Valve Fined $3M By Australian Court Over Steam Refunds

Steam currently has an explicit refund policy in place detailing the conditions that would allow customers to ask for their money back after buying games. However, it would seem that this was not always the case since the policy wasn’t formalized until 2014. In the years prior to that, customers weren’t sure if they were eligible or not. As a result, Valve is being fined by a court in Australia worth $3 million.

Australia has a strict legal system designed to protect its consumers, which Valve decided to ignore back in 2014 by not issuing refunds to customers, iTechPost reports. As a result, the giant digital video game retailer and the nation down under clashed over the validity of claims by customers as well as Valve’s defense of its refusal to give their money back.

It was a legal battle that lasted for two years, but it would seem that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) finally won. Initially, Valve asked the court to set the fee at a modest $250,000, which was immediately struck down. The judge in charge of the case even said that such an amount wouldn’t even make a blip on Valve’s radar, which makes hundreds of millions in video game sales. As a result, the fine was increased twelve-fold.

According to Gamezone, it’s the fact that Steam didn’t have clear refund policy back in 2014 that really made the case by ACCC against Valve. On the company’s part, it would seem that it didn’t even seek legal advice before launching in the country, which turned out was a huge mistake.

In any case, the company has since been ordered to add a link on its homepage that would lead to a page where at least fourteen explicit items relating to the refund policy of Steam will be explained in detail. The refund policy items should also conform to Australian law.