Six Reasons Why Game Developers Should Be Ecstatic About Steam Refunds

Everybody has something to say about Steam’s just-announced refund policy, and that’s obviously great, we get to know different points of view. But I think there are some misconceptions surrounding the initiative, so let me add my two cents as well.

Here’s what’s great about it.

One, piracy makes even less sense now.

Some people will keep pirating games no matter what, even when they cost a dollar. These people are not our customers anyway, so no loss here.

However, some people pirate games because they are afraid that the game sucks or that it won’t run on their PC. And after they start playing the pirated version, they rarely actually buy it later (and if so, it happens with extreme discount sales) because …well, “I’m already on level nine, don’t want to go through it all again.”

Refunds might eliminate that fear. We all know that Steam is popular because it’s oh so convenient: all games in one place, easy auto-updates, tons of other useful features and the social ecosystem. Torrenting is easy but still more hassle than just clicking “Install” and having Steam do the rest — and with the refunds, risk-free.

Two, less angry crusaders.

No PC game exists that runs on everybody’s PC. Sometimes it’s the game’s fault, but more often than not it’s a problem with the customer’s PC. Yes, trust me, I am in this for over twenty years. People have such weird hardware and software set ups sometimes it’s unbelievable. Read this amusing rant on the subject if you want to know more.

However, hell hath no fury like a gamer scorned. There are gamers out there who at the first encounter with an issue will spam your forums with nuclear-glow venom. They will not Google the solution, they will not ask a question, they will just give you a bad review and copy-paste their rants under every forum topic. And even if you solve the problem and it turns out they had three different anti-vir programs running at once on a PC with drivers last updated in 2009, your Steam forum is left forever with threads like “Scammer developer sells game that doesn’t work!”

And of course if you don’t respond within five minutes, it’s “Developer abandons their customers!”

So hard not to agree with this:

Three, demos are bad, but sampling full games is good.

Quite often demos work against your game, and — without it having anything to do with the quality of the game itself — lower your sales. If you want to understand the psychology behind it, watch this.

Things are different when someone samples a full game. They invest themselves in something that actually has a true ending. Their first steps in the game lead towards completion of a full product. Much harder to say good-bye to such investment.

Four, psychology is on your side.

This is going to be a few controversial paragraphs but do not shoot the messenger, I am merely honest about the human brain here.

People who bought something often suffer from a certain type of cognitive bias, one that’s good for your sales. Lee Iacocca’s famous car sales trick is a good example. After someone bought a Chrysler, the company called them later asking for the phone numbers of their friends. Then they called these friends with a “great offer” knowing very well that all these friends heard from the original customer for the last few weeks was “my Chrysler is the best car in the world.”

When people buy a game, they want to like it because hey, “I don’t make bad decisions”. It’s only when the game really sucks or does not work when the brain is able to kill that bias (but then compensates for it with sometimes irrational hatred). A good proof of that is the average score of a Steam game. It is very rare that it goes below “very positive”.

As a result of the confirmation bias, a lot of people will feel discomfort asking for a refund to a non-crashing, decent game because that is admitting they made a mistake. And nearly no one likes to admit that.

There’s more psychology at work here, of course. For example, did you know that a lot of purchases in grocery stores happen just because customers feel guilty about “invading the shop’s space” and leaving empty-handed? So if someone buys your game, in their head they handed you their money already. Some of them might feel guilty when thinking of the refund, and that’s something they’d rather avoid.

Again, the above is not something to cherish, obviously I’d rather have people not use refunds simply because they loved my game. But the biases are an inherent element of the human nature, and in this case they usually work in the favor of the seller. And the “good” thing is that biases are there with you even if you are aware of them.

Five, curiosity.

Making a game is only half the job, the other half is making the world aware it exists. With refunds, people might be more open to just browsing Steam and looking into games they might not look at otherwise — as they never heard about them before or heard just a little. Discovery Queue was the first step towards this, I do think Refunds is another.

Did you know that “A simple and easy return policy boosts sales, as shoppers are more willing to make purchases with the knowledge that returning them won’t be a hassle.”? (source)

Six, it’s just honest.

Some things in life we buy before we can sample what they really are. Like food in a restaurant we never been to before. Or a movie. Trailers, reviews — nothing is exactly like the real thing.

But just as often we know almost exactly what we get ourselves into. Like when we buy shoes, or a painting, or an e-book (most digital shops offer the first chapter previews).

Games are very special because they’re not a passive entertainment. Watching a game and playing a game are two different experiences. Letting the customer taste the real deal assures an honest sale agreement between the developer and the gamer.

And let’s not underestimate our audience.

…and they call gamers “entitled”.

Why would you want people’s money for something they had an unpleasant experience with and thus returned it?

Or are you saying they will cheat you out of your money even if they liked your “vignette game”?

First, wow, that’s a really low opinion on your own audience. Second, no, history tells us that most people do not really abuse refund policies — even if Steam was not paying attention to the potential abuse. I am holding them to their word that they will.

I don’t think short games are in any danger — unless people hate them, but then the same can be said about longer games. Short games have their place on the market, and people who buy them usually like them and pay a low price for them anyway, and that’s not getting them fired up to ask for the refund.

And if the refund initiative forces developers to reveal their games are really short… Well, that’s good. That’s honest. I love short games and I cannot shut up about how the price should not be the deciding factor, but the reality is that for the same price people can buy something that is as enjoyable but lasts longer… That’s totally understandable. Would you prefer to buy a great looking pair of shoes that lasts you half a year or a great looking pair of shoes that lasts you five years?

Look at The Graveyard from Tale of Tales. Totally a “vignette game”.

Isn’t that admirable? I was happy to pay them five Euros just for that honesty, and to help fund their future projects.

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So is it all unicorns and rainbows?

I do think this is a smart move on behalf of Valve. I hope they make it so the refunds are easy to execute and pain-free, because stuff like “people will sample more games” will only work if that’s how the refunds are implemented.

I think the danger of abuse is low. People sometimes abuse refund policies of brick and mortar stores with items that are personal tools (a suitcase returned after a trip) or tools for show (a TV returned after the Superbowl). But people rarely buy games because they feel have to. They buy them for an intimate personal experience. Refund abusers will emerge, no doubt — but I don’t think we’re talking large numbers here.

I am not a soothsayer, though. While the above is my current opinion based on years of experience and research, I acknowledge I might be wrong here and there. There’s nothing to do now but to wait and see what happens, and then revisit the opinion when more data becomes available.

But at the moment, I am quite happy that Valve implemented the idea.