How Steam’s refund policy can harm short games – we asked hit Korean indie dev Somi 

A recent post by Korean indie developer Somi highlighted an issue with Steam refunds that is negatively impacting game creators. A Steam user left a positive review of the South Korean developer’s recent point-and-click adventure game No Case Should Remain Unsolved, yet requested a refund. Automaton investigated Steam’s current refund policy to find out how it is affecting small developers. We also interviewed Somi about his experience. 

Released on January 18 for PC (Steam), Somi’s latest game No Case Should Remain Unsolved is a point-and-click mystery game in which players must piece together memories to solve the mysterious disappearance of a girl who disappeared over a decade ago. The black and white graphics match the noirish story in which it turns out everyone is lying. On Steam, 97% of the reviews for the detective game have been positive, with players praising its unusual mechanics in which you must rearrange conversations to figure out what happened. Like Somi’s previous games, it delivers an intense story in its short playtime. 

Although Somi has been pleased with the game’s positive reception, on January 30, he took to social media to draw attention to a particular review. Although the player had praised the game, they had also successfully requested a refund for it. Somi was puzzled by the fact that someone who had rated the game positively had wanted their money back. 

Easily obtainable refunds 

Why did this happen? The answer lies in Steam’s refund policy. To qualify for a refund, you must apply within 2 weeks of purchasing the game and have less than 2 hours’ playtime. However, Value will sometimes refund games even if the request falls outside these rules. It is also worth mentioning that No Case Should Remain Unsolved is a game that can be completed in less than two hours.  

The author himself played the game in a “lost and confused manner” and saw all the endings, managing to clear the game in two hours and 30 minutes. If you are a fast learner and quick at solving puzzles, you can probably complete the game in less than two hours. This means that Steam users can still meet the refund conditions even if they have completed the game.  

The positive reviewer played the game for 1.8 hours and chose to have the game’s price of approximately $6.99 refunded. According to SOMI’s X post, the refunded review said that it is “a truly moving and amazing game”, causing the developer to wryly muse that “I should have made it a little longer”. 

‘정말 감동적이고 놀라운 게임니다’만 환불입니다. ㅜㅡㅜ
좀 더 길게 만들었어야… pic.twitter.com/PoG4WQ4eKm

— SOMI 소미 🏳‍🌈 (@indie_somi) January 29, 2024

Steam’s refund policy clearly states that “Refunds are designed to remove the risk from purchasing titles on Steam—not as a way to get free games” and that they take abuses of the system seriously. We spoke to Somi to get a developer’s perspective on this issue. 

A strange and puzzling case 

First, we asked Somi how he felt upon seeing the positive review with the refunded status. “I didn’t feel bad or think it was serious. Rather, I thought the situation was a bit funny.” Somi replied, going on to say that he found the contradiction interesting. Upon posting about it on X however, more people were angry than he expected, and clarified that his tweet “wasn’t meant to be a criticism, and I feel very sorry for the player who wrote the review.” 

Somi stated that this is the only review of its kind (positive but refunded) that he has come across, so it seems to be a rare case. He explained that all his games have a refund rate of less than 5%. When asked if he plans to increase the length of future releases to counteract this kind of refund, Somi stated that he has no such intention: “In the tweet, I wrote as if I was thinking about it, but it was more like a whine.” 

However, Somi highlighted problems with Steam’s refund system: “I think there is a problem with a system that allows refunds even if you have played the game from start to finish, and I think it needs to be improved because it can affect the developers and the quality of the game finally. It is very important for the platform to fully guarantee the rights and interests of consumers, but it is not desirable to have a structure that only puts the cost on the provider. If a movie theater offered to refund a ticket to a moviegoer who watched an hour and a half movie because it didn’t last two hours, who would want to make a shorter movie? Even if the purpose of the system is right and justified, I think there is room for improvement if the detailed implementation of the system relies solely on the morality of the consumer.” 

The Steam refund policy varies slightly by region but overall it is very easy for a customer to claim their money back as they don’t have to give a detailed explanation. Although Steam’s guidelines specify measures against abuse of the system, it seems that such actions may get overlooked on occasion. In its current form, Steam’s refund policy can be said to be conscientious towards customers but potentially harmful for developers of short games. 

What can players who love a game do to help? 

It seems that No Case Should Remain Unclosed is not the only short game that has received positive reviews but suffered from refunds. The horror game Summer of ‘58 and the web camera- adventure game Before Your Eyes are examples of short games that can be completed within 2 hours, but offer intense experiences. Developers of both games have commented that some players have received refunds despite completing the games and seeming satisfied with them. In some cases, users have repurchased the game after hearing the developer’s point of view. However, the refund condition of “less than 2 hours’ playtime” is a tricky problem for developers of short games. 

We asked Somi what gamers can do to support developers who see these refunded reviews. He emphasized the importance of telling people how much you enjoyed the developer’s games, stating that: “I hope you’ll talk more about the stories in my games and the feelings you get from them with the people around you. That’s a huge encouragement to me. And thank you so much for loving my game.” 

No Case Should Remain Unsolved is available on PC (Steam). Somi’s other games can also be found on the platform, including Replica, Legal Dungeon and The Wake. 

Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2024-01-29 16:53 JST)