Steam has announced that they have updated its Refund Policy concerning pre-purchased titles. In the official blog post, Steam said that “this change covers titles that are in pre-purchase and offer “Advanced Access.” Before this update, players who had advanced access to a game could play it for longer than the appropriate amount of time required to ask for a refund and were still able to request one afterward. Now, with this new update, that is no longer the case. Both a player’s Early Access and Advanced Access playtime now count toward the two-hour refund limit.
The refund policy read as
“When you pre-purchase a title on Steam (and have paid for the title in advance), you can request a refund at any time prior to release of that title. The standard 14-day/two-hour refund period also applies, starting on the game’s release date.”
The new updated Refund Policy reads:
“When you purchase a title on Steam prior to the release date, the two-hour playtime limit for refunds will apply (except for beta testing), but the 14-day period for refunds will not start until the release date. For example, if you purchase a game that is in Early Access or Advanced Access, any playtime will count against the two-hour refund limit. If you pre-purchase a title which is not playable prior to the release date, you can request a refund at any time prior to release of that title, and the standard 14-day/two-hour refund period will apply starting on the game’s release date.”
Examples of games with advanced access includes those who have the option to play the game earlier than the game’s release date such as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, WWE 2k25, TopSpin 2k25, and the upcoming Star Wars Outlaws.
So if you are planning to get an Edition of a game with the ability to play the game earlier than its release date, make sure to pay attention to how long you have played if you want to get your refund for it on Steam.