thought out, and after the whole paid mod fiasco [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140608-Valve-Ends-Paid-Mod-Program-On-Steam-Workshop] may be turning into another "Valve is completely out-of-touch with its fans and its partners" PR fiasco.

It's two weeks, not two months. It even says so in the links your provided.

OT: If a game can be finished in under 2 hours and doesn't have enough replayability or post-game content to make people want to keep playing, it's not worth even a single dollar. If people can now get refunds for these games, then I see it as the system working.

I disagree. Sometimes I want to play a short game like Dear Esther. I find them to be very calming and relaxing and I don't mind spending a couple of bucks to help support the developer. If people are buying short games just to beat them and then get refunds for them I find that to be a very crappy thing to do. I view those people as nothing more than scum.

 

[Eric the Orange]

well as Jimmy said in his latest Jimquisition it's way to early to cry foul about this yet. We need to wait a bit until things even out a bit. Also no offense to the devs but it may be that your game just isn't good, and the old policy made it pretty much impossible to refund games unless they straight did not work for you, and even then steam would be suspicious of it. Also the system has real people monitoring it, so it's not like it's an automated system that can be abused like the Youtube copyright system. I follow a few indie devs and they have said that their was an initial spike in returns but it has leveled off quickly

here is a link to the Jimquisition for those interested,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1-0dgDsCtw&feature=youtu.be

may be turning into another "Valve is completely out-of-touch with its fans and its partners" PR fiasco.

Are you serious? I mean really, pretty much every other online retailer (like GoG for example) has a return policy, many more lenient than Valves. The fact that Valve hasn't had one till now is ludicrous in it self. I mean imagine if Steam had had this from it's inception and now had taken it away, THAT would be a PR fiasco.

And anyway "PR fiasco's" only happen when the public is mad, not developers. PR being PUBLIC relations, and game buyers outnumber game makers by a large number. So unless this angers a large number of game PLAYERS than valve wont be feeling any heat from it.

 

[Setch Dreskar]

Sorry but have to bring up Jimquisition pretty much debunked this nonsense already. Also massive uptick, on a iOS port game that pc gamers don't like anyways, compared to when refunds weren't allowed. Duh gee I wonder why... derrr

 

[templar1138a]

Hey, Escapist. Enforce journalistic integrity among your writers. The title is biased and the story is seriously one-sided and lacking information that doesn't take much digging to find.

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

Why are people blaming the devs for this? What about Portal? This game was universally lauded as one of the best games of 2007. It can be completed in under two hours easily, even for a first-time player (under one hour for an experienced player).

Length and quality are not the same thing. Just because a game is short doesn't mean they put in minimal effort. Further, if the game is cheap enough ($5 or less), then it's especially hard to fault 'em for the length.

P.S. Thanks

Portal had replay value, challenge maps, and a lasting charm that made people want to play it. That experienced players exist and have run the game enough to rush through it like that is proof of that. Games are much more than a single run, often. If a game is fewer than two hours long and has absolutely nothing to keep you interested or coming back, it probably isn't worth what they're asking, outside of a dollar or so.

 

[Bat Vader]

If you game is under 2 hours long that shit had better be free because if you are going to put in the minimal amount of work into your game, then I'm going to pay the minimal price I feel your game is worth (namely, jack shit).

How do you know they put a minimal amount of work into their game? You can't judge how much effort was put into a game just by it's length. There are long games out there that are complete crap like all the games in the FF XIII trilogy. Perhaps a developer has a small interactive story they want to tell and doesn't want to pad it out with stuff they don't feel is important. Some of the best games I have played that have had the most effort involved are shorter games.

 

[Alfador_VII]

Hey, Escapist. Enforce journalistic integrity among your writers. The title is biased and the story is seriously one-sided and lacking information that doesn't take much digging to find.

I'm not sure how many actual writers they have. The news is mostly copy/pasted from elsewhere, or re-typed with errors.