Indie Developers Report Steam Refund Abuse

Indie Developers Report Steam Refund Abuse

| Source: DSO Gaming Author: Mark Campbell

Indie Developers Report Steam Refund Abuse

After the introduction of Steam's new refund system earlier this week some Indie developers have already told reporters that the system is being abused.

Both Qwiboo and Puppy Games have provided graphs detailing their sales over the past few days, showing that both companies has had their sales dramatically reduced because of Steam Users opting to get a refund for their games.

While looking at these graphs may show that their sales have dramatically dropped after Steam implemented their new Refund system, these graphs are not evidence that the new refund system is being abused by steam users.

here is a quote from Qwiboo's Twitter account;

"Out of 18 sales 13 refunded in just 3 days. That's 72% of purchases. Rates of refunds before was minimal."

The rate of refunds was no doubt "minimum" as the developer said, but this is simply due to the fact that Steam's old refund system was horrible. The increase of users wishing to get a refund for their games is a result of refunds being easily obtained, not as a result of users abusing the system.

When it comes to reviews for Quiboo's Beyond Gravity PC version, it is simply regarded as a simple, lackluster mobile port. It is not hard to believe that Steam users who bought this game on a whim would find themselves unsatisfied, especially since there are much better games which can be purchased from Steam for it's asking price, especially if there is a sale on.

I will agree with these developers that Steam's new refund policy has the potential to be abused by some Steam users, but with the majority of games lasting than Steam's 2 hour return window it is unlikely that this kind of abuse is possible for the majority of good PC games.

The "evidence" provided by Qwiboo and Puppy Games is not evidence that the new Steam Refunds system is being abused, it is more likely that buyers of games from these relatively unknown developers did not like the game they purchased or found that they did not get enough enjoyment for the money they paid for the game within Steam 2 hour playtime return window.

Comparing the rate of refunds before and after this change in policy is irrelevant data as before now refunds are relatively difficult to get and to most was frankly not worth the effort for a game which was only worth £2 or less.

You can join the discussion on Developers reporting abuse of Steam's new refund system on the OC3D Forums.

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