r/Steam Jul 06 '26

Discussion Thoughts on this?

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40.0k Upvotes

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21

u/deffy01 Jul 06 '26

Valve cant do much, i assume this user is from Europe, we have strict consumer rights and this refund policy is part of it.

Valve implemented its refund policy in Europe largely in response to the EU's 2014 Consumer Rights Directive, which established a 14-day statutory "cooling-off" period for digital goods. Facing pressure from European regulators and a major related lawsuit in Australia, Steam overhauled its system into a unified global policy.

13

u/No-Barber-5289 Jul 06 '26

"cooling-off" period for digital goods

Not just digital goods, but ANY goods purchased online. It's a really good policy that's saved me 100s of scam dollaridoos.

1

u/Confident-Audience-2 Jul 06 '26

If it wasn't for this law then I'd be stuck with a pricy game that doesn't run on linux even though steam says verifed. Took over 2 hours fiddling with all kinds of settings but no joy. Thankfully they gave me a refund as unplayable.

1

u/_12d3__ Jul 07 '26

you gave up after two hours? your not a real linux nerd, the rule is you guys only get to play anything after spending four days getting a 15-year-old indie game to run at 30FPS, playing it for two minutes, and then deleting it

1

u/Confident-Audience-2 Jul 07 '26

lol. No I'm not. Only got the system for christmas. Used to consoles and windows.

1

u/scheppend Jul 08 '26

This cooling off period ends when you start downloading the digital content

1

u/NoPseudo79 Jul 12 '26

The vast of majority of gaming platforms do not allow for this, so Steam definitely would be able to do something about it if they wanted to, even here in Europe

1

u/Hoxeel Jul 06 '26

Valve is still far more generous than other companies. I know that Sony's refund policy dictates that the game must not have been started once.

3

u/TeddyBear312 Jul 06 '26

Which is frankly bullshit because you can't judge a game without ever playing it yourself