Origin to offer full game refunds

[Red Storm]

It is? It should be for all games sold on Origin if they really want to push this, but I can see where they might have problems. Publishers would probably still want money from EA for games returned on Origin, while with EA's own games they can just return the money to the customer and have no tangible loss.

Yeah and if I had to guess, this is why Steam hasn't beaten them to the punch either. If it only worked for Valve games on Steam no one would care, they have to get agreements from all publishers to make it Steam-wide.

 

[TerryMathews]

I totally support this, and it is something I have said for a while now. If these companies want us to accept DRM, they need to give us some new features that take advantage of them. It can't all be for their benefit.

Since the DRM allows for a total revocation of the installation, this is a good move for EA and the market and general. I can tell you, if I'm on the fence about a game, a 24 hour trial period will greatly influence where I purchase it.

 

[shortylickens]

We probably wouldnt need such things if they had playable demos.

 

[Red Storm]

We probably wouldnt need such things if they had playable demos.

I'll take refunds over playable demos.

 

[smackababy]

This is a very generous offer. Software returns are unheard of these days, the last time I remember seeing that was at the now-defunct Electronics Botique many many years ago. That was around 2k. No other retailer during that time or since has ever allowed open software or game returns, ever.

So with that being the case, I think it will win some mindshare for Origin/EA. Offering returns for any type of software is definitely -not- the norm so it is very generous.

That is not entirely true. Blizzard allows you to return unused WoW license keys I believe. In the event you don't accept the EULA after installing (because you have to install to read it...) you can call support and if your key has not been claimed, receive a full refund.


Now Origin is better than Steam, with this new policy.

 

[slag]

This is a very generous offer. Software returns are unheard of these days, the last time I remember seeing that was at the now-defunct Electronics Botique many many years ago. That was around 2k. No other retailer during that time or since has ever allowed open software or game returns, ever.

So with that being the case, I think it will win some mindshare for Origin/EA. Offering returns for any type of software is definitely -not- the norm so it is very generous.

I disagree, its not nearly enough time. Maybe a full week after starting to play the game, but 24 hours is laughable.

I get home from work one of the very few days I have any free time and start playing the game at 9 pm. I spend 30 minutes to an hour just trying to configure my setup and play a few minutes of the game and boom, its 10:30 and I have to go to bed because I get up for work at 5. Next day I work from 7-5 and get home at 6. I change, take out the trash, do some dishes, meet with my son's adhd counselor from 7-8, eat a quick supper with the family from 8-8:45, and the kids go to bed. It's 9 oclock and I still have to log in and do some work from home. No time to play, I have to go to bed. Rinse and repeat and fill in the adhd meeting with soccer practice for the kids, scout meetings, band meetings, etc. and quickly I find I haven't had a single chance to sit down and play the computer all week until either early saturday morning at 5:30 before the kids get up or maybe late saturday night when they are in bed.

Nope, 24 hours is not nearly enough. A week, minimum maybe. I don't know anyone who has all day every day to sit around on their ass and play a game and beat it in 24 hours, let alone a week.

 

[Arkaign]

Yeah and if I had to guess, this is why Steam hasn't beaten them to the punch either. If it only worked for Valve games on Steam no one would care, they have to get agreements from all publishers to make it Steam-wide.

Yep, I'd imagine it would be a massive legal PITA.

This actually is an advantage for EA weirdly. Valve hardly makes anything at all, EA makes tons of stuff, some of it actually pretty good, even if their corporate culture has been awful most of the time.

 

[KaOTiK]

Now Origin is better than Steam, with this new policy.

Hardly. This is for EA only games, new EA games don't even come to Steam anymore.

 

[EDUSAN]

I disagree, its not nearly enough time. Maybe a full week after starting to play the game, but 24 hours is laughable.

Just make sure that the 1st time you open the game you willl have time. you have a week from the moment you buy it, that means that you will have a weekend to chose the moment you want the 24hs to start counting

i also feel that 24hs is a bit too much. but i guess they rather be generous and let some people cheat the system than having everyone else pissed of

i guess that if they make only 1 refund possible per purchase and you spend 50 bucks... buy a game, play it from start to end in less than 24hs, refund it to another one and keep that one ... it would be as if you "bought" 2 games at 50% each, but in the end EA got $50 bucks anyway

if they let you keep refunding ever and ever your $50 i dont see it as a very bright idea

 

[mizzou]

just saw they are still hawking $59.99 for SimCity yikes

 

[CPA]

I'm not complaining, just pointing out that as a business decision it seems far too generous and if I was working there I would have advised them against going with a full 24 hours.

KT

I'm sure they have plenty of data to support a 24 hour window without worrying about egregious amounts of refund requests.

that said, I'm convinced this policy is a result of the SimCity fiasco.

 

[clok1966]

A turd with frosting is still a turd even if you can point out it tastes sweet now.

 

[Dankk]

A turd with frosting is still a turd even if you can point out it tastes sweet now.

Suck it up. Origin is way better than Steam now. It loads faster, the UI is better, the browser overlay is less buggy, it has live support chat built directly into the program (does Valve have anything like that at all?), it supported custom install locations long before Steam did, and now they're even offering full refunds for certain games.

They're already years ahead of Steam in terms of support and robustness. Steam, on the other hand, has, uh... social networking? Facebook integration?

Don't get me wrong. I love Steam too. But it's amazing to see the Anti-EA brigade try to manufacture new reasons to complain about Origin every day.

 

[Midwayman]

I disagree, its not nearly enough time. Maybe a full week after starting to play the game, but 24 hours is laughable.

A full week would be incredibly easy to abuse. You should be able to tell if a game suits you within a couple of hours. 24hrs is more than enough time to evaluate if it runs okay on your hardware and/or has glaring problems. I wouldn't be surprised to see the evaluation period shrink small enough that it'll be impossible to finish shorter games in the return period.

 

[blackened23]

edit: dp

 

[blackened23]

I disagree, its not nearly enough time. Maybe a full week after starting to play the game, but 24 hours is laughable.

I get home from work one of the very few days I have any free time and start playing the game at 9 pm. I spend 30 minutes to an hour just trying to configure my setup and play a few minutes of the game and boom, its 10:30 and I have to go to bed because I get up for work at 5. Next day I work from 7-5 and get home at 6. I change, take out the trash, do some dishes, meet with my son's adhd counselor from 7-8, eat a quick supper with the family from 8-8:45, and the kids go to bed. It's 9 oclock and I still have to log in and do some work from home. No time to play, I have to go to bed. Rinse and repeat and fill in the adhd meeting with soccer practice for the kids, scout meetings, band meetings, etc. and quickly I find I haven't had a single chance to sit down and play the computer all week until either early saturday morning at 5:30 before the kids get up or maybe late saturday night when they are in bed.

Nope, 24 hours is not nearly enough. A week, minimum maybe. I don't know anyone who has all day every day to sit around on their ass and play a game and beat it in 24 hours, let alone a week.

Yeah, so you don't have enough time. Welcome to life, i'm sure that applies to everyone here. I have my 60 hours/week as well to work.... My entire point was that nobody else does software returns, and hasn't for the past 2 decades. The only exception (to my knowledge) was EB years and years and YEARS ago. Nobody, not a single retailers, allows open software returns. Go to Best Buy and try to return open software. Watch the laughter at the return counter ensue. That is every retailer in the US, you aren't going to return open or used software. As I said it has been this way for decades.

So the point stands, this is a generous offer. Origin/EA is the only company doing this on an official basis, I applaud them for it. By the way, you have 7 days if you don't run the executable for the game.

I love steam to death and I think they are the de-facto model for online DRM, but I'm jubilant that they're finally getting real and serious competition. If anything this is good for ALL of us here, this will put pressure on Valve to do the same thing. Why are you complaining with that being the case? Not being facetious, but it's nothing to complain about. NOBODY does open / used software returns, and EA doing this will pressure Valve to do the same with steam. More competition, more choice, good for consumers. This certainly makes me feel more confident about doing purchases on Origin, previously I only purchased a select few games such as BF3, crysis 3 and DS3. Steam was my clear preference for outside published games.

 

[CuriousMike]

Great, another way for people to shit on EA.

"I had the game for 24.1 hours and they won't refund my money. Fuckers."

"Asssholes. I paid $4.63 for the Humble Bundle, and BF3 sucks balls and they won't refund my money."

"Assholes. The ending for MassEffect 4 sucked and they won't re-write the ending."

 

[Lonyo]

I disagree, its not nearly enough time. Maybe a full week after starting to play the game, but 24 hours is laughable.

I get home from work one of the very few days I have any free time and start playing the game at 9 pm. I spend 30 minutes to an hour just trying to configure my setup and play a few minutes of the game and boom, its 10:30 and I have to go to bed because I get up for work at 5. Next day I work from 7-5 and get home at 6. I change, take out the trash, do some dishes, meet with my son's adhd counselor from 7-8, eat a quick supper with the family from 8-8:45, and the kids go to bed. It's 9 oclock and I still have to log in and do some work from home. No time to play, I have to go to bed. Rinse and repeat and fill in the adhd meeting with soccer practice for the kids, scout meetings, band meetings, etc. and quickly I find I haven't had a single chance to sit down and play the computer all week until either early saturday morning at 5:30 before the kids get up or maybe late saturday night when they are in bed.

Nope, 24 hours is not nearly enough. A week, minimum maybe. I don't know anyone who has all day every day to sit around on their ass and play a game and beat it in 24 hours, let alone a week.

So basically you don't even have time to play games.
So why are you buying them in the first place? Wait until they are super cheap a couple of years after launch, and buy them then, since you won't have time to play what you pay full price for.

YOUR situation is that you don't have enough time to play more than 30 minutes in one sitting because you spend an hour configuring stuff. Well tough. That's your problem.
It's more than generous, and in that 30 minutes you might be able to figure out if you want to take the hit, or whether you want a refund there and then. You can then wait a year or two and buy the game for 1/3rd of the price or less when it's dropped, and then take as much time as you want to play it.

Complaining about not being able to get a refund on new games you buy because you don't have enough time to play them doesn't make any sense. You don't have enough time to play them, why the hell are you buying them?

 

[Red Storm]

Origin is way better than Steam now.

In your opinion. I think Steam is better (in my opinion).

 

[Craig234]

In your opinion. I think Steam is better (in my opinion).

I think he meant on the issues here of refund.

Steam clearly has advantages on sales and selection.

 

[Kyle]

I do find it amazing that people can shit on EA no matter what they do...first w/ the ridiculous humble bundle there were still some shitting on them, and now offering returns? You'd think those would be 2 things that 100% would not get criticized...

I think this is a great idea and hope more companies/Steam jump on board.

 

[Dankk]

I think he meant on the issues here of refund.

Steam clearly has advantages on sales and selection.

I was speaking in terms of the client itself. In terms of sales and selection, you're right, Steam is better.

 

[smackababy]

I was speaking in terms of the client itself. In terms of sales and selection, you're right, Steam is better.

As far as selection, it is not a fair comparison. It is like comparing a Nordstom to a Louis Vuitton store. One offers a multitude of brands and one is for a particular brand. Their selection is completely different. Nordstrom will have a poor selection of Louis Vuitton and Louis Vuitton will have a poor selection of everything else.


Origin is a superior client as far as nonintrusive. I never see anything I choose not to on Origin. On Steam, however, I see a popup ad every time I close a Steam game.

 

[KaOTiK]

Origin is a superior client as far as nonintrusive. I never see anything I choose not to on Origin. On Steam, however, I see a popup ad every time I close a Steam game.

Which you can turn off in the settings. You can choose to have ads pop up or not on Steam.

 

[smackababy]

Which you can turn off in the settings. You can choose to have ads pop up or not on Steam.

I didn't know that. I have never seen that option. I've been annoying by popups for years.