Steam Refund Policy Changed by Valve to Fix Major Exploit

Valve has changed its refund policy on Steam to account for a notable exploit that many users had started to take advantage of. Broadly speaking, Steam’s refund policy has been the same for a very long time. As long as users haven’t played more than two hours of any game that they buy, they’re able to get a full refund without any questions asked. And while this aspect of Steam isn’t changing, Valve has altered when this two-hour play period kicks into effect. 

In a new message posted to Steam, Valve said that games that are released ahead of their official launch dates will now qualify to begin this period of two hours that users have to experience a title before deciding if they want to return it. Over the past few years, many publishers have started to grant access to games two or three days ahead of their official launches as a perk tied to pre-orders or certain higher-end editions. Previously, games that were available in this early access phase on Steam wouldn’t count toward the two-hour time period, which meant that users could feasibly play through an entire game and get a refund before it was properly released. Now, Steam says it will be rectifying this to prevent Steam members from abusing the platform’s refund system. 

“When you purchase a title on Steam prior to the release date, the two-hour playtime limit for refunds will apply (except for beta testing), but the 14-day period for refunds will not start until the release date,” says Valve’s new explanation of the system. “For example, if you purchase a game that is in Early Access or Advanced Access, any playtime will count against the two-hour refund limit. If you pre-purchase a title which is not playable prior to the release date, you can request a refund at any time prior to release of that title, and the standard 14-day/two-hour refund period will apply starting on the game’s release date.”

Generally speaking, it’s hard to blame Valve for making this move with Steam, especially since early access perks are becoming far more common with many video game releases. Even with this alteration, though, Steam continues to have one of the best refund systems when it comes to digital video game purchases. As a result, this change likely won’t dissuade many from continuing to use the platform as their main hub for gaming on PC.