Steam two-hour refund policy: Horror game developer Emika Games quits indefinitely

Game developer Emika Games has left development for an "indefinite term" as Steam's two-hour recently resulted in a huge number of returns. Emika is the lone developer of titles like Summer of '58, which is a horror game released on Steam last month. The game has been reviewed well on Steam and has received a very positive rating on the platform. While players had also left appreciating comments, the game can be completed within 90 minutes and falls prey to Steam's 'under the two-hour refund policy. 

Emika Games leaved game development due to lack of funds as a lot of players returned the Summer of 58 on Steam 

For games that take longer to complete, like Crusader Kings III and Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the two-hour playtime limit seems to be fair. However, for an experience that itself is 90 minutes long, the policy might be slightly troublesome for the developers. There are cases when players complete horror games in 2 hours, or even less, and in such a case, they can refund it on Steam stating any reason from they did not like the game or it was not as advertised. This leaves the developers of the game empty-handed. Apparently. a similar situation has left Emika Games without funds to work on their next game. 

Steam two hour refund policy

Steam introduced a refund policy back in 2015, which stated that someone who has purchased a game is entitled to a refund if the game does not work, presence of advertising discrepancies or was simply bad. However, Steam could not deliver on that promise, as most of the procedure was hidden from the consumer. At that point in time, even Steam's FAQ section did not cover some important questions that customers had. However, the two-hour/14 days policy tried to streamline the process.

It now states that if a customer wishes to return a game within 14 days from purchase and has played for two hours or less, the refund can be initiated. According to the official Steam Refunds section, "You (customer) can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason. Maybe your PC doesn't meet the hardware requirements; maybe you bought a game by mistake; maybe you played the title for an hour and just didn't like it."