Now the hours one has in games that are in Early and Advanced Access are counted towards the total.
Eight years ago, Valve started offering refunds for any game you bought on Steam within 14 days of purchase and as long as two hours of play had not been completed.
But when Valve started making games available on its platform before their official release in “Early Access” and “Advanced Access” status, it introduced a loophole in the system: users could tinker with these titles for hours before the release. circulation, while they still had the option of requesting a refund.
Now, Valve is closing this loophole, as the time one has in a game that has not been released in its final form is counted towards the two-hour margin.
The only exception in terms of working hours is participation in game beta testing. The period of 14 days, however, unlike the hours of engagement, begins to count from the official release of the game.
On the one hand, it makes sense that Valve would want to close a loophole that had apparently been exploited. On the other hand, the fact remains that the two-hour margin it allows users is extremely small in order to form a rudimentarily valid picture of whether they are interested in the title.
This issue, apart from the fact that in many cases it practically cancels any substantial market cancellation margin, has another dimension, which often affects smaller/indie developers: many users, pressured by the suffocating margin left by Valve, proceed to cancel market within a minimum of time, without giving the game a real chance to show its merits.
The whole situation is even taking on dimensions that touch the border of the ghastly, since, in addition to giving users little room to form an image of a title before proceeding with a request for a refund, Valve allows “reviews” to be posted by people who measure the vertigo time of ten minutes of engagement with a title, contributing with its general attitude to the cultivation of a culture of lightness and sloppiness.
Apparently there was even abuse of two hours, in the titles that were in Early Access. The fact remains, however, that compared to the regime of changes that governs GOG, for example (30 days from the purchase, no limit on the hours of engagement), the policy implemented by the largest platform for pc gaming is rather problematic.
