Steam's "no questions asked" refund policy makes it "super easy for players to abuse this rule", says indie developer

Indie developer Mateo Covic, creator of the game Paddle Paddle Paddle, has criticized Steam's "no questions asked" refund policy, claiming it allows players to abuse the system. Covic told GamesRadar+ that despite the game having "90 percent very positive" reviews, he has had to process over 55,000 refunds, resulting in a 21% refund rate. He argued that the policy, which allows refunds within two weeks for games played less than two hours, makes it "super easy for players to abuse this rule." Covic explained that his game was designed with a medium playtime of 3.5 hours for the full level, plus a 40-minute demo, totaling about 4 hours of gameplay. However, speedrunners and skilled players could complete it in 1-2 hours, leading to refund requests and insulting comments demanding longer content. He emphasized that he supports refunds in principle but believes they should be reserved for cases where the Steam page misleads buyers or the game has technical issues preventing enjoyment. Following his public comments, Covic said he received more hateful messages and that Paddle Paddle Paddle was "review bombed," dropping from "very positive" to "mixed" recent Steam reviews. He expressed frustration that players can easily lie about refund reasons without leaving meaningful feedback, though he noted that not all refund requests are about game length. One reviewer, for example, cited the game as "low effort ragebait streamer trash" rather than its length as the reason for their refund.