closed a gap in it refund policy that effectively allows players to beat the game before the official release date and get their money back. There is a company whereby users can return the game with no questions asked as long as they don’t play for more than two hours in 14 days. Until now, the return policy was more lenient for games in early access or advanced access, but Valve nipped it in the bud.
“When you purchase a title on Steam prior to its release date, a two-hour playtime limit will apply to returns (excluding beta testing), but the 14-day return period will not begin until the release date,” Valve’s said. sings as he notes . “For example, if you purchase a game that is in Early Access or Advanced Access, any play time will be counted against the two-hour refund limit. If you pre-purchase a title that is unplayable before the release date, you can request a refund at any time before that title’s release, and the default A 14-day/two-hour return period will apply from the game’s release date.”
Early access allows players to try out an incomplete version of the game. It’s useful for developers because they can get feedback from players and use it to improve their projects before ramping up the marketing campaign before the official release. Supergiant used this strategy to great success (and maybe want to repeat this trick ). But a game can stay in early access for years. Under the previous policy, players could spend many hours on an early access game and still request a refund on Steam.
As for early access, it refers to playing the full version of the game before its debut. It’s quite common for publishers to sell a deluxe edition of a game that allows players to dive in a few days early. However, Steam made it possible for someone to beat the game in early access and get their money back until the standard version was available to everyone.
The two-hour time limit now applies to games in Early Access and Advanced Access. There’s also a new enhanced login tag to make it clear that the game offers this.
However, there’s another major problem with the two-hour return policy that Steam hasn’t fully addressed. this Very short games for players to collect credits on, usually indie titles. That leaves the game developer and publisher .
