How to return and refund games on Steam + Tips and Tricks

Just after Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, and with great Christmas sales like Steam just around the corner, we are undoubtedly facing a few weeks in which video game purchases will not be lacking. However, whether for others or even for ourselves, Many times these gifts are not usually successful.

However, unlike other products or stores, one of the great advantages of this gaming platform is that we will not only be able to unseal the game (mainly due to its intangible and digital format), but we will also be able to try and enjoy these games before return them with the only requirements of not exceed two hours of use or 14 days from its acquisition. In this way, we will have enough time to check if we really like them or not before deciding whether to return them or not.

That is why we want to recover this little practical in which we will explain, step by step, the entire process that you will have to follow if you finally opt for a refund and want to recover your money.

How to request a return and refund of a game on Steam

Although we can access both from the Support website and through the Steam client, the process is somewhat simpler and more intuitive through the desktop application. From here, we will only have to search for the game in question and select the option “Medium” at the top to access the list of options to indicate the type of problem or reason for the return.

However, in order to obtain a refund, only the following options will be valid:

• Now available cheaper
• Technical or game problem
• That’s not what I expected

And it is that if we select another of the available options, the Steam message will change, informing us that the refund cannot be made and offering us the option of contacting another of the parties involved such as the distributor or the developer.

Clicking on any of the three valid options listed above will take you to a submenu that asks you more questions. For the purposes of this guide, in our case I have selected that the game «Not what I expected», which led us to a second menu where we could directly choose the refund option. However, depending on the options that we select during these steps, we may end up seeing different alternatives and additional questions during the process.

Finally, while Steam will initially recommend other contact options for us to resolve our issues with the game, we may ultimately be eligible for a full refund and return by clicking “I would like to request a refund”.

In addition, you can choose where the refund amount will go, being able to choose the original payment method or the Steam Wallet digital wallet. And it is that if our intention is to spend money on Steam again, the most advisable thing would be to opt for this second option, since it does not involve other parties and is much faster.

Thus, as long as we comply with everything previously established, we should receive the refund within a week from the request. Additionally, mention that in the case of games that we receive directly as a gift through Steam, the monetary value will be returned to the person who made the purchase, and not to our account.

Steam will not issue a return or refund if…

Unfortunately, although we’ve tried it on occasion, it seems that Steam takes the requirements of 2 hours of game time or 14 days from purchase, without ever having managed to receive a refund in these cases.

Also, another thing to remember is that the games you got via promotional keys, such as those offered by the developers in some of their giveaways or free trials, are not eligible for a refund.

Last but not least, while Steam does not offer any kind of limitation on the number of refund requests, if we make a large number of returns in a short period of time (exceeding 10 requests in the same week), we could receive a notice from the platform informing us that the fact that we are abusing this option will be considered, and that in case of incurring a greater number of requests, restrictions could be imposed on us. on the account.