If someone doesn't want to pay for your game they would just pirate it.

I get that's a disappointment for the publisher seeing a sale and then seeing that sale dissapear. But AFAIK they do not have to do anything, Steam manages the refund for them, so it's harmless.

No matter how well you try to adjust the window, I could just copy the game files in my computer, apply the crack if needed and be done with it. I could ask for a refund after just one minute if I wanted. So my advice would be, don't worry about it. You will be paid, as always, by people who appreciate your work and want to give money to you, and, as always, some people will play your game for free.

As somebody who did it twice I learned there are usually 3 reasons why people do it:

• they are assholes
• the game was really disappointing inclusive the time window to finish / price for the game
• they want to see if they fan speed run zhr game and refund it. (For example portal 2)

Paddle Paddle Paddle, is a fun game and does not deserve that treatment. It also has a fun replay value with different friends :D

it is for sure bad taste, to refund a game you enjoyed. but it can't be solved. adjusting time windows will only shift the problem...

however, i do not think this is a problem which needs solving. while it enables some frustration, i am pretty sure this feature makes more money than it looses: because players have this relatively generous refund model, they can take a risk in what they buy. that way players can properly test drive the games they buy and keep the ones which actually strike their fancy.

if that policy would not exist, i think many purchases just would not be made in the first place. especially in this economy.

Feels like a tough problem to solve, but I don't think it's unsolvable. Maybe the refund window could be shorter for games that report themselves as short/small/micro/whatever. Or ineligible for automatic refunds if you have a certain achievement (this one probably is not a good idea).

I guess he should have checked to see how quickly one could beat the game before listing it for sale.

I hate to say it, but the business model always affects the game design. The "meta" is to make a game that's longer than 2 hours if you want to avoid this, or that the player otherwise won't want to part with after that 2 hours is up.

I kinda love short games, I don't have time to put 100 hours in every game I buy. I bought this game in part because it seemed like a bit of silly fun, and was priced appropriately.

A tale as old as time. There's people who buy clothing for a wedding or some other event, for example, and then refund it since you have a 14 day refund window in europe (or at least the DACH area) for basically anything you buy. Companies like zalando have a global 50% return rate across everything they sell.

Sadge, but you can't make everyone happy. Overall, I'd argue that the 2 hour return policy for steam is overall more of a benefit to consumers than it is a detriment for developers. And then again, you can always add a bit more content to the game to make it longer.

it isn't a loophole if it is working as intended and the original headline doesn't say that

also he claims 270k sold and 55k refunded but the game has been out for just under a year and steamdb shows an all-time peak of 401 players?

https://steamdb.info/app/3570070/charts/

edit: might have been a bit harsh, the owner estimates range 160-200k

It would be good to know the refund rate on other games before deciding if this is a problem specific to short games. Maybe that 90% positive review would have been much, much lower if people couldn't get refunds. A $5 game with 70% reviews is not getting 250,000 sales.

For a lot of people there needs to be a certain amount of perceived value per dollar. The article said the game is $5 full price. If I spent $5 and beat it in under 2 hours, I'd refund it too.