Steam Free Trial Feature

[J4MESOX4D]

I see Steam now offers free trials starting with Dead Space, allowing for 90 minutes to sample the game. Available to download and try on the store page. Be interesting to see how widely adopted this becomes and could be a good way to reduce refund requests and financial red tape.

https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-just-quietly-added-a-new-free-trial-system/

[Ogami]

Interesting. Wonder how long it will take for someone to find a exploit to keep the whole game or disable the time limit and the whole program being scrapped again.
Because i am 90% sure that will happen.

But the idea is not bad.

[Blueberry {JESUS IS LORD}]

is it live already?

[Blueberry {JESUS IS LORD}]

Originally posted by Ogami:

Interesting. Wonder how long it will take for someone to find a exploit to keep the whole game or disable the time limit and the whole program being scrapped again.
Because i am 90% sure that will happen.

But the idea is not bad.

nah it works like free weekends do play for free then gets disabled after time

[-OrLoK- Слава Україн]

Originally posted by Ogami:

Interesting. Wonder how long it will take for someone to find a exploit to keep the whole game or disable the time limit and the whole program being scrapped again.
Because i am 90% sure that will happen.

But the idea is not bad.

not an issue.

if users want to get a game free there's many very naughty ways to do so already.

this wont change that landscape in any appreciable way

[Blueberry {JESUS IS LORD}]

Originally posted by -OrLoK- Слава Україн:

Originally posted by Ogami:

Interesting. Wonder how long it will take for someone to find a exploit to keep the whole game or disable the time limit and the whole program being scrapped again.
Because i am 90% sure that will happen.

But the idea is not bad.

not an issue.

if users want to get a game free there's many very naughty ways to do so already.

this wont change that landscape in any appreciable way

i mean free weekends already exist so this changes nothing

[-OrLoK- Слава Україн]

yes, that's partly my point.

[JamesF0790]

It's up to the publishers of the games to decide if they want to do that. Valve can't hand out free trials of people's games without them agreeing to it.

[Blueberry {JESUS IS LORD}]

Originally posted by JamesF0790:

It's up to the publishers of the games to decide if they want to do that. Valve can't hand out free trials of people's games without them agreeing to it.

true

[Start_Running]

It's basically just the free weekend thing. And it counts against the refund timer as well. Is this really a new feature or just a feature devs haven't used until now? Or perghaps just a fine-tuning of the existing free weekend to more customizeable time frames?

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

It's basically just the free weekend thing. And it counts against the refund timer as well. Is this really a new feature or just a feature devs haven't used until now? Or perghaps just a fine-tuning of the existing free weekend to more customizeable time frames?

Seems to be a new feature but as usual, Valve do not tell anyone about it. It's better than free weekends because it allows users to try such games at any time and pace they wish within the limits. Free weekends are not always ideal for busy people and I've lost count of the amount of people who turn up on Sunday's when the period has expired even though it's technically still the weekend.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Originally posted by Start_Running:

It's basically just the free weekend thing. And it counts against the refund timer as well. Is this really a new feature or just a feature devs haven't used until now? Or perghaps just a fine-tuning of the existing free weekend to more customizeable time frames?

Seems to be a new feature but as usual, Valve do not tell anyone about it. It's better than free weekends because it allows users to try such games at any time and pace they wish within the limits. Free weekends are not always ideal for busy people and I've lost count of the amount of people who turn up on Sunday's when the period has expired even though it's technically still the weekend.

But since the dev/pub must opt in, is that really any better?

Seems more like a sneaky way to get people to burn through the 2 hour refund time.

[J4MESOX4D]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Originally posted by J4MESOX4D:

Seems to be a new feature but as usual, Valve do not tell anyone about it. It's better than free weekends because it allows users to try such games at any time and pace they wish within the limits. Free weekends are not always ideal for busy people and I've lost count of the amount of people who turn up on Sunday's when the period has expired even though it's technically still the weekend.

But since the dev/pub must opt in, is that really any better?

Seems more like a sneaky way to get people to burn through the 2 hour refund time.

It will be better than free weekends because multiple games at once can be available for trial to be played at any time and if people are burning through a refund timer without having paid a penny then it's exactly the same as if they bought the game and were burning through it anyway.

If they play 90 minutes, buy the game and then hate it after playing an hour more then that's on them and they would've likely been rejected had they bought the game instead of trialling it in the first place anyway.

If we get to a stage where Dead Space, The Last of Us, Hogwarts Legacy, Jedi Survivor and other major titles are available for a 90 minute trial without having to cough up then it will certainly protect consumers from having to stump up full price to see if the game works adequately and it should reduce refund requests.