Steam will stop issuing refunds if you play two hours of a game before launch day

This isn't about early access. This is explicitly about Advanced Access, where a special edition grants access to the complete game a few days early.

This is a closed loophole, not an injustice.

Yeah idk how I feel about that. Its kind-of on the developer for offering early access. Its not like they aren't getting data from people playing early access.

Maybe early access just shouldn't be a thing or needs to be free. Or they could just pay people to test their games?

2 hours isn't shit. Especially not if something is in early access and isn't even close to a finished product.

Ehhh, I'm actually (surprisingly) gonna disagree here. Obviously there are special cases, where the game worked in EA and had some game-breaking crash on release, but those are the exception and not the norm.

If you paid for EA, that's 100% on you and I don't think a refund should be available at all (after the initial time limit, of course). You paid for an unfinished game and that's exactly what you got. It literally doesn't matter what the game releases as.

If you played a game with free EA, you know more-or-less what you were getting on release. You know the developer's communication style and their release cadence, and you've literally played the game. I would like to see this time limit extended back to maybe 30m/1hr (it may be different in ways you don't like), but I don't see a problem with reducing it if you've already experienced parts of the game.
- I would like to see this time limit extended back to maybe 30m/1hr (it may be different in ways you don't like), but I don't see a problem with reducing it if you've already experienced parts of the game.
  
  The problem is some games don't even start at 30m point. Interactive introes and tutorials are here to misrepresent the future gameplay. Especially with a trick like making you have all power ups before having them all taken from you to grind them back. Take Skyrim where real game starts somewhen at Helgen after a starting dungeon.
  
  Add there games that have it's own launchers them being a problem to log into while the timer is already ticking.
- If you paid for EA, that’s 100% on you and I don’t think a refund should be available at all (after the initial time limit, of course). You paid for an unfinished game and that’s exactly what you got. It literally doesn’t matter what the game releases as.
  
  Yeah I mean I agree with that, but its also on the developer too to.. to just maybe finish the game before release? Like if a half finished product is what you made and what you release and you and your customers are cool with that, great. But thats not what EA is.
  
  Idk yeah. Yeah I think that maybe you shouldn't be able to charge for early access. That would simplify the whole thing. I don't think gating it makes more sense.
- I completely disagree. A dev conceding to release in early access = a dev committing to later release a finished product which the early accessor will also receive a license to play. Without the latter part, early access becomes a moot system in principle, just a pathway provided by platforms to monetise unfinished games, which may never be finished.
  
  And the value proposition for that finished product shouldn't be affected at all by its pre-launch state. Early access isn't for the benefit of consumers. That many games remain in "early access" for an extended period of time (such that sufficient gameplay value can be extracted prior to actual launch) isn't really anything to do with the concept of early access itself. It certainly shouldn't negate your right as a consumer to say "this isn't fit for purpose" once the final product arrives in your hands. After all if it's not fit for purpose during the early access period, that isn't necessarily representative of whether it will be post-launch.

I think this is fine so long as valve continues to allow exceptions in cases of obvious bait and switches, etc as they have historically.

Yeah, and hopefully in general for cases where an update significantly changes functionality, like DRM requiring always-on our breaking stuff like Steam Deck compatibility for those users

In spite of some of the comments to the contrary here, I really think this is fine. Early access is early access. 2 hours has been the ground truth for a while. It does seem like a loophole, and I'm fine with them filling it.

Edit: and it isn't really about Early Access -- it's about Advanced Access, from pre-orders.

Wild, I didn't realise this was possible for early access games.

Not early access games but more AAA "Early access games", which means you preorder advanced edition you get to play like a week early. The biggest examples being Starfield and that new Star wars game by ubisoft (with the insane price of 130 for its super special edition). So this is just a logical loophole getting closed. We can have disagreements with the 2 hour refund window on steam but I don't think it was ever intentional for you to play 48 hours of a game then being able to refund the thing since its not official out.
- Aha the "Unlock Game Early Edition" trend, which is awful in itself. Makes it a slightly more niche loophole.
  
  I quite like the spirit of the 2 hour no quibble refund policy. It does still have many problems, but being able to play for 48 hours and then refund no-questions-asked was for sure never intentional.

I assumed this was always the case