Current Events > Devs quit due to gamers "renting, beating, and returning" their games

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An indie developer is stepping away from making games after claiming that abuse of Steam's refund policy has prevented them from profiting on their latest title.

The developer in question, Emika Games, is the solo indie developer behind Find Yourself, Locked Up, and the recently-released Summer of '58. Each of their games has positive reviews on Steam, including Summer of '58. However, that hasn't stopped players from refunding the game, which costs just $9, immediately after playing it. In most cases, that wouldn't be possible, but because Summer of '58 takes just an hour and a half to beat, it's possible for players to request a refund through Steam.

In a statement on Twitter, the developer thanked people for their support but announced that "I'm leaving game development for an indefinite time to collect my thoughts." According to Emika Games, the large number of refunds for Summer of '58 has meant that they "do not earn anything to create a new game." Emika Games' upcoming title, From Day To Day, has likewise been delayed indefinitely as well, with the developer saying "this game will not see the light of day in the near future."

If its refund policy was abused, this episode would highlight a major issue with Steam's handling of refunds. The digital marketplace's policy lets players get their money back after buying a game as long as it's been played for under two hours. For larger titles, like Mount & Blade Bannerlord or Halo: The Master Chief Collection, this policy makes sense. However, it can be extremely punishing to indie developers, who, much like in Emika Games' case, make shorter games that can be beaten quickly. The Epic Games Store has a similar refund policy, which lets users self-refund games if they've played less than two hours over the course of 14 days.

https://twitter.com/EmikaGames/status/1430941640001265673

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/dev-steps-away-from-making-games-after-alleged-abuse-of-steams-refund-policy/

Maybe make a game that can't be fully beaten in less than 2 hours

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TheRadiant posted...

Maybe make a game that can't be fully beaten in less than 2 hours

Shut the fuck up.

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Maybe Steam should have a rent function then -_-

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Although I do understand the frustration of someone making a game and everyone collectively deciding to do something like this

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This is capitalism's fault, if we lived in a society with a more even distribution of wealth this developer would not have had to worry about money and could have continued making these games for little profit

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Fair

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I mean the games short. Steam has to just prorate the return window based on average game completion length.

so a game like this should have a 30m-1hr return window.

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idk man if I paid $9 for a game and it was only an hour and a half I'd probably want a refund too

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MedeaLysistrata posted...

Maybe Steam should have a rent function then -_-

That's not a bad idea.

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thronedfire2 posted...

idk man if I paid $9 for a game and it was only an hour and a half I'd probably want a refund too

even if you enjoyed the game?

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Steam and Humble Bundle have long ruined the value of indie games. The ones that succeed are ones that's been in development forever by an already capable person or by a team that's fully hireable by bigger studios. Smaller studios or individuals are basically expected to work like 2+ years just to sell their games for a dollar or less. People always say it's gotten better, but no, the damage is done, and seeing this, the damage is still being done

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thronedfire2 posted...

idk man if I paid $9 for a game and it was only an hour and a half I'd probably want a refund too

If people didnt know they were getting a short game, sure


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thronedfire2 posted...

idk man if I paid $9 for a game and it was only an hour and a half I'd probably want a refund too

This. Although I would be more likely to just never buy that game in the first place if it's so short.

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Maybe Steam is not the proper platform for it then?

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I don't know if you can really add any automatic check to games to prevent refunding, because every single one I thought of can be abused by devs to prevent any refunds on their games. This is just a case of people being absolutely shitty.

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thronedfire2 posted...

idk man if I paid $9 for a game and it was only an hour and a half I'd probably want a refund too

That seems like a totally fine price for a game that short. Especially since most people seemed to enjoy it. That's before a sale too.

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They only have themselves to blame for selling hour and a half games.
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TheRadiant posted...

Maybe make a game that can't be fully beaten in less than 2 hours

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sucks for the dev imo

ok its only 2 hours like that gone home game that i really hate but still. $9 isn't so bad for that long of an experience. i've paid more to fill my sexual desires for only like 1 hour.


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I wonder if the developer could actually make a lawsuit against Steam and have a chance at winning some of the revenue due to Steam's refund policies making it too easy to abuse.

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Supposedly there's supposed to be a punishment for people who abuse the refund system, but I have yet to hear of anyone receiving said punishment.

I speak from the achievement hunter side of steam, where "refundos" are very easy and plentiful when there are literally hundreds of quick easy games that you can 100% in under 2 hours.

Rhylos posted...

Supposedly there's supposed to be a punishment for people who abuse the refund system, but I have yet to hear of anyone receiving said punishment.

I speak from the achievement hunter side of steam, where "refundos" are very easy and plentiful when there are literally hundreds of quick easy games that you can 100% in under 2 hours.

Can't you just download a trainer to unlock the achievements for you on Steam anyway? Just seems so pointless.

I can understand card farming they can't refund those games if they want them all.

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TheRadiant posted...

Maybe make a game that can't be fully beaten in less than 2 hours

This. It is expensive for $9.

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most games give you an achievement for beating the game
just make it so that a game cant be refunded if the player has the completed game achievement
problem solved

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Steam has 0 guidelines for achievements. They would never implement such a check, seeing as how there are already thousands of games without said achievement.

Two hour and under games shouldnt exist

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dolomedes posted...

seems like an easy place to start would be to not issue a refund if the person has unlocked all the chievs ...

Cue shitty devs putting all achievements 10 minutes into broken asset flip game.

Anything you do is going to have shitty people taking advantage of it. Pick your poison.

If I was a game developer and I knew that Steam's refund policy allowed anybody to get a refund essentially no-questions-asked with less than 2 hours of playtime, I wouldn't release a game that lasts less than 2 hours on their platform. And if I did, I wouldn't be banking on the revenue from it.

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kirbymuncher posted...

even if you enjoyed the game?

Yep.

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$9 for an hour and a half game?

Lazy dev is lazy. Probably collecting his thoughts on how to design a game that lasts.

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And how about this:

Me, as a consumer, I pay $9 for a game. Hoping for a good, VALUE experience. As any RATIONAL CONSUMER would want. I play the game, and oh shit, it's suddenly over after 90 minutes? Well, that's not what I expected at all. Give me my money back. I'd have kept playing, but I can't even if I wanted to.

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Aristoph posted...

If I was a game developer and I knew that Steam's refund policy allowed anybody to get a refund essentially no-questions-asked with less than 2 hours of playtime, I wouldn't release a game that lasts less than 2 hours on their platform.

this is kinda the unfortunate truth

unfortunate because it's near-impossible to sell games to anyone if they're not on steam

which means it's not really a solution to anything, just a fact of life and steam sucks

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While it's a scummy thing to do on the part of the consumer, i'll never side with a developer who is trying to villainize a return policy, something that's abjectly anticonsumer.

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That's not a game though. That's a demo. 90 minutes is literally the length of a demo.

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How about make your games longer than 2 hours
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samurai bandit posted...

This. It is expensive for $9.

A movie ticket costs more that for less entertainment.

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Naysaspace posted...

That's not a game though. That's a demo. 90 minutes is literally the length of a demo.

People pay more than 9 dollars to see a movie so I dont think there are too few comparisons for this not at least be a both sides issue

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Just looked at the steamcharts of a few of the games. Nobody bought the games peroid. Sub 150 peak players for the most popular one, a couple dozen for the others.

https://steamcharts.com/app/1609080



https://steamcharts.com/app/1258590

https://steamcharts.com/app/1504740

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Either:

A) make your game longer for the price you are charging

B) lower the price for the length of the experience.

pogo_rabid posted...

Just looked at the steamcharts of a few of the games. Nobody bought the games peroid. Sub 150 peak players for the most popular one, a couple dozen for the others.

https://steamcharts.com/app/1609080



https://steamcharts.com/app/1258590

https://steamcharts.com/app/1504740

Well well well
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I don't want to be a cynical asshole, but I feel like this is just advertising. These look like 1-2 hour long asset flip jump scare games. Find Yourself came out February this year, Summer of '58 came out in July. Locked Up has 80 negative reviews, but here's the thing, steam tells you if the reviewer refunded, and only 2 of those 80 did. The other two games are pretty similar. The dev is going to come back next week and thank everyone for the outpouring of support and decide to release the next game after all.


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So a game company keeps making short games that apparently don't engender enough good will to prevent players from refunding the game, and instead of trying to make slightly better and longer games they rage quit.

Bitch move.

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the point of refunds is refunding things that don't work, that weren't what you expected, or maybe that you really didn't like. they're not supposed to be used after you finished the game to get it for free...

like if you're planning to do that why don't you just pirate it

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