Launching in 2003 for PCs, Steam spent many years without a working refund policy for its users. The feature only arrived on the platform in 2015, when Valve introduced a simplified way to return money to players.
Therefore, if you are not satisfied with the purchase of a digital game, you can request your money back without much hassle these days. However, there were some loopholes in this system, which were adjusted by Valve recently.
Valve has adjusted its refund policy, which primarily affects Early Access and Advanced Access games.Source: Steam
The problem started when the company started allowing you to play a game before its official release date through “Early Access” or “Advanced Access” — pre-ordered game features that allow buyers to play them before the official release. . Generally, this occurs through the purchase of a special edition, for example.
But this permission had a loophole that many were taking advantage of on Steam: users could play for many, many hours before release and still request a refund afterwards.
However, Valve changed its refund policy to address this. Now, O Game time available in Advanced Access and Early Access on Steam has a refund limit of two hours.
What changes with the new refund policy on Steam?
With this two-hour limitation after logging into an Early Access game, players will no longer be able to adventure for a long time and then request a refund.
The platform’s old rules stated that “when you pre-purchase a title on Steam (and prepay for the title), you can request a refund at any time before that title’s release. The standard 14-day/two-hour refund period also applies, starting on the game’s release date.”
New refund rule for Early Access or Advanced Access games is now in effect on Steam.Source: Steam
Now, with the new change in Steam’s refund policy, things have changed. “When you purchase a title on Steam before the release date, the two-hour game play limit for refunds will apply (except for beta testing), but the 14-day refund period will not begin until the release date,” it says the new rule.
“For example, If you purchase a game that is in Early Access or Advanced Access, any play time will count toward the two-hour refund limit. If you pre-purchase a title that cannot be played before its release date, you may request a refund at any time prior to that title’s release, and the standard 14-day/two-hour refund period will apply from the release date of the game”, he concludes.
Did you take advantage of this early access loophole on Steam? What did you think of the changes imposed by Valve? Comment on social media Voxel!
