Indie dev asks Steam to review return policy after players beat the game and get refunds

Paddle Paddle Paddle

Indie developer Zoroarts is calling on Steam to revisit their return policy after disclosing that thousands of players have beaten his game and still returned it.

The game Paddle Paddle Paddle is a co-op “rage” game, where two players cooperate to paddle a boat through a series of platforming puzzles and skill-based challenges. By their definition, rage games can take vastly varying amounts of time. Take a look at Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy which popularized the microgenre. A playthrough could take several hours, meanwhile it’s possible to beat the game in less than a minute.

As a result, some players have taken the challenge a bit too far and are beating the game in under 2 hours and still getting a refund. Steam’s refund policy allows players to refund a game for almost any reasons when the play time is under two hours. Historically this has protected consumers from shovelware titles that might look good in screenshots and trailers but fail to deliver.

While some might argue that a game that short can’t be a quality game, and thus deserving of a refund; it bears mentioning that several players have left positive reviews after their “win-and-dash” refunds.

 

Regardless of your opinion on shorter games, it’s obviously not intentional for players to completely beat a game and then refund it.

You can check out Paddle Paddle Paddle on Steam here.

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A basement-dwelling ogre, Brandon's a fan of indie games and slice of life anime. Has too many games and not enough time.


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