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The Business Side of Video (Space) Games EXCLUSIVELY ON IDLE THUMBS

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I don't see Bloodborne as being a game that the general population would be hyped on. Like it's not a system mover, it's specifically enthusiast candy.

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I get the impression that the Xbox One sales boost is fairly inexplicable, no major releases that would favor XBO over PS4, no new bundles, nothing of that nature. I guess it's just an anomaly or a lagging indicator of something?

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Wandering around after reading another article led me to this gem:

 

"I'm sorry." The first H1Z1 cheaters apologise on YouTube

 

John Smedley has gone crazy fierce after separating out from Sony.

 

“Want to get rid of the banned people's stuff. Purge their existence,” he tweeted, adding, “You don't think we know these cockroaches? We do. We are going to be relentless and public. Screw not provoking them.”

“Dear Cheaters who got banned,” tweeted Smedley. “Many of you are emailing me, apologizing and admitting it. Thank you. However.. You're doing it wrong. If you want us to even consider your apology a public YouTube apology is necessary. No personal information please. Email me the link."

 

I wonder if this side of Smedley has always been there trapped by the cruel corporate yoke of Sony.

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My favourite bit is when someone who posted an apology video to get unbanned then took down his apology video, Smedley went and rebanned him.

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Valve rolls out refunds for Steam. It appears that they're using two hours of play or fourteen days of ownership, whichever comes first, as the cutoff. It's not a huge step, but it's definitely a step away from "beg random people in Steam support until someone decides to say okay."

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I dunno I'd say it's a pretty huge step. Also important is that the 14 days apply to post-launch, too, if you preorder a game. So if you preorder 14 days in advance you still have 14 days after it's out to get a refund. IMO it looks like they thought it through pretty well.

 

There is some valid concern in that a lot of indie games can be completed in under two hours, which could lead to people buying a game, beating it, and getting a refund. Which I agree is possible. Buuut, I think that they'll be the minority, and people who would do that would most likely just be pirating the game instead. I dunno, we'll see.

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Halle-fucking-lullah!  It's about time.  I'd praise them for this, but seriously, they're a few years too late to get any real credit for having a policy in place that should have always existed. 

 

 

There is some valid concern in that a lot of indie games can be completed in under two hours, which could lead to people buying a game, beating it, and getting a refund. Which I agree is possible. Buuut, I think that they'll be the minority, and people who would do that would most likely just be pirating the game instead. I dunno, we'll see.

 

In the fine print:

 

 
Abuse

Refunds are designed to remove the risk from purchasing titles on Steam—not as a way to get free games. If it appears to us that you are abusing refunds, we may stop offering them to you. We do not consider it abuse to request a refund on a title that was purchased just before a sale and then immediately rebuying that title for the sale price.

 

That's doubly fantastic that they are partially offering a 14-day price matching window as well as a refund policy (given that you still have to meet the other criteria, it's not a full price matching policy).

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Halle-fucking-lullah!  It's about time.  I'd praise them for this, but seriously, they're a few years too late to get any real credit for having a policy in place that should have always existed. 

 

 

 

In the fine print:

 

 

 

That's doubly fantastic that they are partially offering a 14-day price matching window as well as a refund policy (given that you still have to meet the other criteria, it's not a full price matching policy).

 

I don't understand why this policy "should have always existed" when you can't bring a game back to Gamestop if it's been opened either. I mean maybe I'm just not the sort of person who returns things in real life very often either, but I don't understand when this became a thing for online software sales.

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I don't understand why this policy "should have always existed" when you can't bring a game back to Gamestop if it's been opened either. I mean maybe I'm just not the sort of person who returns things in real life very often either, but I don't understand when this became a thing for online software sales.

 

I take a real hardline on consumer rights versus business rights (and I say that as a retail business owner).  The right to return a product, within a reasonable timeframe and certain conditions, should exist for the vast majority of consumer level purchases.  That games, both physical and digital, have refused to do this for years is something I think is greedy, anti-consumer, unethical bullshit on the part of the companies that have had these policies.  They are policies that treat people as potential criminals rather than valued customers.

 

Steam once tried to refuse to refund a purchase I made when the game had a major, factual error in the description of it.  People have had to fight to get refunds for games that were broken messes.  These are companies trying to foist their mistakes onto the shoulders of consumers, and it has always pissed me off and I've found the reasons and excuses presented by companies to be thin at best and fraudulent at worst. 

 

Unfortunately for a long time, there wasn't even a retailer you could point to in the gaming sphere where returns were a thing you could do, so a customer who opposed these policies didn't even have the option to "vote with their wallet" as they say. 

 

Edited to add: I make very few returns, but I super value a painless process when they are necessary.  Home Depot has an incredible return policy, and one that we found incredibly valuable when remodeling our house, because if we overbought on any material, it was just the easiest thing to take the excess back and get a refund/credit.  As a business owner, I offer paid return labels for items that arrive and don't work for any reason if we are contacted within 14 days of the items arrival. 

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Steam's needed to bring their return policies in line with Australian consumer law for a while - they've been fine taking our money, but not been fine with respecting the rights that go along with that money.

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Does this apply to past purchases? Because I have bought some games that absolutely did not work on Windows 7+ that were still on sale after Windows XP had been end of lifed. :(

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You might be able to. I was thinking about it for Stubbs the Zombie, but then I decided not to bother, since I probably paid less than five bucks for it anyway.

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I can understand why some devs are concerned -- Valve's stated plan to counter abuse is basically just "we'll address it when we see it" and they don't have the best track record on these sorts of things.

 

Still, I think this is overall a good thing, and it may even encourage Steam users to take more risks on their game purchases, now that there's some recourse if you get stuck with a broken game.

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As a consumer the steam refund thing I like, but as a developer it's a little worrying. First off, I just don't see two hours of play as enough time, particularly in larger games where this might not even be enough time to get through the tutorial/opening section. I feel like this period should be set by the developers within some limits, or be related to progress in some way. Personally I would hate for someone to lose out on a refund for a game of mine that they decide they don't like after giving it a solid chance or being a slow player.

Secondly I worry that this could have negative impacts on early access type games, episodic games, in game content, and it doesn't seem clear how the policy applies to expansions and the like (assuming I read it all correctly). I think ultimately time will tell on those counts, though it makes me a bit worried that those become trickier propositions.

Personally I find the comparison to physical goods a bit off, mainly in that after returning something physical you can't use it anymore. To me the best solution to this problem so far is the free weekend thing some games have done, or implementing a rental service that, crucially, the cost of which can be deducted from a later purchase.

I do like this idea, but I think it is only one element of a larger problem. Given the somewhat nebulous nature of digital/online content the real solution is to create a situation where there are multiple ways to buy a thing. I just hope the refund policy doesn't get in the way of devs experimenting with that kind of thing, or doesn't prevent certain types of games from being made altogether.

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Secondly I worry that this could have negative impacts on early access type games, episodic games, in game content, and it doesn't seem clear how the policy applies to expansions and the like (assuming I read it all correctly). I think ultimately time will tell on those counts, though it makes me a bit worried that those become trickier propositions.

 

As someone who got one of those rare refunds for a Steam game after buying it on early access and having it fail to work even after it went into open release, I can tell you, as of a little over a year ago, Valve staunchly denies that purchasing an early-access game constitutes purchasing a product to which any consumer rights can adhere, especially a refund. At times, certain members of their support staff were unwilling even to admit that I had purchased a game at all, at least not insofar as I was acknowledged to have a reasonable expectation of ever being able to play it. Everyone to whom I spoke treated me, seemingly as a matter of corporate policy, like someone who had bought a lottery ticket and was now trying to return it after it didn't win me a fortune. I imagine that, whatever else Valve changes with its refund policy, its attitude towards early access will remain that it's a well down which you throw money in the hopes of a game rising to the surface, and if one does not, you take it up with the well and not with them.

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Damn, if only I weren't past the cutoff time for Borderlands:TPS...

 

I've never begrudged Valve for not having a refund system from the get-go. Because I can understand why it's hard to set up. It's digital products, one of the easiest things to 'steal.' Like you have to come to a decision about how people can download a product, then change their mind but retain the data despite not having access via your authentication system. Because it can be circumvented, if not now then later. Like are you okay with that? And businesses kinda shouldn't be. But at the same time, I do believe in returns being an option. Not an indefinite option (I work retail for a living, I get sick of that shit), but an option nonetheless.

 

I've always seen this issue as something that meant more for people of the UK rather than people of the USA. Because the UK seems to have more strict guidelines about consumer protection and people just grow up with it expecting it everywhere. So when digital distribution hit the scene and it didn't quite fit the mold of those regulations, people had been fucking irate since.

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Digital and physical stuff see definitely different, but for a long time that excuse has been used to not bother offering any consumer protection so it's good to see it back on the table for some reason.

Consumer Protection is bigger over this side of the ocean, but it really ought to be there too because at the end of the day the biggest companies don't give a crap about you so it's nice to have protection in place to enforce a degree of care.

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I honestly did not think this day would ever come (for those outside the EU). Hopefully the refunds will help curb the unsavory trends that have plagued the game industry as of late:
 
- Broken/shoddy game releases (especially triple A titles)
- Confusing pre-order bonuses
- Divisive content e.g. map-packs affecting matchmaking etc
- Flat out false advertising
 
Heck, maybe even early access games will be compelled to update/finish their products.

An interesting point to note is their stance on DLC. Depending on how it's understood by Valve, it could be a huge issue for consumers because time of DLC purchase =/= time of DLC experience. That is, you may not actually see/play the DLC until well over 2hrs into the game. Although I feel the general refund changes are predominantly good, there are some things that are certainly not as simple as it seems and some hairy situations will surely arise.

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