Steam Updates Refund Policy

One of the greatest features Steam ever added was the ability to just take any game you bought, and refund it immediately with no questions asked, as long as you meet the requirements, that is.

While some people try to bend it to their benefit as much as possible, especially when it comes to short games that can be beaten in less than the two-hour refund window, the system remained unchanged for years.

However, until now, there was but one loophole that went unchecked for quite some time. In case you're not familiar with the rules, Steam refund policy is pretty simple. If you played the game for less than 2 hours, and it has been in your library for no more than 14 days, you can get an immediate refund. Also, if you pre-order a game, you can refund it at any point prior to release, even if you pre-ordered more than 2 weeks ago.

Now, there was a funny little overlap here when it came to the scummy industry practice that steam calls "advanced access". This is where you pay more just to play the game on release, while the peasants and plebeians, who merely paid the full price, will have to wait a few days.

While factually, the game is out once the "advanced access" is available, it's not out technically. As such, you could've played this "unreleased" game for as long as you wish and then still get an easy refund. Valve noticed that it seems, so they now changed it and the normal rules apply to advanced access as well.

Unless you were seeking out games that offer something like this to try and get your fill for free, you got nothing to worry about, so for the rest of us it's mostly just a bug fix, in essence. As questionable (to put it lightly) as "advanced access" is, trying to essentially play the full game for free is not the answer. It's best to at least try to vote with your wallet, and show disapproval for bad practices in more civil ways.