Refunding a defunct game?

[Kodos]

I bought Entropy back in 2014, and now the servers are no longer online (They were shut down by the devs).

How would I go about getting this game refunded? Or am I just out 20 dollars on a no longer functional game.

[Satoru]

Last time I checked 2014 is more than 2 weeks ago

Therefore no, you are not eligible for a refund

I'm not even going to go into the utter lunacy of expecting a refund 4 YEARS after purchase

[Kodos]

Normally, I'd agree with you. But normally, 4 years after purchase, a game is still usable.

[FFL2and3rocks]

There was no guarantee that the servers would stay online forever.

[Kodos]

So I could make an online game, make lots of money from sales, and then a week after I'm satisfied with the amount I've made, I can shut off the servers and be like "Sorry guys, I never said they'd be on forever"

No, there's a level of expectancy there with being able to play the product you pay money for for a reasonable amount of time.

[nullable]

The short answer is you don't, at least not through Steam. If you really had an ax to grind you'd have to take it up with the devs. But never mind the EULA you agreed to at some point probably covers the eventuality of the game shutting down. No one is offering a lifetime warranty on games. So I'd expect a refund back on the 5th of Never from the Devs.

[SpunkyJones]

MMOs have that inherent risk.

[nullable]

Publicado originalmente por Kodos Macarthur:

So I could make an online game, make lots of money from sales, and then a week after I'm satisfied with the amount I've made, I can shut off the servers and be like "Sorry guys, I never said they'd be on forever"

No, there's a level of expectancy there with being able to play the product you pay money for for a reasonable amount of time.

Define a reasonable amount of time?

And also you posit a world where a game is fairly successful and generating a significant amount of revenue and the developer, for no reason, shuts down a successful game? That doesn't seem likely.

Successful games and revenue generating games generally don't get shut down. And you act like this has never happened before in the decades of online gaming and we should be surprised and outraged? I mean I'm not sure what to tell you. This status quo might be a shock to you, for everyone else it's just Tuesday, and no one is usually mad about Tuesdays.

[feytharn]

Publicado originalmente por Kodos Macarthur:

So I could make an online game, make lots of money from sales, and then a week after I'm satisfied with the amount I've made, I can shut off the servers and be like "Sorry guys, I never said they'd be on forever"

No, there's a level of expectancy there with being able to play the product you pay money for for a reasonable amount of time.

The other option would be that there will be no more pay to play online games, because once the servers shut down, which is pretty much inevitable, publisher will be bankrupt for refunding everyone who bought the game. Developing games, maintaining games, maintaining servers all cost money.

[RedLightning]

Publicado originalmente por Nightenhelser:

Publicado originalmente por Kodos Macarthur:

Normally, I'd agree with you. But normally, 4 years after purchase, a game is still usable.

So I can go to a big box store, buy a TV and then 4 years later expect they will allow me return it?

I know i have many TV sets that are much older than 4 years. .. and get this.. they still recieve a signal..

The game in question does not.

[Start_Running]

Publicado originalmente por Kodos Macarthur:

Normally, I'd agree with you. But normally, 4 years after purchase, a game is still usable.

Normally but if you checked the EULA you agreed to you'll not that at no point is there a guarantee of perpetual service. this is why one needs to be careful when purchasing multiplayer /server based games. Eventually those servers will shut down.

[Crazy Tiger]

Didn't the devs pull Entropy a year ago?

[MancSoulja]

Publicado originalmente por Kodos Macarthur:

So I could make an online game, make lots of money from sales, and then a week after I'm satisfied with the amount I've made, I can shut off the servers and be like "Sorry guys, I never said they'd be on forever"

No, there's a level of expectancy there with being able to play the product you pay money for for a reasonable amount of time.

There's no level of expectancy. In fact, you agree to a legally binding contract called the EULA. in the document most publishers make it clear that they can shut down the online portion of their game with as little as 2 weeks notice.

[Satoru]

Publicado originalmente por Kodos Macarthur:

Normally, I'd agree with you. But normally, 4 years after purchase, a game is still usable.

Normally we apply common sense to a situation

[Kargor]

Publicado originalmente por RedLightning:

I know i have many TV sets that are much older than 4 years. .. and get this.. they still recieve a signal..

Around here (Germany), we have various hardware that technically works, but doesn't do much anymore. A while back, all analog TV was retired in favor of digital transmission only; while not at the same time, this has affected both terrestrial (moving to DVB-T) and cable TV (which moved to DVB-C). Yes, such devices can still be used if you hook up a digital receiver, but it basically turns your TV into a simple display device.

Recently, analog radio was retired from cable -- while, technically, my parents could hook up an antenna to their radio instead of using the cable, they opted to get a digital radio receiver instead.

[RedLightning]

Publicado originalmente por Kargor:

Publicado originalmente por RedLightning:

I know i have many TV sets that are much older than 4 years. .. and get this.. they still recieve a signal..

Around here (Germany), we have various hardware that technically works, but doesn't do much anymore. A while back, all analog TV was retired in favor of digital transmission only; while not at the same time, this has affected both terrestrial (moving to DVB-T) and cable TV (which moved to DVB-C). Yes, such devices can still be used if you hook up a digital receiver, but it basically turns your TV into a simple display device.

Recently, analog radio was retired from cable -- while, technically, my parents could hook up an antenna to their radio instead of using the cable, they opted to get a digital radio receiver instead.

Television went digital transmission much longer than 4 years ago here, and if you wanted a digital box .. it was either free.. or low cost. Bazingo .. the 'display device' works again.

I'm thankful for games like FSX .. where you can still play with others even though 'gamespy' was taken down long. At least, like most games, they didn't give the middle finger and shut down multi-player entirely... I guess thats like a digital box.. less features .. but still do-able.

I stay way from Multi-player only games for the OPs frustration.

I wonder how a 'torrent' based multiplayer would work.. Skype worked great with it for years till MS stashed it all on their own server.

Too bad the game has to die with the server, its almost a shame.