I quoted the no‑questions‑asked refunds in 15 days for in dev games, but I already had troubles with Steam with a similar system and still have to buy another game on Steam since (still buy keys on other shops).

I understand Gog is trying a new approach but I don't want :
- Have troubles with Gog because of asking too many refunds. Not even get a crap warning email about that despite the policy shown in front page (as Steam does).
- Don't want hurt Gog/dev in anyway.

So the second point is a real problem if Gog doesn't manage a system like Wallet/Blue points.

There is a wallet system on GOG called store credit. The problem is that you can't directly buy store credit yet, but when you ask for a refund, you can get it in store credit instead of real cash.

I assure you you'll never get a crap warning email.

Actually I cannot do that. Noone can probably. Sorry.

GOG said they don't ask questions. So either you trust them, then everything is good, or you do not trust them.

If I were GOG and I saw people abusing this feature I would just at some point cancel this policy. So this generous "no question asked" refund policy might not be here forever.

And hurting GOG/devs in any way: Sure asking for a refund hurts them (both). It means you don't think the game is good and that you want to spent your money elsewhere. Of course that hurts.

But they decided to go this way so it's okay. Abusing the whole system (never intending to keep any of the games) is a bit different, but they cannot tell the difference, so as long as only a minority does it, it may still pay off for them in total.

GOG and the devs think that offering a generous refund is the best for letting consumers participating in early access. They may be wrong but for the moment that is their offer and taking them up on it - nothing wrong with that.

Thanks for the information, that's not cool you can't buy credits, I understand it makes accounts more sensible and that there's some European laws that probably require some extra actions to do it, but GamersGate still does it so it's possible.

I suppose it's not a big problem to not be able buy credit when you pay something you can probably use current credit and pay the rest with some payment method.

GOG said in the past that they were planning to allow you to add money to your store credit balance, but it seems that they haven't gotten around it yet.

How I bet it is it's gog doesn't register the final sell yet and don't pay the dev until the 15 days are over and the no question refund can't be applied anymore. And if there's a refund it's not refunded directly but through credits so no real expense, more or less.

For the dev point of view particularly the first dev there's a clear bet done.

For myself it's low interest system because I very rarely buy EA games and feel tedious/frustrating try contribute to dev of a game. So why I'd be interested, to give a chance to games I'd ignore until a very low sale if ever. A good EA/In Dev game has often a rather full gameplay that could allow decide if the game is for you or not.

For all three, Steam is an obvious problem with no clear solution, and EA generates a significant activity in Steam. So it's logical to attempt not let a monopoly to Steam. I know Desura do that long before Steam, but Desura is a very special shop/platform. And for me not one of my 6 references, MacGamestore, HumbleStore, Gog, GamersGate, Mac App Store, Steam (where I intent never buy them again any game directly) but not Desura.


I know noticed I have hard time not play through Steam, it's a total disaster and that's from a player with a lot of negative argument against the position that reach Steam.

I doubt that honestly. If someone keeps buying a game a couple of days before it's full release, downloads the full release + a couple of patches, and then refunds his game before the 14 days are over something is bound to happen at some point :)

As for the generosity of the refund they're offering. Keep in mind it's the *only* way they could have offered it. They have no way of controlling how many hours you play the game without using some form of DRM, which is a nono. So depicting it as a good feature is a smart thing there.

At some point yes but not for the guy who does this because in their terms they now have the "no questions asked refund policy". So what can they do really?

Actually something very simple: Stop selling a game in development 14 days before release. That way you can ensure that at least noone will legally pirate the full version.

The general idea is probably that pirates do not do the detour (pay first, then ask for refund) anyway, so probably nothing is lost that wasn't lost before.