It’s gone viral, sitting at almost 14,000 likes since it was posted three days ago. There’s no telling if Emika Games’ tweet will have a similar impact, or if that will be enough to encourage them to use their talents to make another game in the future. While the reviewer later re-purchased the game and cited their reasons for the refund as budgetary, it’s a problem they were able to pay for a game, enjoy it, and know they could still refund it for no other reason. This prompted a passionate response from the community, resulting in over 30,000 likes as of the writing of this article, and many extra eyes on Before Your Eyes. I think short games shouldn’t get refunded for delivering an amazing experience.” “I think there should be more short games. “Yep we made a short game,” tweeted Bela Messex. They refunded the game, which costs just ten dollars, as a result. In the tweet is a screenshot of a Steam user who left a review praising the story and concept while citing its length (approximately 90 minutes) as a negative. In April, a developer on Before Your Eyes- an incredible game that you’ll surely see on plenty of Game of the Year lists in a few months from now - made a tweet that ended up going viral. Modern Roguelikes Are Fixing Video Games’ Narrative ProblemĮarlier this year, another developer of a small game highlighted how damaging this generous refund policy can be.Fortnite Isn’t the Platform for a Martin Luther King Jr.The Uncanny Reality of Virtual Homecomings.It’s also a small enough window that spares the creators of genuinely great, shorter experiences from the possibility of not making a profit. I feel like an hour is enough time to get a feel for whether you’ll like a game if trailers, previews, or reviews don’t accomplish that well enough. Personally, I’d love to see Steam try to mitigate this problem by reducing the window by half. This has once again sparked discussions on Steam’s refund policy and whether the platform should make changes so that it’s less harmful to small developers. I am very glad that you like my games, but since I have no conditions to do something new, I have to do something else.” The developer ends the statement by saying they will answer any questions on From Day To Day, their upcoming game which will now “not see the light of day in the near future.” “I do not earn anything to create a new game,” continues the developer. This is what has happened with Summer of ’58, which has had “a huge number of returns on the game, even with positive reviews.” Games that aren’t longer than two hours face the very real possibility of being returned even if a player enjoyed playing them, and ultimately struggle to make a profit. Steam’s return policy is that you can ask for a refund on a game as long as you play it for less than two hours. “The fact is that my game Summer of ’58 does not reach two hours of playing time by Steam standards,” the statement reads. Attached is an image of their full statement. “Friends! Thank you for your support! I’m leaving game development for an indefinite time to collect my thoughts,” writes the developer behind Emika Games in a tweet. On August 26, they announced they will be taking an indefinite hiatus from game development because of the impact the policy has had on their game. Emika Games, developer of Summer of ’58, is one of those developers. Unfortunately, despite good intentions, it disproportionately impacts developers of small games. I'm not saying Steam sucks, or don't buy anything, just realize the refund opportunity is pretty much a joke.Steam’s refund policy can be incredibly useful in helping you save money on games that aren’t for you. I'm pretty sure Steam is aware of what they're doing here and they show ZERO empathy for the problem when you try to reason with them, so just FYI. So don't count on Steam's so-called "refund" policy to save you from a crap game or a game you just don't like unless you set a timer for, say, 1 hour and 50 minutes when you start playing and EXIT COMPLETELY OUT OF THE GAME so it doesn't pretend you're playing when you're not even in the room. Apparently, since I didn't exit the game, that counted as "play" time.Īnybody knows you can play a game more than that almost by accident, just trying to figure out game mechanics, etc. You played longer than two hours.įirst of all, I finished a mission and then went off to do RL stuff for several hours.maybe as long as 5 or 6 hours. I didn't even ask for money back, just refund to my Steam wallet. I recently tried to get a refund for a game I owned for two days.
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