Now Origin Does At Least One Thing Better Than Steam

[TheDvEight]

http://kotaku.com/origin-now-lets-you-return-ea-game-downloads-for-full-r-1169643732

[sulky_uk]

try before you buy for bf4 then?

[T-Bag]

Lets hope that it encourages Valve to rethink their refunds policy. It's only 24 hours from opening...which isn't great. I understand they don't want people blasting through the whole game and returning it. But maybe a fixed amount of game time. I often boot a game, have issues and decide to try again the next day.

[TeaLeaf]

the earlier of: (i) seven (7) days from the date of purchase, (ii) seven (7) days from the game’s release date if you pre-ordered/pre-purchased or (iii) twenty-four (24) hours after the first time the game is launched or run. For full game digital downloads that are part of a bundle, the twenty-four (24) hour time period begins as soon as one game within the bundle is launched.

24 hours is pretty much what EA are doing as well.   How many of us buy a game and then do not launch it?

[smilodon]

Google used to do a day for apps, but that's now down to 15 minutes due to people blitzing games and using apps for a single use. I did think at one point that Steam would really go the demo route for games. Ultimately though it's down to the publisher to decide. Sadly it seems companies are less and less inclined to offer demos of their games. So maybe 24 hours refunds is the way forward.  It could be combined with a feature that once someone gets past a certain point in the game, i.e. the end of the first level or training missions, a warning comes up to say the refund option will end if the user proceeds any further,  regardless of how long they owned the game. This might stop people blitzing through a game.

[JanuZ]

Norwegian law states that any purchase made over the internet or telephone is refundable for 14days. Not sure how enforcable it is on an international corporation like EA but their site is in Norwegian and I believe there have been cases where that has been used as a reason why the refund should be granted even if the site is hosted in another country. This often comes up because of SMS and product scams where you are offered something for free but you automatically accept a monthly delivery by accepting with almost no way to cancel the subscription.