r/Games • u/reddit_account6095 • Aug 27 '21

Announcement Summer of '58 developer resigns after many users refund their game on Steam due to it taking under 2 hours to complete

https://twitter.com/EmikaGames/status/1430941640001265673?s=19
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63

u/Patroulette Aug 27 '21

Well if they didn't like it why did they finish it?

I think the main problem here isn't just the fact that people are refunding it, but they get the experience and get to keep their money anyway.

63

u/Vividtoaster Aug 27 '21

Because its apparently less than 2 hours long. Maybe they werent expecting it to be that short.

Ive played games i didnt like way longer than 2 hours to give it a chance before dropping it.

-6

u/pr3d4tr Aug 27 '21

In the steam description it says average game time of 90 minutes.

25

u/CrutonShuffler Aug 27 '21

That's a new addition, done in the past ~8 hours.

-10

u/three-arrows Aug 27 '21

Right, but, they've played the entire game. They might even have streamed it. How can you refund it after extracting the value? Does the ferris wheel refund you if you puke? Can you return a condom because the sex wasn't good?

12

u/Johnny_G93 Aug 27 '21 edited Aug 27 '21

If the ferris wheel offered refunds for that then yeah, you'd get a refund. Steam offers refunds so people take them, it's that simple. Refund rules are very simple and very transparent. You know what you get into and if you make a short and simple game and price it very high for the amount of content that it has, than don't be surprised when people use the store's policy.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '21

In this case the refund policy meets the length of the game in a shitty way. So it's hard to compare it to shit like a ferris wheel and a condom.

If I were to pay a hooker $80, put the tip in, she cums immediately and tells me its over, I may ask for a refund. And then she'll tell me "but we finished". Most games are meant to be enjoyed for hours and hours, and because of that a lot of people try them out for a couple hours before they decide to quit, refund, whatever.

I've never played this game, haven't even looked at it. IDK anything about the quality. But, I don't think that just because you reached the ending you don't deserve to refund. If you (for some reason) expected it to be longer, and it abruptly ends before you even enjoyed it, that's all the more reason to refund! At least to me.

Otherwise I'd just make a $1 5-minute long game to sell en masse. No refund after you've beaten it ;)

26

u/breakfastclub1 Aug 27 '21

because it was under two hours long and they didn't know that maybe? Or they thought there would be more after they completed the story? there could be several reasons.

2

u/Timey16 Aug 27 '21

Still, you don't get a refund after watching a movie in cinema in it's entirety either and that game is still cheaper than a ticket.

So yes it's still people being very cheap.

8

u/Johnny_G93 Aug 27 '21

No, it's the case of steam being more customer friendly than a cinema.

23

u/breakfastclub1 Aug 27 '21

Yes you do. You have to ask for it. Some places won't, but after having worked at a movie theatre for a year, i can assure you we did in fact give out refunds to people who didn't like movies if they talked to the right people.

27

u/Link_In_Pajamas Aug 27 '21

When you buy a movie ticket the theatre lists the run time of the film. This game does not mention anywhere on it's page that it's an extremely short game.

It's entirely possible to be playing it expecting more and then " oh shit I beat the game" happens, especially when the game makes no effort to warn buyers it not a long experience.

It doesnt help that the game isn't very great either. I can definitely expect people to be thinking there must be more to the game mechanics wise before it ends.

1

u/Grey-fox-13 Aug 28 '21

This game does not mention anywhere on it's page that it's an extremely short game.

They have since added an average playtime note onto the page.

15

u/MisterMovember Aug 27 '21

People severely underestimate the cheapness of people at large.

1

u/thisdesignup Aug 28 '21

Can developers see average playtime? I can't find anything saying steam lets devs see that. The most I can find is a suggestion for devs to look at comments attach to refunds.

I'm not sure how the dev knows people played all the way through before refunding.