{"id":279217,"date":"2024-04-24T07:57:49","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T14:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/es\/?p=330931"},"modified":"2025-07-01T16:38:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T23:38:50","slug":"steam-is-imposing-new-restrictions-on-its-refund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/steam-is-imposing-new-restrictions-on-its-refund\/","title":{"rendered":"Steam is imposing new restrictions on its refunds."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In all circumstances of life, there is always someone who tries to take advantage of things. <strong>Using legal loopholes to obtain more benefits than they should<\/strong>. Something that is not a problem until it starts to be, because of how it harms other people. That is exactly what has happened with Steam&#8217;s refund policy, <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/steam_refunds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">which is going to change its rules today.<\/a><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Steam\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_app-icon-s\/p\/3047d89c-96d0-11e6-8546-00163ed833e7\/2505233623\/steam-download.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Steam<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/steam.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DOWNLOAD<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--0\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"0\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\"><\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/steam.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any game purchased on Steam can be returned within fourteen days of purchase, as long as it has not been played for more than two hours. <strong>However, Valve is usually quite understanding and often allows returns as long as there is a good reason and not too many hours have been played<\/strong>. However, there was a legal loophole in all of this: the time spent in early access and in the beta version did not count towards the total two hours.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This means that some people would spend dozens of hours playing a game, only to return it before the fourteen days were up. The trick was that, <strong>since these were early access games or games played before their official release, those hours didn&#8217;t count<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Steam Capitalism and Economy Fest 2024: Official Trailer\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dWUOa55s8Pw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now the return rules explicitly state that any amount of gameplay that exceeds two hours will count towards the game&#8217;s return. This includes games in early access and advanced access. However, <strong>games that are purchased before their release and are not playable until then will only start counting both gameplay time and acquisition time once they are playable<\/strong>. This allows for pre-purchased games to be returned if they do not meet players&#8217; expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Valve has been offering no-questions-asked refunds for eight years, within the fourteen-day and two-hour playtime window. And <strong>while it has been a blessing for players, it has also harmed some developers<\/strong>, due to legal loopholes sought by certain parts of the public. Something we hope this rule change will help prevent.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Steam\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_app-icon-s\/p\/3047d89c-96d0-11e6-8546-00163ed833e7\/2505233623\/steam-download.jpg\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Steam<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/steam.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DOWNLOAD<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--0\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"0\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\"><\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/steam.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steam has changed its game refund policy, ensuring that a legal loophole cannot be exploited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9268,"featured_media":279219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[1018,1015],"tags":[6530,6531,1056],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-279217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","category-news","tag-acceso-anticipado","tag-devolucion","tag-steam"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313590,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279217\/revisions\/313590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279217"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=279217"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=279217"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=279217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}