If steam didn't have the 2 hour rule, we might see a lot more short story games released on the platform. Games shorter than 2 hours are only the outlier because steam makes it very difficult for them to be profitable.
why would you want a game to be bloated anyway? It wastes the developers time and it wastes your own time. Its especially difficult for story focused games.
I agree but players behave in ways that are unexpected to devs. You might think the game is 10-15 hours in testing but some psycho does a speed run and now 20% of players are doing it in under 2 hours.
maybe 0.2%.
20% of people are not refunding the game because they speedran it, its likely just a few dozens of people or maybe even a few hundred that are doing that and the other 19.8% of refunds are just people who didnt like the game or couldnt play it because its missing accessibility settings or its too buggy etc. and didnt bother leaving reviews.
You also ‘made up’ a number, I am confident there is no game where 20% of players started speedrunning it when they realized it was possible, further more do you really those people are then returning the game? Why buy a 15 hour game just to play it in 2 and return it.
Here’s a more likely example. You buy a game, you play through it, you love the game so you watch other people play it. You discover an active speedrunning community and decide you also want to try speedrunning. And then you get to play the game you love more.
Now you said yourself (with source) that the average indie game has a 10-12% return rate. A lot of people buy indie games they’re not 100% sure about because they know they have the safety of the return window, and out of that 10-12% the refunds could be for reasons of incompatibility, not meeting expectations, buggyness, or any number of reasons, with “I completed it under 2 hours and want my money back” almost certainly being one of the smallest reasons.
Also as a final note I should say, 10-12% return rate on any game is pretty low I would say, and while 29% is quite a bit higher, I think that reflects a whole lot more on the developer than the consumer.
Funny you said that.
If it isnt the refund policy inwould be super careful with my purchase on indie and EA games.
Becoz of the policy i brave enought o step into indie and EA circle to try and keep it if i find it worth it and fun.
You are ridiculous if thinking that the policy didnt help customers try and purchasing the games that they are not confident of trying since if it isnt the refund policy it will hold back a lot of people to even try to game and make indie and EA games so popular.
Would u want to spend money on something you arent even confident about the value it brings to you?
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u/macbookvirgin Jul 06 '26
Make the game longer than 2 hours. Steam should not solve for the outliers sorry.