Rust Steam Refunds Cost $4.3m

Steam’s refund policy changed the landscape of digital game distribution. Bought a game on Steam that either doesn’t work or is just plain bad? So long as it’s within fourteen days and played for less than two hours, you can get your money back. Great news for gamers, but not so great for UK-based developer Facepunch Studios, it seems. Facepunch founder Garry Newman, creator of Garry’s Mod, revealed his MMO Rust lost over $4 million in Steam refunds.

Newman – “Steam Refunds Understandable”

According to PCGamesN, Newman confessed the predominant reason given for Rust’s Steam refunds is that the game is “not fun”.  He calls this reasoning “understandable really”. Newman is magnanimous towards the refunds. Steam’s refund policy itself – specifically, how it became a glorified demo system – likely motivated many sales, he revealed. He told PCGamesN:

“I put that down to people using the refund system as a demo. I think in the long run, people knowing the refund system is there probably gained us more sales than it lost us.”

The $4 million refund cost equates to 329, 970 refunded purchases. To put this into perspective, Rust sold over 5.5 million units. The 329,970 refunds represent just 6% of total sales.