Paddle Paddle Paddle dev criticizes Steam’s refund policy citing abuse
A solo indie developer recently complained about Steam’s lenient refund system, arguing that it has unfairly hurt shorter yet positively received titles like his own game, Paddle Paddle Paddle. The solo developer behind the chaotic co-op boat-racing game took to X to reveal that more than 55,000 copies of his game had been refunded, despite the game boasting a “Very Positive” rating on the platform.
Steam has long been known for its generous refund policy, which allows gamers to return a game within 14 days, provided they have played it for less than 2 hours. It is a policy designed to protect buyers from purchases they later regret.
However, the policy can sometimes allow gamers and speedrunners to complete games quickly and receive a refund afterward, such as in ULTRAKILL, where a few speedrunners successfully completed the game in under two hours.
While ULTRAKILL isn’t the type of early-access game the average player can beat in under two hours, Paddle Paddle Paddle can be beaten in that time if players try hard enough, and it is currently only $3 on Steam after a 40% discount.
Zororarts shared screenshots of positive reviews that read, “GREAT GAME, finished within 1:40 hrs (refunded).” Zororarts stated on X:
“This should not be possible. Would be cool if you could finally do something about your refund policy. Got dozens of reviews like that and a 21% refund rate, even though reviews are 90% Very Positive. That's 55,000 refunds btw…”
Zororarts further stated, “I planned a medium playtime of 3.5 hours for the full level, and the Level from the free demo takes around 40 minutes to complete. So the game was planned to launch with around four hours of gameplay. There are tons of reviews with 5+ hours and even 20+ hours, but the game was also being 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.’”
However, others have criticized the developer, with one Steam reviewer stating:
“Not fun. Short. Sloppy. Beat it in under 2 hours (1.2 hrs), and would refund it if I could, but I waited too long to play it. You should, if you can, refund it.There just isn't enough content. The game looks like a browser game and was rushed or made in a short amount of time, which the developer admits himself. And yet, the developer has the nerve to cry about refunds on X when he is trying to sell a browser game to you. This should not be on Steam.
The developer keeps crying about his game getting refunded on X despite making “millions” from a sloppy effort.”
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