Like Steam, Origin requires you agree to waive your right to a refund as soon as you place your order. You see the image on the right when buying a game through Origin. It offers refunds under what's called the " Great Game Guarantee": Origin requires you agree to withdraw your right to a refund as soon as you place your order. GOG, for example, has a pretty generous "withdrawal right":ĮA's Origin refund policy appears generous, too. It's worth comparing Valve's policies to other video game platforms. This seems outrageous, and it certainly seems anti-consumer, but Valve is no doubt protecting itself here from those who may wish to game the system by treating Steam as if it were a library. As far as Valve is concerned, you may no longer withdraw from the purchase as soon as you, well, make the purchase. EU law mentions you may no longer withdraw from the purchase once you start downloading or streaming the content. There appears to be a discrepancy between how this should all work in practice according to EU law and according to Valve.
Steam refund policy download#
When you buy a game from Steam, it's immediately made available to download and install. And in Valve's eyes, this happens as soon as you click "purchase" - not as soon as you begin downloading. The upshot is that once the contract is being "performed", the right to a refund can be lost. The problem is, we don't yet know what "performance", exactly, means, as there has been no specific legal ruling or guidance on the mater. The customers' right to a refund within 14 days can be lost if "the performance has begun with the consumer's prior express consent and his acknowledgement that he thereby loses his right of withdrawal", according to Article 16(m) of the Consumer Rights Directive. The important word in all of this is "performance".
![steam refund policy steam refund policy](https://news-cdn.softpedia.com/images/news2/Valve-Sued-in-Australia-Over-Steam-Refund-Policy-457351-2.jpg)
When EU customers buy something from Steam, they're shown the following message during the checkout process (we got this message while buying System Shock 2): You must tick this box in order to buy something from Steam.
![steam refund policy steam refund policy](https://indiegamereviewer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Return-To-Sender-1024x672.jpg)
But is the company behind Dota 2, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress actually breaking the law? Now, Valve has come under fire for apparently forcing users to waive their right to a refund before buying something, which sounds ridiculous. It means EU consumers have a 14-day return ability for "digital content".Īnd here's how it works, according to EU law: Video games lawyers have told Eurogamer that Valve and all other major eCommerce platforms changed their consumer terms and conditions to comply with the EU's new consumer laws as set out by the Consumer Rights Directive last year. It was thought that this was a new addition to Valve's Steam agreement, but in truth EU law dictating a 14-day refund policy for digital goods has been in place since summer 2014. This week, Steam users on Reddit noticed Valve had recently updated its subscriber agreement, and in the process sparked a debate about its refund policy.īuried within the agreement is a paragraph about relates to a 14-day no questions asked refund policy for customers in the EU.