Steam Developer: Refund Policy Is Killing Short Indie Games

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A Steam game developer has called for the storefront's refund policy to be changed, after players who praised its bitesize game were still able to get their money back.

Writing on X/Twitter, Zoroarts, the developer behind indie boat adventure Paddle Paddle Paddle , criticized Steam for allowing players to receive a full refund even after completing the game and leaving glowing reviews.

Steam allows players to refund any title played for less than two hours, up to 14 days from purchase. It's a policy intended to ensure players are happy with their games up to a couple hours of playtime — but Zoroarts says it is also punishing makers of smaller experiences that players can quickly polish off.

"This should not be possible," Zoroarts stated , claiming that Paddle Paddle Paddle had been widely praised but still subject to a 21% refund rate from players who finished their time with it within Steam's refund time window. On Steam , its review average is Very Positive, and it is currently on sale for just $3.

"Would be cool if you could finally do something about your refund policy," Zoroarts continued. "Got dozens of reviews like that and 21% refund rate even though the reviews are 90% Very Positive. That's over 55,000 Refunds btw…"

Zoroarts included an image of a Steam review for Paddle Paddle Paddle that labelled it as a "GREAT GAME, finished within 1:40 hrs (refunded)."

"I planned a medium playtime of 3.5 hours for the full level and the level from the free demo takes ~40 minutes to complete," Zoroarts added, "so the game was planned to launch with ~4 hours of total gameplay. There are tons of reviews with 5+ hours and even 20+ hours but the game was also played by a lot of speedrunners and just really good gamers who made it in 1-2 hours... Got many insulting comments with 'Make a game longer than 2 hours' 😅"

"People really like the game," the developer continued. "Look at the almost 1,400 reviews on Steam. You can NOT say that the game is bad or trash if you have not even played it and the most basic approach to check if its a problem with the game is checking the Reviews. The true problem is that PC gamers seem to hate shorter games and don't want to pay for that and I understand it now but there is no reason to insult me or the game like many people in the comments did.

Response to Zoroarts' comments has been mixed, with some stating that Valve was unlikely to change its policies, or calling for better labelling when a game is intended to be a short experience. This is something Zoroarts has also backed, with the ability to see price and expected playtime clearly laid out.

"That way at least 'Too short' can NOT be a refund reason anymore," the developer concluded .

Valve itself already includes a section on "abuse" of its refund policy in the platform's terms and conditions, which states that refunds were not "a way to get free games" — and anyone unfairly taking advantage of this would have their refund privileges suspended. How much this is actually policed in practice, though, remains unclear.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social