Steam will now offer refunds, but there's a catch

Devoted desktop gamers have a new incentive to continue purchasing games through Valve’s Steam client: refunds.

Players logging in to Steam will find this pop-up advertisement on their dashboards today.

According to the official page for Steam’s new refund program, players will be able to ask for refunds for “nearly any purchase [made] on Steam—for any reason.”

Examples of legitimate claims according to the FAQ page include: a player’s computer being unable to meet a game’s hardware requirements, accidental purchases, and even simply disliking a game after an hour of gameplay. 

There is a catch. In order to ask a refund, players must make the request within the first fourteen days of the title’s purchase, and cannot play the game for more than two hours. That means anyone making a complaint after 120 minutes of gameplay, or requesting a refund for a purchase just seconds after the fourteen-day period will be stuck with their unwanted game forever.

However, Valve has stated that you can still make a refund request after this period, stating that they will still “take a look” at your claim.

Valve has also made it clear in their FAQ that players who abuse the refund process will have their privileges removed, meaning that they will never be able to ask a refund again no matter how legitimate the claim is. What is interesting to note, however, is that  requesting a refund for a game that was purchased just before a sale is still considered a legitimate claim.

More information and a list of where refunds are acceptable – or not for that matter – can be found in the refund FAQ.