Slitherine interview on Steam for gamesindustry.biz

[Alchenar]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2 ... slitherine

Long story short: giving your customers basic consumer rights does not make the sky fall. Bad games get returned more than good games. The return policy is an unequivocal reason to use Steam over other stores.

[wodin]

Interesting..thanks for the heads up. Shows that publishers etc can trust their customers:)

[wings7]

Very informative! Thanks for sharing! [:)]

Patrick

[IainMcNeil]

Just a note it only works because of Steam's DRM. You can only have a returns policy like this when there is a way to flick a switch and disable a users game at any time for any reason so its swings and roundabouts.

[wings7]

I think Steam will increase your sales, with 7 to 10 million Steam gamers online at any given time...you can't miss! [:)]

[Veldor]

This is why I only buy from Steam now. Today is actually the first time I returned a game (non-Matrix).
I don't really think anyone can abuse the system since you cannot have played for more than 2 hours total and can only return within 14 days of purchase.
I think Steam might occasionally make an exception to that but any one user won't get many of those.
There is a nice peace of mind in knowing that if you drop $50 on a game and nearly instantly realize it was a huge mistake you can get your money back.
I have a hard time with games with certain types of unfriendly user interfaces and have a type of motion sickness where other swirly 3D camera pans can make me dizzy.
Neither one of those is always readily apparent from available info. That and why spend hours researching a game and still not being fully sure when I can instead spend < 2 hrs just trying it out and know for sure?

[MrsWargamer]

Interesting.

[Ranger33]

I think the system they have set up is a win-win. As a player you get the equivalent of a demo for any purchase. Great in case you realize your system can't run the game, or if you immediately regret the purchase. I know that I have regretted a few purchases in the past even after doing my due diligence. Sometimes you just have to get your hands on a game to realize that it's not for you.

For the game company, you have an easy system for providing refunds and if people complain you can point to it and say there was your chance.