[latexr]

> For indies, the pressure to clear the 2 hour mark was hung ominously overhead when Valve updated their policy to allow refunds up to that threshold.

If the game is good, I doubt most people would return it. “The Dark Queen of Mortholme”¹ comes to mind. I didn’t really find it enjoyable (good idea, boring execution) but the reviews praise it and I do get why.

The game takes 30 minutes from beginning to end. Maybe you’ll do 90 minutes if you want to try multiple things, but you can do everything in under two hours. And yet it’s a success, not a return fest.

¹ https://store.steampowered.com/app/3587610/The_Dark_Queen_of...

[swiftcoder]

A bunch of folks on social media used to crow about refunding the indie games they beat in under 2 hours. No idea how widespread a phenomenon it really was, but it certainly got airtime in gamedev circles

[latexr]

That’s useful context, thank you. On the other hand, GOG allows refunds up to thirty days after purchase, which is much more ripe for abuse, and they seem to be doing fine (though I don’t know for sure, would appreciate some context there as well).

https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011314978-How-d...

[Asooka]

The trolls (and haters) are always the most vocal. It was true 40 years ago and it is still true today: Do NOT feed the trolls.

[sph]

There's plenty of sociopaths and people with not a lot of disposable money, but my theory is that as we (gamers) get older, richer, and with less available time, we will prefer the short and sweet experience over the 100+ hour game loop.

I know that's the case for me, and one of my favourite pastimes is install the little games from itch.io, which average at 10 minutes long, and just enjoy the naivety and craft that never overstays its welcome no matter how uncooked it is. You can have too much of a good thing; once I really cared about getting enough enjoyment/dollar, these days I'd rather spend $20 dollars for a good 2 hour experience, than find myself bored after 15 hours of the same.

[some_random]

It's difficult, I'm sure to some degree "fraud" happens (someone buys a game, enjoys it, and refunds anyways) but I also think that "game was way shorter than I expected" (where expectations are set by the store page, description, and most importantly price) is a real flaw in the product that is refund worthy.