+- Sick Gaming (https://www.sickgaming.net)
+-- Forum: Sick Gaming Community (https://www.sickgaming.net/forum-1.html)
+--- Forum: Lounge (https://www.sickgaming.net/forum-8.html)
+--- Thread: News - The weirdest Steam refund messages (& lessons for game devs!) (/thread-97750.html)
News - The weirdest Steam refund messages (& lessons for game devs!) - xSicKxBot - 10-15-2020
The weirdest Steam refund messages (& lessons for game devs!)
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs.png" width="243" height="77" title="" alt="" /></div><div><p> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> <!– –> <title>Gamasutra: Simon Carless’s Blog – The weirdest Steam refund messages (& lessons for game devs!)</title> <!--[if lt IE 9]> <a href="http://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js">http://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js</a> <![endif]--> <!-- CSS --> <!-- link href="https://twimgs.com/gamasutra/css/minified.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" / --> <!-- Mobile Specific Metas --> <!-- Start Visual Website Optimizer Asynchronous Code --> <!-- End Visual Website Optimizer Asynchronous Code --> <!-- Start HeatMap.me Code --> <!-- End HeatMap.me Code --> <!-- Start: GPT Sync --> <!-- End: GPT --> <!-- Eloqua tracking code --> <!-- End Eloqua tracking code --> <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <!--Cookie banner code starts here --> <!--Cookie banner code ends here --> <!-- Informa Branding code goes here--> </p>
<div id="iribbon-container" class="content-body-wrapper"> <button id="iribbon-title" title="show/hide" class="inactive">Informa</button> </p>
<div id="iribbon-detail" class="ribbon-hide">
<div id="iribbon-left">
<p>Gamasutra is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC</p>
</p></div>
<div id="iribbon-right">
<p>This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC’s registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.</p>
</p></div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<p> <!-- Informa Branding code goes here--> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 19 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[2,2]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 19 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 20 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[7,7]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 20 --> </p>
<div class="container">
<div id="container-main" class="content-body-wrapper"> <!-- Google Prestitial Ads start here--> <!-- Google Prestitial Ads end here--> </p>
<div class="container bottom3">
<div class="span-7"> <a href="https://www.gamasutra.com"><img loading="lazy" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs.png" alt="Gamasutra: The Art & Business of Making Games" width="243" height="77" border="0"></a><img alt="spacer" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs.gif" width="27"> </div>
</p></div>
<div class="span-20"> <!--end show phone--> <!--end showphone--> <!--end nav--> </p>
<div class="span-20 last content_bg">
<div class="hide-phone">
<div class="span-4">
<div class="content_box_left">
<div class="leftcol"> <!--member login--> <!--end memberlogin--> <!--begin social icons--> <!--begin social icons--> <!--end social icons--> <!--end social icons--> <!--begin page numbers--> <!--end page numbers--> <!--begin leftnav--> <!--end leftnav--> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 3 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[164,59]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 3 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 4 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[164,59]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 4 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 5 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[164,409]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 5 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 9 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[164,177]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 9 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 11 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[164,177]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 11 --> <!-- begin event tickers --> <!-- end event tickers --> <!--begin jobs--> <!--end jobs--> <!--begin blogs--> <!--end blogs--> <!--begin press releases--> <!--end press releases--> <!--begin calendar--> <!– </p>
<div class="header"><img loading="lazy" alt="arrow" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-1.png" width="22px" height="20px" /><a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/calendar/calendar.php">Calendar</a></div>
<div class="leftnav bottom2"> <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/calendar/calendar.php"><strong>View All</strong></a> <a href="http://www.gamasutra.com/calendar/calendar_submit.php"><strong>Submit Event</strong></a> </p>
<hr>
<ul> </ul>
</div>
<p> –> <!--end calendar--> <!--begin about--> </p>
<div class="bottom2"> <a href="https://www.gamasutra.com/advertise"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs.jpg" alt="Sponsor" border="0" class="whiteTop" width="177px" height="60px"> </a>
</div>
<p> <!--end about--> <!--begin network--> </p>
<div class="leftnav_network bottom2"> If you enjoy reading this site, you might also want to check out these UBM Tech sites: </p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p> <br class="clear">
</div>
<p> <!--end network--> <!--begin store--> <!--end store--> </div>
<p><!--end leftcol--> </div>
</div></div>
<div class="span-16 last">
<div class="content_box_middle"> <!-- InstanceBeginEditable name="BodyContent" --> </p>
<div class="page_item">
<div><a name="twitter_share" href="http://twitter.com?status=RT @gamasutra: The weirdest Steam refund messages (& lessons for game devs!) http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/SimonCarless/20201012/371740/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-1.gif" alt="Share on Twitter" border="0" height="20"></a> <span id="edit_post_link"></span> <a href="https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/rss/"><img loading="lazy" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-2.gif" width="15" height="15" border="0" alt="RSS"></a> </div>
<hr>
<div class="item_body mobile_image_transform"> <strong><i><small> The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.<br />The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. </small></i></strong> </p>
<hr>
<h2><a href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fec220b50-62a7-4972-9cea-3b7fe114f25b_800x421.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ec220b50-62a7-4972-9cea-3b7fe114f25b_800x421.png","height":421,"width":800,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":198476,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-2.png" width="600"></a></h2>
<p>For those that don’t know, in order to get your money refunded on Steam, players have to select a category from a dropdown (‘Performance issues’, ‘Not fun’, ‘Other issues’, etc) and make a written comment. And it’s not completely clear to me that players understand that devs can read their comments – but they certainly can.</p>
<p>Many refund comments are legitimate, and definitely worth reading to give you an idea of sentiments around the game or technical issues. But a lot are very ‘the dog ate my homework’-esque, lol.</p>
<p>So, my GameDiscoverCo game discoverability newsletter (<a href="http://gamediscoverability.substack.com">free to subscribe</a>!) recently asked devs to go digging around in their Steam user refund comments, to see what amusing things turned up. This was inspired by <a href="https://twitter.com/GreyAlien/status/1312038136361431042">this Jake Birkett Tweet</a> which surfaced the following refund reason for RPG card battler <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/993790/Ancient_Enemy/">Ancient Enemy</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb1261c4d-8d6e-4c23-8f0c-d2f32d0b031c_365x48.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b1261c4d-8d6e-4c23-8f0c-d2f32d0b031c_365x48.png","height":48,"width":365,"resizeWidth":641,"bytes":1208,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-3.png" width="600"></a></p>
<p>Well, thanks to everyone who replied to <a href="https://twitter.com/gamediscoverco/status/1313232388043005952">the GameDiscoverCo Tweet on the topic</a> – here’s some of the best replies. Probably the randomest was <a href="https://twitter.com/influjensbahr/status/1313408790637748224">this one</a> from Jens Bahr for a player of <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1002630/AWAKE__Definitive_Edition/">Awake</a>, cos, uhh, yeah:</p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1778099c-639a-4099-b2c5-ad64079c8271_1172x91.jpeg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1778099c-639a-4099-b2c5-ad64079c8271_1172x91.jpeg","height":91,"width":1172,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":28645,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/jpeg","href":null}" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-1.jpg" width="600"></a></p>
<p>Next, <a href="https://twitter.com/5ro4/status/1313406478846492672">here’s one</a> from Alva Majo, whose Golfing Over It with Alva Majo is a <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/817510/Golfing_Over_It_with_Alva_Majo/">kinda popular spoof/enhancement</a> of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (it’s meant to be evil):</p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F121cc789-8398-4880-a486-3de8a7b188c7_396x38.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/121cc789-8398-4880-a486-3de8a7b188c7_396x38.png","height":38,"width":396,"resizeWidth":622,"bytes":1403,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-4.png" width="600"></a></p>
<p>The folks from great Peggle x RPG mashup <a href="http://www.wonderbellygames.com/">Roundguard</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/roundguardgame/status/1313610921789419520">sent over this one</a>, which just seems to be an existential critique of playing video games:</p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0655320b-219b-4b43-a1cf-b27f0a5b89da_822x61.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0655320b-219b-4b43-a1cf-b27f0a5b89da_822x61.png","height":61,"width":822,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":2599,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-5.png" width="600"></a></p>
<p>Then there’s this from ‘<a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/733990/I_Cant_Believe_Its_Not_Gambling/">I Can’t Believe It’s Not Gambling</a>’, which the <a href="https://twitter.com/MutantStudios/status/1313540765310623744">dev says</a> <em>“plasters “lootbox simulator” and use a snarky tone like everywhere on the store page”, </em>but<em>:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1b387b89-00dd-4fe8-b649-a9d40a2e0d5c_443x31.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1b387b89-00dd-4fe8-b649-a9d40a2e0d5c_443x31.png","height":31,"width":443,"resizeWidth":679,"bytes":1436,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-6.png" width="600"></a></p>
<p>Finally, if you like the ‘referencing other games’ method for refunding, the <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/359510/Tangle_Tower/">Tangle Tower</a> devs <a href="https://twitter.com/SFBTom/status/1313401387800236034">sent over this one</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F66d83c52-a619-4d5e-b3a8-36dea7b68cd9_712x68.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/66d83c52-a619-4d5e-b3a8-36dea7b68cd9_712x68.png","height":68,"width":712,"resizeWidth":null,"bytes":8883,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-7.png" width="600"></a></p>
<p>…to which Frog Detective creator Grace Bruxner <a href="https://twitter.com/gracebruxner/status/1313409550167367682">said ‘owned’</a>, lol. To be fair, I think this was related to <a href="https://twitter.com/SFBTom/status/1254025987626541057">a Ludonarracon bundle that had both games in it</a> – but still funny.</p>
<p>And here’s the final, basically default Steam refund reason <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielGubala/status/1312062715658153985">from Daniel Gubala</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe1e1ed46-f7fa-43a2-8de3-4b01d91696e9_562x60.png" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img alt data-attrs="{"src":"https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e1e1ed46-f7fa-43a2-8de3-4b01d91696e9_562x60.png","height":60,"width":562,"resizeWidth":658,"bytes":4796,"alt":null,"title":null,"type":"image/png","href":null}" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-8.png" width="600"></a></p>
<p>Now we’ve done the silly, here’s the sensible part of this section. Yes, a lot of Steam refund messages are ‘something I thought I had to type in order to get my money back’. A lot of people go through the motions, and don’t really contribute anything that you might usefully use to improve your game.</p>
<p>But there are a few things I would look at. Firstly, just check your overall Steam refund rate, which can vary from 4% to over 20%, in my experience (and averages 8-9%, I believe.)</p>
<p>If yours is above average, are there any themes that stand out? There’s additional (slight) color you can glean on overall gameplay frustrations, if you trudge through enough of these dispiriting messages.</p>
<p>Secondly, ‘casual’ player technical support issues sometimes come out more strongly via refund requests than in reviews or via Discord bug report channels.</p>
<p>For example, one of the games I can see requests for has issues with game controller support. We see those weakly via official channels, but more strongly via refund requests. YMMV, but it’s worth poking around in there.</p>
<p><em>(A dev reminder if you don’t know how to access it: refund data is on Steamworks Sales & Activations site, click on ‘Steam packages’ – the game’s ‘home’ page – go to ‘Refund Data’ link on the right.)</em></p>
</p></div>
<hr>
<div class="hide-phone">
<h3>Related Jobs</h3>
<div class="stories_item">
<div class="thumb"><a href="https://jobs.gamasutra.com/job/senior-material-artist-espoo-34587"><img src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-3.gif" alt="Remedy Entertainment" width="120"></a></div>
</p></div>
<div class="stories_item">
<div class="thumb"><a href="https://jobs.gamasutra.com/job/development-manager-xdev-team-espoo-34586"><img src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-3.gif" alt="Remedy Entertainment" width="120"></a></div>
</p></div>
<div class="stories_item">
<div class="thumb"><a href="https://jobs.gamasutra.com/job/animation-director-espoo-34585"><img src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-3.gif" alt="Remedy Entertainment" width="120"></a></div>
</p></div>
<div class="stories_item">
<div class="thumb"><a href="https://jobs.gamasutra.com/job/narrative-designer-champaign-illinois-34593"><img src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-2.jpg" alt="Deep Silver Volition" width="120"></a></div>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<hr></div>
<p> <!-- InstanceEndEditable --> </div>
<p><!--end contentbox-->
</div>
<p><!--end span-16--> </div>
<p> <br class="clear"> </div>
<p><!--end span-21--> <!--begin right sidebar--> <!--end right sidebar--> <!– </div>
<p> Extra Div –> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 21 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[8,2]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 21 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 22 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[8,4]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 22 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 23 for Ad unit Gamasutra//consolepc ### size: [[4,4]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 23 --> <br class="clear"></p></div>
<p><!--end content-body-wrapper--> </div>
<p><!--end container--><br />
<!--begin footer--> <!--end footer--> <!-- SiteCatalyst code version: H.21.
Copyright 1996-2010 Adobe, Inc. All Rights Reserved
More info available at http://www.omniture.com --> <a href="http://www.omniture.com" title="Web Analytics"><img loading="lazy" src="https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs-4.gif" height="1" width="1" border="0" alt></a><!--/DO NOT REMOVE/--><br />
<!-- End SiteCatalyst code version: H.21. --> <!-- Begin ADSNATIVE Code --> <!-- End ADSNATIVE Code --> <!--Begin Ad script for pixel --> <!--END Ad script for pixel --></p>
</div>
https://www.sickgaming.net/blog/2020/10/13/the-weirdest-steam-refund-messages-lessons-for-game-devs/