Epic Games Store receives 'no questions asked' refund policy

[Polycount]

It's no secret that Steam's game refund policy is one of the most generous in the digital distribution industry. Whereas many stores don't allow refunds at all -- or only allow them for unresolvable technical issues with a game -- Steam shocked the market in 2015 when it announced its "no questions asked" refund policy.

When you buy a game on Steam nowadays, you can refund it as long as it fits two conditions: you must have played it for less than two hours (that includes leaving the game open on a pause screen), and the purchase must be less than 14 days old. If you request a refund and that criteria is met, it will be granted; no questions asked.

You can refund a game because it doesn't work, it doesn't run well on your PC, or you simply don't like it.

Epic understands the value of a good refund policy, and given its obvious desire to compete more heavily with Steam with its new Epic Games Store, it's no surprise to see the company emulate Valve's digital return rules.

Games can be refunded through the Epic Store within 14 days of purchase "for any reason," so long as they were played for less than two hours.

Indeed, Epic's newly-updated refund policy is virtually a direct copy of Steam's. Games can be refunded through the Epic Store within 14 days of purchase "for any reason," so long as they were played for less than two hours.

The inspiration Epic has drawn from Steam is made even more evident by this clause at the end, which was designed to address the question of refunding games that go on sale shortly after purchase: "You can refund your purchase for a full refund and immediately re-purchase the product as long as it abides by the above guidelines, we do not consider this to be refund abuse."

For the sake of comparison, the following is an excerpt from Steam's refund guidelines: "We do not consider it abuse to request a refund on a title that was purchased just before a sale and then immediately rebuying that title for the sale price."

These striking similarities aside, as the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And from a consumer perspective, more digital distribution platforms offering such pro-customer refund policies can only be a good thing.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/78262-epic-game-store-receives-no-questions-asked-refund.html

 

[TomSEA]

Glad to see these distributors going down this route. A game is a product like any other that should be refundable if the purchaser is not satisfied. There was a time when if you bought a game, that's it - you were stuck with it no matter how bad or glitchy.

And I find the two-hours play and within 14-days of purchase limitations perfectly reasonable.

 

[Uncle Al]

Long overdue and certainly welcome. I do question the 2 hour policy since it often takes a bit longer to really evaluate a game. A one day policy sounds more reasonable but I guess we just have what we have ......

 

[Lew Zealand]

You can finish some games in a day so I can see where 24 straight hours of game play might be giving people a bit too much flexibility to abuse the system. At least the current system is somewhat reasonable and being embraced by more publishers. Keep going... cough cough EA Origin cough cough.

 

[psycros]

I've spent more than two hours just trying to get a new game to run correctly. A four hour grace period seems a lot more reasonable.

 

[Trillionsin]

Yea, okay does this include Fortnite? (Save the World version, when it was paid for) I purchased, and emailed support for a refund. They told me, blanket policy, there are no refunds for game purchase transactions. They would not do it. Even after having several sources from their own forums of people getting refunds for their transactions, (even micro-transactions!!) What a train wreck of a company... to bad they can't donate to charity of some sort, raise money with skins for breast care awareness foundation (dont know exact name sorry)... gamers could really change the world... with what they are paying for on skins, the amount of money Epic Games is making.... who knows, maybe it could have SOME impact.

I refuse to give them a dollar. I will never purchase from their store. Maybe they can turn my opinion around if they want to do something else with all their easy skin money.

I have no gripe on the 2 hour policy. I'm surprised it's not only a 1 hour time frame.

 

[mark m]

I recently purchased a game for $60.00 from Epic games and the download would not go through due to them sending it to an old e-mail address that I don't have anymore. I tried to refund and reorder but they denied my request. I then sent them the eight verifications questions they requested to prove my identity but got no reply. It's now been 4 days and still no reply from them. What is going on anymore when these companies feel they can take your money and then screw you. There is no phone number to call and I opened 4 tickets but I get no answer from them. Please, can someone tell me how could the little guy fight back. I just want what I paid for. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thank You.