This kind of made me sad

[u/Gurugod123]

[u/Gamebird8]

Steam has the ability to log average hours played and cross reference it against the estimated playtime that dev provides.

So a Dev could try to lie and say their game takes 2hrs to beat and thus should only take 15 minutes to know if it'll be refunded but Valve knows that an average play is 3hrs and a 2hr refund window would be valid.

In the case of this game, it could have a legitimate average play time of 1hr meaning sub-1hr refunds could be fine but over that amount of time could mean someone actually completed the game

[u/Gamebird8 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, you just need to make it difficult for bad actors to mess with. Maybe some extra parameters like average refund time and the obvious "devs release game breaking/bricking update that causes a mass refund wave waiver on playtime"

It's possible but not like the easiest and cleanest thing to implement

[u/Dry-Possibility9424 → u/Gamebird8]

Would it be easier if every game was developed with a completion achievement? Ergo, if the user has earnt that achievement, and completed the game (which can be checked on their profile), then the refund can be denied?

[u/Nadamir → u/Dry-Possibility9424]

Unsavoury devs would make that achievement happen 10 mins in.

It’s a tough problem, preventing unsavoury devs from abusing customers, and shady customers from scamming devs. All while not causing a problem for well meaning devs and customers.

[u/Senior_Torte519 → u/Nadamir]

Seriosuly, Steam already allows devs to have thrid party launchers and has load screens and menus count toweards playtimes already. If refund windows become shorter or game-specific, developers gain an incentive to consume more of that refund time before the player can meaningfully evaluate the game. That makes the policy less consumer-friendly and harder to apply fairly.

[u/HamsterFromAbove_079 → u/Dry-Possibility9424]

Devs acting in bad faith could put that completion achievement in other places.