Abstract
- Steam refunds usually require
- Ubisoft banned all Linux and Steam Deck customers from For Honor on-line, triggering refund challenges and authorized claims.
- The lone refund is not a precedent however casts doubt on the Steam Deck ‘Playable’ badge and Valve’s readability.
Steam’s refund coverage is fairly strict, however honest. To get a refund, you could request it inside 14 days of buy and have underneath two hours of playtime. If both situation is not met, Valve will usually reject the refund request, besides in particular circumstances.
After Ubisoft banned all Linux players from playing For Honor online, gamers started to marvel if Valve would depend that as a ‘particular circumstance’. And whereas folks had been initially met with failure, one particular person managed to attain a refund to their Steam pockets after 4 makes an attempt, regardless of buying the sport again in 2025.
Valve’s For Honor refund hints that banning Linux gamers could have its penalties
We’ll need to see how issues shake out sooner or later
Over on the Linux Gaming subreddit, a person has posted about getting a refund for his or her For Honor buy. That is after they tried 4 occasions and had been initially rejected as a result of they bought the sport again in 2025, thus making them ineligible for a refund.
They argued that, on the time of buy, For Honor was marked as “Playable” for Steam Deck. After Ubisoft banned all Linux and Steam Deck customers from enjoying on-line on account of fears of dishonest, that was now not true, and the unique poster argued it violated the EU Digital Content material Directive.
After being rejected 4 occasions (twice by a bot, twice by a human agent, and all on account of the truth that the person bought the sport in 2025), they stopped chasing a refund and requested a easy query. When Steam says a recreation is playable on Steam Deck, is {that a} assure that it’ll keep that method, or is it simply on the level of sale? Valve did not reply to the query, however it did supply a refund of their For Honor buy as Steam credit score, which the person agreed to.
This change raises a number of questions: does the “Playable on Steam Deck” badge really promise continued help after launch? If a developer knowingly and willingly bans a whole working system from their recreation and no wrongdoing occurred, are gamers entitled to a refund? And, as one Redditor identified within the feedback, if a developer deems Linux ‘too area of interest to help,’ does that additionally imply they need to don’t have any downside refunding them?
This one refund is on no account a precedent for issues going ahead, however it’s an attention-grabbing perception into how Valve handles these conditions. We’ll need to see if this makes Valve rethink its Steam Deck playability score and what, precisely, that badge of honor guarantees to the buyer.