Steam refund policies (The Last of Us Part 1)

[Dæmon]

At the time it came out on PC I bought and opened the game and waited for a bit, until I realized it was going to take hours on end for the shaders to compile. After 33 minutes and reading on the "The Last of Us" forum I decided to shut it down, because of the performance issues I read about, even on very powerful PC's. My PC is middling at best because of my RTX3070 8GB VRAM bottleneck. I then practically forgot about the game and let it linger in my library. Now, almost 6 months later I visited the "The Last of Us" forums again, to see if it had gotten any better, and from what I gather it has not... So I tried to get a refund for the POS port, but of course Steam support refused, because it has been over >>14 days<< since. (Bought in March 2023)

Here is the problem. When I opened the game the first time, it was ~20% done with the shader compilation @ 33 minutes. So when taking that into account it would've taken over two hours to compile shaders, and THEN I would be able to begin "playing". From what I read - a slideshow.

(It also took 14 days for me(or rather for the developer) to get Modern Warfare 2019 to work properly in multiplayer fx.)

I would've already passed the required "under two hours"-requirement at that time to get the refund, just to try to get the game running >_< how is this okay?

Valve practically runs a monopoly with Steam and you are forced to play many games with the help of the launcher. Your money is "locked" when you add them to your account(presumably because of money laundering and legislation, but let's be real, it helps them tremendously in keeping peoples' money here tied to- and circulating on the platform).

So... where did the consumer's rights go? Never mind the fact that they write all of the small print when you buy something, I am writing about ethics. I know Valve are a company and companies get increasingly greedy and lazy, but where does this end? Games keep getting released in very sorry states and nobody gives a ♥♥♥♥ and it just gets worse every year. Isn't it time that they once again focus on the customer? What happened to "the customer is always right"? I guess that is long dead and gone. I think it is high time to revise both the two hours and fourteen day refund walls. Either that or enforcing release of functioning games at launch. If they release 33% functioning games, I want to be able to pay only that - 33%, see how they like it.

For your information I have only refunded maybe two games in my 17 years on Steam (I don't think I have refunded even one game when I bought hard copies before that), it is not like I do this every time. I have a TON of games just idling in my libraries; like Forza Horizon 5 and Farcry 4 & 5 on my Ubisoft account, which I will probably never open, but at the same time don't mind because I got them on sale. I also have Cyberpunk and No Man's Sky which have used years to get into a playable state. Full retail price for games that don't even work, however, is not something I can accept with a smile. But I guess I will add The Callisto Protocol (also ♥♥♥♥ game) and TLOU to that pile :-D

I don't expect people to band together and cause an uproar, as I know most don't give a fudge about any of this. I just feel like it gets worse and worse and worse and they keep on piling on the bad aspects as the years go by (MTX in general, shoddy releases, bad support for games (technical and general), scams (Kickstarter/Pateron/Early access), thievery on Steam from users by bots and other users, information gathering and reselling) and noone is covering this at all when it comes to the support those practices get on a huge platform like Steam. They greenlight this ♥♥♥♥ and let it transpire on a daily basis. Why?... money of course. But is this the future and "that is just how it is now"?...

[Boblin the Goblin]

Escrito originalmente por Dæmon:

Escrito originalmente por no154370:

do you know that Valve actually listed "the last of us part 1" as unsupported in April 2023.

then within days and weeks after that, the game receives multiple updates that improves the game performance for computers for the game itself.

1) Valve listed the game as "unsupported" in early April. Within days, Steam reviews improved to "mixed". Reviewers concurred performance had improved after several weeks but some problems remained. The game was "verified" on Steam Deck in June.

also, the game was originally released on playstation 5 in 2022

and the game received very high ratings when it is being played on PS 5.

------------------------------------------------------------------

all in all, it is not Steam and Valve Corporation at fault for the poor performance the game causes for CPU desktops and laptops.

the developers have to import the game which was meant for PS 5 to desktops and laptops and failed to realize that the game requires lots of "optimization" in order to be played on Desktops and Laptops.

Picture yourself as a vacuum cleaner salesman. You have a faulty model out back you know doesn't run well, but you still put it out on the podium for sale, and a customer buys it and you don't tell them anything about it. Full price. That is the equivalent. The salesman didn't make the vacuum cleaner, so he is innocent. Right? -.-

I still do not understand why you guys are defending a massive corporate entity... but hey, it is all good. Let us all embrace the bright future for consumers ahead and "don't ask questions, consume product and get excited for next product" as a wise man on youtube once said.

You are misusing that quote.

Valve's refund policy is actually one of the more generous outside of GoG. Even then theirs doesn't extend to 6 months of 'wait and see'.

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

steam is not known for customer service...

steam is a games sales environment here to take money
for the purchases of games and give as little of that money back in
the most cost effective and minimalist ways possible...

thats my experience..

[Zarineth]

Steam: *have second best refund policy on PC*
Some users: NOT ENOUGH!

[Start_Running]

Escrito originalmente por lsdninja:

Escrito originalmente por Chika Ogiue:

No one is going to give you a refund half a year after purchase. Why didn't you ask for a refund when you had determined within the refund window that the game was not going to work for you?

If they lived in a country with more robust consumer laws then as long as the game remains in an unplayable state, you’re theoretically entitled to a refund regardless of what policy is in place. Whether or not it’s worth the effort to pursue, that’s another question…

The problem is that it has to be unplayable by design, not just unplayable on their system configuration.

And clearly this is not the case.
The Shader compiling thing is something that is known and demonstrable so they'd have gotten through with manual ticket if it was just that... However...yeah you're not getting a rfund after 6-months m8.

[Dæmon]

Escrito originalmente por SlowMango:

Escrito originalmente por Dæmon:

Picture yourself as a vacuum cleaner salesman. You have a faulty model out back you know doesn't run well, but you still put it out on the podium for sale, and a customer buys it and you don't tell them anything about it. Full price. That is the equivalent. The salesman didn't make the vacuum cleaner, so he is innocent. Right? -.-

I still do not understand why you guys are defending a massive corporate entity... but hey, it is all good. Let us all embrace the bright future for consumers ahead and "don't ask questions, consume product and get excited for next product" as a wise man on youtube once said.

You are misusing that quote.

Valve's refund policy is actually one of the more generous outside of GoG. Even then theirs doesn't extend to 6 months of 'wait and see'.

The difference being that it is a digital product. It doesn't age, albeit being faulty from the beginning.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Escrito originalmente por Dæmon:

Escrito originalmente por SlowMango:

You are misusing that quote.

Valve's refund policy is actually one of the more generous outside of GoG. Even then theirs doesn't extend to 6 months of 'wait and see'.

The difference being that it is a digital product. It doesn't age, albeit being faulty from the beginning.

Doesn't matter if it ages or not.

[Dæmon]

Escrito originalmente por Start_Running:

Escrito originalmente por lsdninja:

If they lived in a country with more robust consumer laws then as long as the game remains in an unplayable state, you’re theoretically entitled to a refund regardless of what policy is in place. Whether or not it’s worth the effort to pursue, that’s another question…

The problem is that it has to be unplayable by design, not just unplayable on their system configuration.

And clearly this is not the case.
The Shader compiling thing is something that is known and demonstrable so they'd have gotten through with manual ticket if it was just that... However...yeah you're not getting a rfund after 6-months m8.

It is not the money in and of itself, it is a principle matter; I have spent 17k on this platform so what is $60 in that pool? And if they are lenient when considering hours used on the product itself. What does it matter that I want to return it even 2 years from now when it is a digital product that has barely been touched? xD If it were a physical product, it would be different. But it isn't, so it is not.

[Dæmon]

Escrito originalmente por SlowMango:

Escrito originalmente por Dæmon:

The difference being that it is a digital product. It doesn't age, albeit being faulty from the beginning.

Doesn't matter if it ages or not.

Of course it does -.- the company behind the games' fiscal details should not matter to the customer. They almost certainly have a budget specifically for that. If they don't it is their problem.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Escrito originalmente por Dæmon:

Escrito originalmente por SlowMango:

Doesn't matter if it ages or not.

Of course it does -.- the company behind the games' fiscal details should not matter to the customer. They almost certainly have a budget specifically for that. If they don't it is their problem.

Waiting 6 months isn't their problem.

[Trollhammer]

Escrito originalmente por Dæmon:

Escrito originalmente por SlowMango:

Doesn't matter if it ages or not.

Of course it does -.- the company behind the games' fiscal details should not matter to the customer. They almost certainly have a budget specifically for that. If they don't it is their problem.

You seems to be willing to win the gold medal of the "entitled consumer"...

Anyway, the game has been fixed for months why don't you go play it instead of complaining about an issue caused by your inability to read reviews before buying ?

[Vertigo]

Escrito originalmente por Dæmon:

Here is the problem. When I opened the game the first time, it was ~20% done with the shader compilation @ 33 minutes. So when taking that into account it would've taken over two hours to compile shaders, and THEN I would be able to begin "playing". From what I read - a slideshow.

So according to this, you haven't even tested if the game runs on your system?

[Oz Gaming]

Well Dæmon.............I have the PC version of TLOU. The shaders take no more than 10-15 minutes to compile for Both games combined....Left Behind and TLOU.

Also I have played TLOU and Left Behind both right thru Two times now without any problems at all.

[Crazy Tiger]

Escrito originalmente por Dæmon:

What does it matter that I want to return it even 2 years from now when it is a digital product that has barely been touched?

It's perfectly fine that you want a refund after such a long time. It's also perfectly fine that said refund isn't given. None of that means that customer support is bad, though. Unless one wants to make the equation "customer support = getting my way", of course.

Yes, I work in sales & customer support. Which is why I know that loads of customers severely overestimate their value and worth. And that said customers come back anyway, the few that don't are simply "acceptable losses".

You don't qualify for a courtesy refund. As has been said, you can try the local consumer agency route. That's there for customers to fall back on.

[Wolfpig]

Escrito originalmente por Vertigo:

Escrito originalmente por Dæmon:

Here is the problem. When I opened the game the first time, it was ~20% done with the shader compilation @ 33 minutes. So when taking that into account it would've taken over two hours to compile shaders, and THEN I would be able to begin "playing". From what I read - a slideshow.

So according to this, you haven't even tested if the game runs on your system?

he wrote that he has not tested it already in his first post, where he decided to want a refund now because he read that the game is still "buggy".

Escrito originalmente por ragefifty50:

steam is not known for customer service...

The refund policy is already more lenient than it should need to be.
Otherwise you could not make refunds just because you dont want the game anymore after you bought it.

[Dæmon]

There - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICGLcxs-N7s Case closed. See how easy that was? Wouldn't it be nice if that were the case with refunds?