So for those of you who live under a rock you will have missed the latest in gaming news.

That's right, Steam has gone pro-consumer with their completely amended refunds policy. The new policy will allow users to return a game and get a refund providing that you are returning the game within 14 days of purchase AND you have not played the game for more than 2 hours. The best part about this, is this isn't a half hearted policy in which you get Steam credit. No, where it is possible Steam will credit you via the initial payment method, meaning if you buy a game via debit/credit card, you'll see the funds back in your bank account rather than through steam wallet. Again, emphasis on "where it is possible" as Steam states this may not always be possible due to restrictions.

You can view the full refunds policy document here: http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds/

Now as a consumer, I think this is a phenomenal change and a good decision made by Steam, I'm very much liking the one section that states it is not abuse if you return a game when you bought it just before a sale so that you can rebuy it at the sale price. That's going to make a lot of people happy, but I'm anxious as to how it will work when the sales do hit and a game's price changes twice.

The media however have taken this by storm and are making all sorts of claims about how it will ruin the industry. What do you guys think?

As everything in Australia must have a refund policy or else, this is good. I know that our government has been pissed at Steam for a while now for not including a refund policy, so I wonder if this decision was somewhat influenced by that.

I remember watching this Video quite some time back.

 

I remember watching this Video quite some time back.

The comments section on that video is absolutely disgusting.  

The comments section on that video is absolutely disgusting.  

​Having just read it, I agree with you 110%.

If only i could've gotten a refund for Emergency 2014. Oh well, I guess this will be plenty helpful in the future. Thanks for sharing this, Luke.

If only i could've gotten a refund for Emergency 2014. Oh well, I guess this will be plenty helpful in the future. Thanks for sharing this, Luke.

​Hey, thank Australia as well.

The comments section on that video is absolutely disgusting.  

​and wise lol

Bren7080 4 месяца назад

So, Australia is suing Valve for having a term in their Terms of Service? <...> Also, refunds on Steam wouldn't work. It just wouldn't.

 

Great news BTW, I think I can try the Steam copy of the GTA V and get a refund when it'll crash on me.   

 

​and wise lol
-snip-

It's against federal law to not have a refund policy on goods in Australia. Federal law > Terms of service. Either abide by our laws or get the fuck out, and as it's in Steam's best interest to not GTFO of Australia, their terms must abide by our laws.

Regardless, I don't see why everyone is so pissy about it. Refunds are a good thing, and if Valve were to be sued it wouldn't do jack to them. They have piles and piles of unused cash that could be used to pay off the lawsuit... or you know, make another game.

It's against federal law to not have a refund policy on goods in Australia. Federal law > Terms of service. Either abide by our laws or get the fuck out, and as it's in Steam's best interest to not GTFO of Australia, their terms must abide by our laws.
Regardless, I don't see why everyone is so pissy about it. Refunds are a good thing, and if Valve were to be sued it wouldn't do jack to them. They have piles and piles of unused cash that could be used to pay off the lawsuit... or you know, make another game.

​I wasn't saying anything about Australian laws. I only tried to show that a guy who wrote that comment was so sure that refunds are not possible on Steam. Today he must be really, really surprised. 

​I wasn't saying anything about Australian laws. I only tried to show that a guy who wrote that comment was so sure that refunds are not possible on Steam. Today he must be really, really surprised. 

​The first half was him bitching about our laws, so, um, yeah. Pardon the confusion.

I don't see why they wouldn't work on Steam, they work everywhere else.

Burying their recent paid mods bad decision with an actually not bad decision. Close enough to the summer sale to encourage even more haemorrhaging wallets.

As everything in Australia must have a refund policy or else, this is good. I know that our government has been pissed at Steam for a while now for not including a refund policy, so I wonder if this decision was somewhat influenced by that.

​But doesn't it take 14 days to download anything in Australia anyway?

​But doesn't it take 14 days to download anything in Australia anyway?

​Yes. Lol.

In the Comments Section of the Video I posted, there must be many butt-hurt Steam fan-boys who posted that stuff.

LOL. The comments in that video are hilarious. Some people are just so... LOL. 

Anyways I think that this is a great change.