Streamer Easily Beats Sonic Forces, Then Demands Steam Refund On Camera

We like that some Twitch streamers out there like to show off a little personality, whether it’s being cocky with their favorite fighting game, or showing fond appreciation of classic games. But there are also a few bad apples in the bunch that give streaming a bad name, especially those that try to find a way to exploit a certain system.

Following the news of one streamer’s awful rant against women, another case has appeared, with Polygon reporting a streamer that has managed to dominate a new release, but then went as far as demanding that Steam give him his money back – despite falling out of the guidelines of the company’s refund policy.

The streamer, by the name of WeeGeetheGod, aka Cade McKown, was playing Sega’s Sonic Forces, which just came out earlier this month. He ran into a number of bugs in the game, which is understandable to get frustrated about, but then let loose with a savage scream at one point in the game and went off about the game’s lack of quality.

We can understand that – gamers get frustrated. But here’s what boggles us. The streamer persevered through the game and managed to beat it in just under three hours’ time, and then decided to go onto Steam and demand a refund. And here’s where he attempted to exploit the system – he noted nothing about the game’s glitches or performance, and instead simply told the reps that he bought the wrong game.

“Hello, I thought that this was a different Sonic game and I meant to buy another game instead of this one,” he said. “I realize that this is the wrong one and I would like to refund it please. Thank you.”

As if that’s not bad enough, he yelled for Sega to “give me my fucking money back.”

Now, Steam’s current refund policy, as it stands, indicates that a game can be refunded within a 14-day period if it’s played less than two hours. He played it for more than that, and the company could easily check his Achievements and see that he beat the game in its entirety, putting some fibbage on his story.

To make matters worse, McKown got the refund, and then took to Twitter to boast about it, noting, “I purchased Sonic Forces, beat Sonic Forces and refunded Sonic Forces all in one stream. We call that V A L U E.”

McKown even defended his reasoning for the refund, telling Polygon that “if my actions truly did violate/abuse Steam’s refund policy, my request would have been denied.” You can see the tweet and refund below.

While it’s understood that the game may not be for everyone (and not nearly as good as, say, Sonic Mania), this exploitation of the system is a bad look on Twitch streamers in general, and a wake-up call for Valve to take a closer look at its refund system.

Sonic Forces is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC and Nintendo Switch.