Indie developer criticizes Steam's refund policy after 55,000 refunds

Indie developer Zoroarts has called on Valve to reconsider Steam's refund policy, stating that due to current rules, players have returned over 55,000 copies of the cooperative game Paddle Paddle Paddle. Despite this, the project maintains a "Very Positive" rating (90%).

Currently, as part of the Steam Summer Sale, the game is available at a discount for $3. According to the platform's rules, users can request a refund within 14 days of purchase if they have played the game for less than two hours.

The developer stated that such a system is particularly painful for relatively short games.

According to the author, Paddle Paddle Paddle was originally designed as a game with approximately four hours of gameplay: about 40 minutes for the free demo and another three and a half hours for the full version.

However, in practice, the situation turned out to be ambiguous. Many users spent five hours or more in the game, and some even over 20 hours. At the same time, experienced players and speedrunners could complete it in just one or two hours, retaining the ability to get a refund under Steam's policy.

The developer also mentioned that he repeatedly received comments advising him to "make the game longer than two hours".

As a possible solution, Zoroarts suggested adding information about the expected playtime next to the price on Steam game pages. In his opinion, this would allow buyers to assess the cost-to-content ratio in advance.

However, the developer acknowledged that not all refunds were related to the game's length. In some reviews, users complained about unstable network code, and some players simply noted that they did not like the project.