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Microsoft to offer Self-Service Refunds for Xbox One & Win10

Jumeira

Banned
Do you think NIntendo is going to offer this? And if not, why would you think Sony would have any compunction in not bothering either?

Also, bear in mind that Sony charge for download bandwidth. How is this going to work with a refund system, someone has to eat the cost.

Lol Nintendo, they don't even offer cloud saves or account transfer of saves. They're so behind its not worth entertaining them when it comes to modern features.

But Sony? PSN is somewhat competent, digital purchases are mostly by hardcore gamers I'd assume, with Scorpio around the corner with superior performance and now better customer fulfilment services it does seem like a genuine threat to thier consumers​ spending habits, they're set to lose money. No one buys 3rd party games on Nintendo machines it doesn't bare mentioning.
 

Freeman76

Member
I don't get this "sony is ahead so they won't do it" talk.

Either way they have very little to be nervous about. Nothing is going to change course in regards to console sales for the remainder of the PS4 and Xb1 this "gen"

I still expect them to do something like this regardless because of the rise in digital purchases.

You just explained to yourself what you dont 'get'.

They have little to be nervous about BECAUSE they are so far in front.

And how you can say nothing is going to change like its some fact is beyond me. Who knows what MS will do to try and turn the tables.

Either way, Sony are knocking it out the park with exclusives and MS are doing everything they can to get back into gamers hearts.

Great times for our hobby if you ask me.
 
I don't get this "sony is ahead so they won't do it" talk.

Either way they have very little to be nervous about. Nothing is going to change course in regards to console sales for the remainder of the PS4 and Xb1 this "gen"

I still expect them to do something like this regardless because of the rise in digital purchases.
Because they have been doing it?

Being very customer friendly and the opposite of ms was how they started. They even believed they had lost ground to ms.

It has been said that sales were well ahead of expectations for ps4 by Sony in varying accounts that I remember reading on gaf in the first months and years. They did what most companies do and got aggressive and feeling the can't lose

They also started with cross buy. They stopped a lot of these things and that is clearly evident. If you don't see it then you don't see it but they have changed flier time to, well your there and we can charge a bit more or take away a bit more and be fine.

If my ps2 games were cross buy them that is one thing. If ps1 games were there and cross buy them ok. But they aren't even there

Sony hasn't been doing that great on services and bc without doubt.

I'm just a gamer that isn't rich but spends most of my extra money on gaming.


I just want companies in general to be fair, not just gaming. Especially Nintendo, I refuse to ever buy thier games digitally as they have shown they care more about money than people. I just don't like this mentality for anything.


I only suggest to ms to never stop even if they make sales ground and even over take

For any company, just understand people a bit. Be good to them and they will trust your service to them.


Devs can start making good games and being good to people without rushing out products.

After halo mcc, this is good news.
 

Falchion

Member
Something like this would've been great when I bought Just Cause 3 because I would've realized just how bad it performed and nope'd out and gotten my money back.
 

awp69

Member
I actually think this is smart business because it may actually increase the number of digital sales. Hell, you can't return an open game to Best Buy so if you're on the fence on something, you know you can try it for 2 hours with no risk.

So people that may have never bought a game may buy it now.

Not sure how it will balance with refunds but wouldn't be surprised if they made money in the long run.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I don't know if Sony has the backend stuff necessary to do this, but I'd hope to see it introduced on their next console at least.

Why wouldn't they? There's nothing about handling digital purchases that requires certain hardware.

I don't get this "sony is ahead so they won't do it" talk.

Either way they have very little to be nervous about. Nothing is going to change course in regards to console sales for the remainder of the PS4 and Xb1 this "gen"

I still expect them to do something like this regardless because of the rise in digital purchases.

Because the market leader has far less incentive to respond to customers unless it's materially affecting their bottom line. Microsoft has incentives to respond to gamers' concerns, Sony doesn't at this point. The same way Sony was the one offering PS+ with arguably a better value last generation, and Microsoft didn't have any similar setup until their fortunes started changing.
 

Nzyme32

Member
Looking at this again the setup is actually better than Steam because self service refunds are in. Valve still dragging their feet with self service refunds on Steam.

...what? Refunds on Steam are entirely self-service. Refunds can take between minutes to a couple of hours to fulfil as long as you are within the parameters (>2 hrs, 14 days of purchase, or whatever is relevant for dlc / season passes / subs / virtual items etc). Even if you are over the requirements, you can still get automated refunds though this is entirely at the behest of Valve when they review it.

MS will not refund DLC, Season Passes, and I assume probably the same is true for virtual items, subs, in game currencies etc. We have no examples of use cases yet to see how their automation is handled for so many things to even come to a conclusion - what about bundles, goty, collectors editions, rapid re-purchasing, how quickly / many games can be refunded till access is blocked / limited etc etc.
 
make no mistake. all of these companies care more about money than people.
Then they all need a news flash. Life isn't money, making life about money is where we have went wrong

Ideas controlling people makes us nothing more than ants in the zen army. But.. I suppose all trains of thought are actually that, the scary truth.
 

ironcreed

Banned
Less than two hours of play is still some bullshit.

What do you want to do, play the entire game and then ask for your money back? Two hours is plenty of time to figure out if you are feeling it or not and it damn sure beats getting stuck with a game you wasted money on.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
I assume we won't ever get a full clarification, by design.

Yeah, I doubt they will either. If someone is constantly doing refunds on all the games they buy I imagine they might send you a message or revoke your ability to do so.
 
I actually think this is smart business because it may actually increase the number of digital sales. Hell, you can't return an open game to Best Buy so if you're on the fence on something, you know you can try it for 2 hours with no risk.

So people that may have never bought a game may buy it now.

Not sure how it will balance with refunds but wouldn't be surprised if they made money in the long run.

Yup, xbla demos sold me on so many games last gen.

Due to no demos i buy way less indie games despite there being way more good looking. ones.
 

Nzyme32

Member
Less than two hours of play is still some bullshit.

That's the standard that seems to be going on most PC services right now, so it seems to have stuck. Origin stands out with 24hrs and 30 days, but that is limited to only EA games and few third party games that are "participating", otherwise you get nothing.

The reason for 2hrs is to prevent games that are shorter being heavily exploited, at which point those devs will see significant loss possible from revenue. 2hrs is a fairly reasonable cut off point I think
 

Shock32

Member
Then they all need a news flash. Life isn't money, making life about money is where we have went wrong

Ideas controlling people makes us nothing more than ants in the zen army. But.. I suppose all trains of thought are actually that, the scary truth.

Tell that to the suits taking in millions, driving home in there sports cars, to their model girlfriends. Now that is life.
 

lutheran

Member
Great move by Microsoft, heck one time I accidentally ordered the PS3 version of a PS4 game I wanted and Sony made me feel like a criminal for trying to get them switched out.
 

Cleve

Member
Now this is the real megaton! Way to go microsoft!

I really hope this puts pressure on the other two to actually have refunds. The fact that you can't even cancel preorders on PSN is a total farce.
 
Why wouldn't they? There's nothing about handling digital purchases that requires certain hardware.

IIRC Xbox One and Steam both track how long you play games and Sony doesn't have any system level tracking built in so I'm not sure how they'd properly enforce a 2 hr time limit.
 

icespide

Banned
Yup, xbla demos sold me on so many games last gen.

Due to no demos i buy way less indie games despite there being way more good looking. ones.

correct me if I'm wrong but if someone uses this as a way to "demo" games frequently that will be considered abusing the system no?
 

Z O N E

Member
Need to know what they consider to be "abusing" the system.

I would assume buying the same game over and over and refunding it just to play it counts as abusing the system.

I also suspect they will check over time how many times you have refunded a game.
 
D

Deleted member 325805

Unconfirmed Member
Hopefully this forces Sony to improve their own system. This is good for everyone.
 

Yaari

Member
This is great. I find Xbox' Customer Service amazing to begin with, I've not used my X1 at all this year but I'll give credit where credit is due, they have helped me greatly with some, sometimes, rather difficult problems.

And on that note I'd also like to say, fuck Sony for some of the nonsense they are still pulling off on PSN as far as refunds go. Ridiculous.
 

Admodieus

Member
Oh this is great except:

• The game or app must be downloaded and launched before requesting a self-service refund.

FUCK YOU MICROSOFT. The only reason I want to refund my recent purchase of Forza is because I cannot fucking download it. Your shit service does not have a robust pause/resume download function, does not show rate of transfer, and randomly restarts downloading 52.29GB of data.

I have downloaded 18GB, then reset, then 26GB, then reset, then 4gb, reset, now 2.35GB and reset. I would be nearly done downloading it at this point, but no, I am starting over at 0.

I wish I could torrent the data files from another source!

This is a scenario where you would have to contact a support rep. The news article today is all about self-service refunds, meaning their system has registered you downloading and playing a game, making it eligible for a refund
 

RoKKeR

Member
I actually think this is smart business because it may actually increase the number of digital sales. Hell, you can't return an open game to Best Buy so if you're on the fence on something, you know you can try it for 2 hours with no risk.

So people that may have never bought a game may buy it now.

Not sure how it will balance with refunds but wouldn't be surprised if they made money in the long run.
All of MS's recent moves (backwards compatibility, Game Pass, Play Anywhere, this, etc.) are to drive digital sales. The margins on a digital game are much, much higher, and it's in the best interest of both MS and developers if games are purchased digitally. (in terms of the amount of revenue they see per unit)

Thankfully, those moves also happen to be incredibly consumer friendly, which is exactly how they should have structured their messaging with the XBO reveal. There are benefits to digital purchases, and the way they have been adding those benefits have so far been win-win scenarios for consumers and MS.
 

joecanada

Member
This is good news, now I may actually buy a Win10 store game, before knowing if it will actually work or not...

Oh this is great except:

• The game or app must be downloaded and launched before requesting a self-service refund.

FUCK YOU MICROSOFT. The only reason I want to refund my recent purchase of Forza is because I cannot fucking download it. Your shit service does not have a robust pause/resume download function, does not show rate of transfer, and randomly restarts downloading 52.29GB of data.

I have downloaded 18GB, then reset, then 26GB, then reset, then 4gb, reset, now 2.35GB and reset. I would be nearly done downloading it at this point, but no, I am starting over at 0.

I wish I could torrent the data files from another source!

.....Oh never mind I'll just keep avoiding the games that gaf reports are a nightmare.
 

awp69

Member
They would. People who do it regularly on Steam have had their accounts flagged and unable or restricted refunds.

correct me if I'm wrong but if someone uses this as a way to "demo" games frequently that will be considered abusing the system no?

Maybe if you did it dozens and dozens of times but I disagree.

The description in the policy leads one to believe if you just don't like a game, you can use this:
"When a game or app leaves you wanting more, we're here to help."
 

Exquisik

Member
Less than two hours of play is still some bullshit.

Reiterating what others have been saying, 2 hours are more than enough to test out the game. Don't forget that there are games that can be completed in less than 3 hours (This is not just xbla).

This is awesome on Microsoft part! I don't usually return games I bought digitally but Sony need to implement the same thing in the case that there might be an accident purchase (This makes it easier to request for a refund). I wonder if there will be any penalty for requesting too many refunds.
 

Tawpgun

Member
Wonder what games are best for this.

I feel like they should let us "abuse" the system. Not many games out there you can beat in 2 hours. And since they stopped offering demos this gen it would be a neat work around.
 

icespide

Banned
Maybe if you did it dozens and dozens of times but I disagree.

The description in the policy leads one to believe if you just don't like a game, you can use this:
"When a game or app leaves you wanting more, we're here to help."

I took that to mean "a game you thought you would like but it turned out you didn't" not "I want to try this game to see if i'll like it"
 

Kolx

Member
Sony won't do it because their infrastructure is shit. Sony plz fix your network and services. MS is so ahead it's embarrassing.
 

Fbh

Member
Great movie from Microsoft.

And I really hope this puts up pressure for Sony to do the same. The fact you can't even refund preorders before the game has been released is beyond ridiculous.


Less than two hours of play is still some bullshit.

Why?.
It's not meant to be a tool to try a game for free.
 

icespide

Banned
Sony won't do it because their infrastructure is shit. Sony plz fix your network and services. MS is so ahead it's embarrassing.

Sony clearly already has the mechanism in place for refunds because they do it where they are legally required to
 
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