Steam refunds: Valve closes loophole
At Steam, you can return titles played for up to two hours. For early access games, the timer only started after the release – that's changing now.
Valve closes a loophole for Steam refunds.
(Bild: Rokas Tenys/Shutterstock.com)
Valve is restricting refunds for games with early access on its Steam platform. In future, hours played in early access will also count towards the maximum number of hours that can be accumulated before a refund.
On Steam, you can return any game that you have purchased within the last two weeks and played for less than two hours without further explanation. In the case of games with advanced access, however, the hours previously only counted after the official release of the game. This meant that buyers of versions with early access could accumulate significantly more hours and still apply for a refund.
Loophole closed
This loophole will now be closed, Valve writes in an announcement. In future, games with early access will be treated like early access games: All hours played will be taken into account for possible refunds. The 14-day period will still only begin with the full release, according to the updated return conditions.
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Advance access is available for some games for users who have pre-ordered more expensive premium editions. It is common for major publishers in particular to capitalize on fans' anticipation in this way. It is usually a matter of a few days. In the case of the premium editions of Ubisoft's "Star Wars Outlaws" and Warner's "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League", buyers of the premium editions were able to get started around three days earlier than buyers of the standard editions. If you wanted to, you could play through large parts of a game during this period and still get your money back.
Pre-release access, which Steam calls "Advanced Access", is not to be confused with the "Early Access" format: With Early Access, developers offer early versions of their game months or sometimes years before the full release in order to fund development early and involve the community in decisions. This is particularly popular with indie studios, but occasionally large-scale productions such as "Baldur's Gate 3" are also financed via the Early Access format.
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