Between a more generous revenue share model and bi-monthly freebies, Epic has been hard at work attracting developers and users to its new storefront. The Epic Games Store is still a work in progress and missing some key features, but as Epic publishing strategy director Sergey Galyonkin said on Twitter, the company is working on filling in the blanks - starting with the store's new refund policy.
The Epic Games Store will let players refund any game purchased within 14 days and played for less than two hours. "The team is working on the self-service solution, but for now, you'll have to go through player support," Galyonkin said. In a follow-up tweet, he clarified that you can cancel a pre-order at any time for a full refund, or refund a pre-ordered game within 14 days of its release - again, provided you haven't played it for more than two hours.
This refund policy is functionally identical to Steam's, which has the same two-week and two-hour rules. That said, Epic's policy on refunding DLC is less clear. Steam lets you refund most DLC provided you haven't played the game it's attached to for more than two hours since you purchased the DLC. However, at the time of writing, the only mention of DLC in Epic's policy is as follows: "If you receive a refund for a game, you will also receive a refund for all in-app and downloadable content purchases you made through the Epic Games store for that game, so long as that content has not been consumed, modified, or transferred." I have to wonder what the rules are if you only want to refund a piece of DLC, but not the full game you bought it for.
Epic's policy also touches on discounts. If a game gets cheaper or goes on sale shortly after you buy it, "you can refund your purchase for a full refund and immediately re-purchase the product as long as it abides by the above guidelines, we do not consider this to be refund abuse." You can read the full policy here.
In the same Twitter thread, Galyonkin mentioned another glaring hole in the Epic Games Store: reviews. Galyonkin said user reviews are on the way, but that the store's review system won't be automatic and developers will have to choose to opt into it. "We want to have a solution against review bombing," Galyonkin said.
What Remains of Edith Finch is free on the Epic Games Store through January 24.
