This is something we lost when game developers stopped publishing free demos. I cannot imagine how "just buy it and refund it if you don't like it" is somehow better for the industry.
this post was submitted on 04 May 2026
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Less work than making a demo, customers might forget to ask for the refund, and all the customer service is free because Steam automates it.
Makes lots of sense for developers.
As a customer, I’d still prefer a demo.
Steam has had couple of demo fests recently so I guess someone over there felt the same as you did.
I think demos work. It was the entire reason i paid for planet crafter. I knew it was a fun game because of the free demo, and the demo let me play for several days so I got very hooked.
First computer game I ever spent my allowance on was because of the free demo. Was a fun little game called DOOM.
Why not both?
This might fall under “less work than a demo” but far too many games that do have a demo, the devs don’t bother keeping it up to date.
Until the refund fees become too much to be supported (and it will be because I don't see more payment processors going by, if anything,we have less and less because reasons), that is basically the stance on this subject yes
It feels like demos are coming back though. I don't know how many demos I've played in the last year but it was quite a lot. I just don't like it when the demo becomes unavailable after release.
Was going to say the same. Demoes have been making a huge comeback. I feel like every other store page I visit on Steam these days has one. Love to see it.
Half the games I buy on Steam have free demo versions
the refund part wasn't planned
Free demos attract potential customers but it also attracts people who just want free stuff and aren’t potential customers (the stereotypical example in gaming would be a kid with parents that won’t buy games). From a business perspective it’s a plus being able to save yourself the effort and expenditure of interacting with the second group and only interact with people who proved they have a credit card.
I’m not going to show you my card until you show me some fun.
How it feels when you miss the refund window of a shit game by a minute
Only Steam refund I ever got was for a Pool of Radiance re-package. Spent WAY longer than the testing period just generating the party, because JFC was it tedious on early gold-box games, and by the time I started running into bugs (introduced in the update? original? Who even knows?) barely outside the gates to Old Phlan, it was theoretically way too late. I had to explain a forty-year-old game to the poor customer service rep, but I got my 8 bucks back.
had to refund Wukon. beautiful game, but I had a frame per second. Even with a lot of settings at minimum. The opening was a gorgeous slideshow.
Did you not read the required specs?
I can run CP77 at a cozy 40fps, in theory I had OK specs.
I think the only time I would refund a game is if it was just like blatant false advertising.
Whenever I'm not sure if I'll like a game and it doesn't have a demo, I pirate it, try how it is and then decide. If I like it, I buy it. If I don't I delete it and go on with my life.
This is only for the games I'm not sure I want to buy, if there's a game I want, I buy it directly. But just to save the process of refunding, I prefer pirating to try in the absence of demos.
i got gifted the entirety of the "super granny" collection once. that taught me to actually look at the games i got gifted, and that in turn resulted in the same copy of "bad rats" being gifted back and forth between five people for like seven years.
Misread and thought you refunded the new Steam Machine
no remorse for games trying to copy hades or dead cells and doing it half ass