***Update – 2015-06-10 – 17:24 CEST ***

I just want to point the following things out (since i caused some fuss on Twitter):

1. I´m not against the refund policy on Steam (bad or really short games should NOT be overpriced)
2. I just now found out about TotalBiscuit´s video on the subject, so I added it to this post (thanks Saketume!)
3. I was wrong about the sale statics. As they’re not accurate at all (I apologize)
4. We will have wait for more statics from Steam sales, refunds and comments from developers, before we know for sure whether or not the Steam refund policy is harmful to developers or not

So I want to apologize for my mistake, I was to fast on the trigger. I will try to contact all the indie developers whom we know, and ask them for their thoughts and opinions about Steams refund policy. I will of course add sale statics if (accurate before and after the launch of Steams new refund policy) we´ve been given such. I still think that Steam´s refund policy is somewhat flawed. However, but since it´s just been launched. That was somewhat expected, but if we (the Gamers and consumers), devs and Valve work together.

We can improve Steam´s refund policy for sure, and thus solve most of its current problems. I would also like to point out that John Papadopoulos (dsogaming) made a really good comment about all of this:

“1) Steam’s refund policy currently can be exploited. Totalbiscuit agreed that in its first days some users may have abused it (16:10 mark of his video).

2) Steam’s refund policy needs to be refined. Fact. We all agree on this one.

3) “Steam’s new refund policy allows gamers to play and test a lot of games for free.” That’s also a fact. You can play for free 2 hours of each game and get a refund. Not a bad thing as there are no demos, except when a game lasts 2 hours (whatever game that is, it does not matter whether it is from Qwiboo or from PuppyGames).

4) “You see, some gamers are really greedy and will take advantage of this new policy.” Also a fact. There are some greedy gamers. We did not claim that ALL PC gamers are greedy, so don’t put words in our mouth. Like it or not, there are some bad apples. And bad apples can be found everywhere.

5) Did we really take anyone’s side here? Of course and we didn’t.

6) Our opinion is that the “time-played” rule is flawed. That has nothing to do with Qwiboo or PuppyGames. For indie games like Beyond Gravity or Supercharged Robot VULKAISER, you only need 10-20 minutes to realize whether this is a game you like or not.

7) Our opinion is NOT that Steam’s refund policy will doom indie devs. Or that it’s a bad thing. Or that it’s the worst thing ever. Or that it is not needed. Our opinion is that it is flawed, and everyone agrees on it. It needs to be refined. We raised awareness. Now if some misinterpreted this article, well… that’s not really our fault.” – John Papadopoulos, dsogaming

With that said, i´m going to update this article once i have more information and “accurate” Steam sales numbers and refunds from devs.

—————————————————-

***Update 1 – 2015-06-10 – 16:11 CEST ***

Oh dear, it seems like Steam´s new refund policy indeed has caused some economic damages to indie devs after all. It has to be some kind of record as well. As developers have already started to report to Valve about Gamers that´s abusing their new refund policy, and keep in mind. Valve launched the brand-new policy just one week ago. One indie developer who suffered big time by the new refund policy on Steam, was Qwiboo (the creator of “Beyond Gravity”).

As Qwiboo´s sales started to drop after Valve’s introduction of their new refund policy. In fact, this is what Qwiboo tweeted out on Twitter just recently:

“It’s refunds. Out of 18 sales 13 refunded in just last 3 days. That’s 72% of purchases. Rate of refunds before was minimal. #SteamRefunds”– Qwiboo (@qwiboo) June 6, 2015

Qwiboo´s Steam sale statics don´t tell the whole story about sales Vs refunds (as Totalbiscuit also pointed out in his video).

Sadly enough, Qwiboo is far from the only indie developer who has started to lose money because of the new refund policy. As PuppyGames (Droid Assault, Titan Attacks, Ultratron) has also shared a similar faith as Qwiboo. So I guess that I got a “little” bit too excited when I first heard about the refund policy. I have to say that I have changed my mind quite a bit since I found out about the “dark side” of the refund policy, however. Since I already know that many developers (especially indie devs) are struggling just to stay alive (make enough money to pay for food and rent).

So I really hope that Valve will take care of this problem as soon as possible. Since the current state of the Steam refund policy indeed could be hurtful to indie developers (as it´s being exploited as we speak), but what do you guys think about all of this? It would also be awesome if some devs could share their thoughts on the subject as well.

Source:
DSOGaming

Reddit
—————————————————-

Steam´s new refund policy seems to be something of a two-edged sword at the moment. As the Gamers is praising it (it´s something which they have requested for a long time), but some “certain” indie developers seem to hate the new refund policy on Steam. As indie devs fear that Gamers will abuse the return policy. I hardly doubt it though, as people could just download their games illegally if they wanted to.

Sure, the Steam refund policy gives them a legal option to do so. Even so, it seems like Valve has thought of this as well. Yes, you can get a full refund on pretty much every game, there is on Steam (for whatever reason, there might be). However, there´s a catch to Steams new return policy. As you will only be granted a full refund “if” you have played less than two-hours of the game that you just bought.

Thanks the Steams new return policy, Steam will now become something of a quality control instrument. So indie devs such as this will get caught in the filter for sure.

In fact, these are the official rules that applies for Steam´s new return policy:
“You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn’t meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn’t like it. It doesn’t matter. Valve will, upon request via help.steampowered.com, issue a refund for any reason,”

“The Steam refund offer, within two weeks of purchase and with less than two hours of playtime, applies to games and software applications on the Steam store.” – Steam

The thing is this. Sure, people could abuse the system return policy to death, but they would most likely get punished for it.

These return policy rules even apply to DLCs as well, except maybe for third-party DLC´s (the kind that levels up your character, for example). Some may hate Steams return policy, but i think it´s a huge step in the right direction. Besides, i have to say that Steam has a better refund policy than most of the other digital download stores on the web (like GOG and Origin for example).

So what do you guys and girls think about Valves new refund policy for Steam? Do you like it? Or do you dislike it?

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround