Steam needs to do something about games that have their own launcher and the refund policy

[rafaelalfredo2008]

It's very deceitful when a game has their own launcher and you spend your entire 2 hours play time allowed for refund just downloading their game. Steam needs a way to know exactly when you actually started playing or just not allow custom launchers altogether.

[crunchyfrog]

Well, they cannot stop custom launchers as they're only a shop and CANNOT state terms over IP they don't own. That's basic law.

But they should have more info available to them, or consider it.

[Pscht]

I would refund such a game the second I notice it has a launcher, but so far I've only encountered that in F2P games.

[Crazy Tiger]

Do a manual ticket. Find the purchase here: https://help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpWithPurchase, choose the "I have a question about this purchase" option and explain politely.

Keep in mind that Steam cannot see beyond the connected .exe being launched, open and closed. Not sure how you think Steam can ever know that you actually play a game if it is outside their reach without it becoming very intrusive spyware, which is heavily frowned upon.

They won't ban external launchers, since technically Steam is just a store and the 3rd party here. In the end the software owners decide how they sell their software, not the store.