Steam Refund Policy Change Will Now Include Early Access or Advanced Access Titles | MMORPG.com

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Steam Refund Policy Change Will Now Include Early Access or Advanced Access Titles | MMORPG.com

Valve is adjusting its refund policy to now include early access titles as part of its policy, officially.

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Angrakhan

I actually always assumed the refund policy was consistent between EA and released titles. I assumed that you were supposed to know what EA means and if it sucks then, well, welcome to EA. You took the risk. Steam has a pretty explicit disclaimer on all EA titles.

Chaserz

I wish I had known about Steam's (prior) early access policy. I would have tried out a lot more of them! Now I have only 2 hours.

dirtyside

so ........lets say i played a game like Carth for 10 hrs right now then next year it decides to release for 20$ and i want to try it to see if it actually is playable . i play 5 mins and its not ....... i'm screwed ??? because of the 10 hrs of free EA

Kyleran

Don't feel bad guys, not being very familiar with Steam I purchased about 15 titles (on sale fortunately) back in 2016 coming off of 10 years of mostly EVE.

I thought I would have 2 hr trials for each not realizing there's a 2 week window to conduct said trial.  

Oh well, wasn't that much money but I have never tried to do a 2 hr trial run of a game ever again.

I still haven't broken the seal on more than a few of them.

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Scot

Originalice1 said:

I stopped using steam as often switched to gog, only reason I use steam now a days is if the game isn't on gog.

That said I don't think a refund on early access games is idk fair you knew what you signed up for why should they have to give you your money back.

Welcome to the forums!

Scot

This has made early access far worse, have a think about it. You buy the game in EA and play for two hours, no matter what then happens you cannot get a refund. Up till now you could still get two hours post proper launch to finally make up your mind. It's gaming, it's what you pay in gaming, it only gets worse.

Does anyone here think a game will have a big sign on the Steam page and in game to show it is beta so you can play without worrying about your refund? You will still have the 14 day refund as long as you did not play in early access, so what's the point of buying early access, what access would you be getting if you don't play?

Advanced access is going to make the goal post moving of early access even more dubious than it already was. In fact on this very forum I predicted (from a few possibilities) that having Earlier Access would be the next move, I got it the wrong way round this is "Later Than Early" access.

Just like Early Access, Advanced Access will not see much use at first, then it will pick up until most studios are using it. We have been told that is will mean: "the tag will appear on any game that offers a window to play before release through deluxe editions or other bonuses". Well just the like the way what early access was supposed to be has been stretched and abused, guess what will happen here.

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olepi

I guess this won't affect me very much. I never refund games, the whole idea of buying a game just to get a refund seems wrong to me. I've only gotten a refund on one game in the last 10 years and that was because it turned out it didn't support my graphics hardware, although I had the latest and greatest AMD GPU.

My simple rules are to wait until a game has actually released, wait a few months more, and then read the reviews. Maybe watch some videos of gameplay. Then if I decide to buy it, I never get a refund.

Early access is just access as far as I can tell. If you can buy it then it has released, whether they call it "early access" or "alpha" or whatever. So-called early access just means you are buying a half-baked cake expecting you'll like it once it is done. I only do that with a few games; I did buy early for New World and Starfield. 

The idea that you would buy a half-baked cake, eat some of it before it is done, and then demand a refund seems weird to me. Of course, I am old now; I remember when they had this thing called a "free trial".

Kyleran

The way I read this new policy is I could buy an early access title today, play it for 30 minutes, set it aside, come back 5 years later, play another 30 minutes, come back 5 years later play 59 minutes and it was still in early access (7D2D) request a refund up to 14 days after final release.

What is not explicitly clear is what exactly does "not playable" mean. What if the game is playable but there are queues to get in that prevent me from actually entering the game world?

I've been told traditionally Steam doesn't count such against the 2 hour limit, but that must have been (and still is) some sort of house rule granted at their option because the refund policy does not explicitly state this anywhere.

Another question is can they enact this refund policy retroactively or if someone bought 7D2D 9 years ago, played the game for 10K hours, could they still request a refund even today, up to 14 days after release when the game launches later this summer?

They do have a clause that states the can deny refunds if they believe a player is abusing the system so I imagine the latter example would fall into this category.

But what if the customer had only played for say 20 hours 9 years ago but never again, waiting for the release announcement could they still get a refund today?

 All clear as mud I'd say.

Vrika

Can anyone verify, is this news actually true for Early Access games?

I think Valve changed their policy for Advanced Access games

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/4195741362094579141

For Early Access games, hasn't Valve's policy already been that the game is released as incomplete version, and then both the 2 hour and 14 day limits for refunds start counting from release into Early Access. I don't think their Early Access terms had the loophole described in the article.

Scot

Vrika said:

Can anyone verify, is this news actually true for Early Access games?

I think Valve changed their policy for Advanced Access games

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/4195741362094579141

For Early Access games, hasn't Valve's policy already been that the game is released as incomplete version, and then both the 2 hour and 14 day limits for refunds start counting from release into Early Access. I don't think their Early Access terms had the loophole described in the article.

Hmm, gonna hand this over to the early access guys to work out if that's true. Would change my stance a lot. But what is being said about Advanced Access seems to match what is said here. On the face of it AE is just a formalized pre-release access, but dodgy studios will push for this to be another stage in game development.

cheyane

I usually refund within 30 minutes. It's usually something bad where I cannot play. Like when my hand hurts from constant left clicking for attacks. If that is the case I already know I cannot play it so I immediately refund. There is no like this game is going to get better because it never will for me.

ValdemarJ

I didn't realize Valved changed EA refund policy. Is that actually true because I'm not seeing a difference from then to now for "Early Access".

I've always treated them like launched games with regards to purchasing. I've returned an EA title within the standard refund period and always assumed that if I bought it later again, then that was on me.

Scot

There seems to be a lot of confusion here, I would have thought our early adopter players would be all over this with exactly what happened before. So I am still uncertain if the change to early access has made early access worse as an option.

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Sovrath

tzervo said:

Scot said:

There seems to be a lot of confusion here, I would have thought our early adopter players would be all over this with exactly what happened before. So I am still uncertain if the change to early access has made early access worse as an option.

I treat early access as any other release: they charge money for something I can play, and I simply evaluate the fun I can get from it in its current state versus its current price.

I use Steam refunds as intended: I try the game for ~1h to see if I like it and then either refund it or keep it. So this change does not really affect me as someone who has no issues buying and playing EA games. It makes sense to me.

Same here, early access is the same for me except my expectations for a complete game.

If I play it and it seems to have promise then I’ll keep it. If it seems bad (apart from things not being finished) I’ll refund it within the 2 hours.

ShinyFlygon

Ideally this would make people less likely to purchase EA titles, but I know it won't.

I personally won't touch anything in Early Access unless pressured by my friends. Even then, I'll usually suggest we all wait until full launch. (One notable exception - Void Crew. No regrets, we've had a blast!)

Kyleran

Sovrath said:

tzervo said:

Scot said:

There seems to be a lot of confusion here, I would have thought our early adopter players would be all over this with exactly what happened before. So I am still uncertain if the change to early access has made early access worse as an option.

I treat early access as any other release: they charge money for something I can play, and I simply evaluate the fun I can get from it in its current state versus its current price.

I use Steam refunds as intended: I try the game for ~1h to see if I like it and then either refund it or keep it. So this change does not really affect me as someone who has no issues buying and playing EA games. It makes sense to me.

Same here, early access is the same for me except my expectations for a complete game.

If I play it and it seems to have promise then I’ll keep it. If it seems bad (apart from things not being finished) I’ll refund it within the 2 hours.

Quite honestly, I don't buy many games on a whim, but when I do I have never refunded as usually I'm buying on a Steam sale at a big discount.

If they don't click (Disco Elysium, looking at you) at first I keep them in case one day either they or I will change somehow to make it enjoyable.

The one game I attempted to refund in modern times was ESO back at launch, but living in the US they weren't giving out many refunds.  

Worked out though, 7 years later after I was done holding my grudge against Zenimax I went back and had about 9 enjoyable months including even doing a bit of light 12 man raiding.

Wasn't even Zenimax's fault I quit again, had a major falling out with the other leaders of the guild I had helped found so decided to move on.

Scot

You didn't like Disco Elysium, it was amazing! It took me back to my "adventure game" (old style meaning) roots while blasting off any cobwebs the genre had on it.

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Kyleran

I largely play online games in part because I can't "save and reload" when things don't go my way.

Lacking in self control, and an affirmed member of "SA" (Save-aholic Anonymous) I cannot abide anything but the optimal outcome in any decision point in a RPG.

Enter Disco Elysium....no matter how many times one saves and restores a scenario it's often very difficult to determine what the optimal outcome should be...which drives me crazy.

cheyane

I am a save scummer.

ValdemarJ

cheyane said:

I am a save scummer.

All of us honest people are. lol

Sovrath

cheyane said:

I am a save scummer.

The way I look at it is that the ultimate outcome is the win state.

So, if I fail to achieve that outcome I can reload and try again.

If I were to die in combat I’d have to reload so there’s no difference for me. 

A friend of mine isn’t like that. For him it’s about “what happens ‘happens’.”