Everyone has been there and felt that specific kind of pain. You drop a good chunk of change on a video game you’ve been wanting, only to have that game go on sale just a few days later. If you had just held out a little while longer, you could’ve saved some of your hard-earned money.
Game developers and those who work other jobs in the industry are gamers just like everyone else. That means that they’ve felt that pain, too. The minds behind the Epic Games Store are doing something to alleviate that pain. They’re now offering partial refunds for games bought shortly before going on sale.
Whoa whoa what?! I’ve clearly been around for too long because I find this refund for a discount I missed on the @EpicGames store absolutely mind blowingly generous. This is incredible? pic.twitter.com/eHfcus5E0K
— Joshua Boggs (@jboggsie) May 15, 2020
The news comes from Joshua Boggs, who happens to be a game developer himself. He purchased a game that then went down in price, so the Epic Games Store issued him a partial refund. Judging by his reaction to the refund, this obviously isn’t something he himself requested. It seems as if the store automatically issued a refund when the price went down.
As of the time of this writing, the games store hasn’t officially confirmed this new feature, which means we know nothing regarding policy. We don’t know if the refund is only offered when a game goes on sale, or if it’s any time the price of a game is lowered. Judging by the wording in the above image, it’s probably safe to guess that it’s the latter.
The big question, of course, is how soon after the purchase does the price have to drop? If it drops just a few days after, that seems like a decent parameter for a refund. The purchaser narrowly missed the window. If it’s a week after purchasing? That would be might, mighty generous. We’re all eager to learn more about this new policy.
It’s a smart move by the Epic Games Store. For starters, it bolsters brand loyalty. This is a cool thing they’re doing and it prevents gamers from kicking themselves by snatching up a game right before a sale.
From a business perspective, it also makes sense. There are plenty of gamers out there who throw games onto their wishlists and wait for a sale to come. If said game never goes on sale, they never buy it. In the end, they spend no money. With this new refund system in place, it might make those gamers feel more comfortable opening up their wallets. Getting a portion of the profits (after the partial refund) is preferable to not getting any profits at all.
We’ll be sure to let you know when we learn more about this new development. For now, if you’re not an Epic Games Store customer, it might be time to start checking them out, especially with so many awesome free games on the way.
