Epic Games Store gets self-service refunds, keyless partner integration and more

[Humza]

In brief: The latest features to arrive on the Epic Games Store enable users to bypass long waiting times associated with processing refund requests, keylessly link third-party store purchases with their Epic account, and manage the client's download speeds. They can also look forward to buying games in their local currency provided it's among the five newly supported types.

Epic has been on a roll lately. The company's impressive Unreal Engine 5 game demo and indie-friendly licensing were universally praised by developers, while on the consumer side its GTA V giveaway on the Epic Games Store has been so popular it nearly choked the platform, followed by Rockstar's struggle of managing the huge influx of new PC players for a game that already has one of the largest player bases nearly seven years on.

With that said, Epic's feature-set for its Games Store still has a lot of ground to cover for catching up with rival platforms, and thankfully, its development plans are chugging along nicely with several new features announced this week.

The most noticeable among these is the new self-service refund option, which (yes, it already exists on Steam) is good news for those looking to swiftly get a refund on eligible titles, without having to go through the hassle of filling contact forms and waiting for long processing times. The criteria for approving self-service refunds is the same as that on Steam, I.e. the game's playtime should be less than 2 hours and it must be purchased within the last 14 days.

As with a few other features, self-service refunds are handled outside the desktop launcher on the Epic Games website

Epic has also been partially refunding players who bought games right before they went on sale, automatically, though it's probably worth mentioning that Steam can do the same upon user request. Epic also notes that refunds will not be granted for games in which a player is banned or has violated its terms of service, and that it will be monitoring for policy abusers as well.

For players who prefer to buy from third-party retailers, Epic has partnered with Fanatical, Green Man Gaming, and Genba Digital for keyless integration that allows users to directly link purchases with their Epic account without having to input 20-digit redemption codes.

Changes to the desktop client, meanwhile, include an updated DRM mechanism that will now display a new error message in case it can't verify game ownership with a user account, prompting the user to purchase it on the store or log in with an account that does have title ownership.

There's also a rather simple throttling feature, which Epic says is in its first iteration, and allows for limiting download speeds in kilobytes per second. A timely addition, given Epic's ongoing Mega Sale, is the support for five new currencies, which include the Canadian and Australian dollar, Swedish Krona, Danish and Norwegian Krone.

Epic has further teased upcoming (and much-needed) features like support for developer and community mods, allowing users to auto-install them for games they own on EGS or download the files separately for other titles.

The company also has an achievement system in-development, which has been around on other platforms for years and would become a great way to track game progress on Epic's platform as it continues to expand its sizable game library.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85278-epic-games-store-gets-self-service-refunds-keyless.html

 

[m4a4]

Finally starting to catch up to other game distribution platforms. I'd rather hear about them throwing money at this than buying timed exclusives...

 

[Puiu]

Finally starting to catch up to other game distribution platforms. I'd rather hear about them throwing money at this than buying timed exclusives...

They need to stop it with the third party exclusives period. Nobody likes this.

 

[dangh]

They need to stop it with the third party exclusives period. Nobody likes this.

I don't mind. Developers have great benefits from that, which in the end will give us more talented people and interesting titles. I usually buy my games on GoG and as close to developers as possible, so I do not mind using Epic if their offer is good. I have all I need - I can get a game, install, and play.

 

[Puiu]

I don't mind. Developers have great benefits from that, which in the end will give us more talented people and interesting titles. I usually buy my games on GoG and as close to developers as possible, so I do not mind using Epic if their offer is good. I have all I need - I can get a game, install, and play.

I do mind since I always look for good deals on multiple websites and exclusivity means that you have 1 price and that's it (for example, I rarely bought games from steam). I don't care about whether it helps the devs or not, I'm the client/costumer. Respect should go both ways, right?

Respecting the devs and accepting anti-consumer practices just so that the publishers could get 10% extra is weird. I just honestly can't understand something like that.

Especially when the majority do it not because they lack the money to finish the game, but because they are afraid it won't sell well. It screams of lack of confidence. (I do understand some small indie devs and why they do it though)