GOG.com's new refund policy is even more lenient

GOG.com has updated its refund policy to what may be the most lenient refund policy in all of gaming history, as gamers can now claim a refund up to 30 days after purchase – even if they’ve played the game.

The company says that it’s “always believed in a ‘gamers-first’ approach” and that this update is “possible thanks to your respect for all the time and hard work put into creating the games you buy on GOG.com and playing by the rules.”

The updated policy means that gamers can claim a refund on a product up to 30 days after original purchase, even if it was downloaded, launched, and played. To quote GOG.com’s official FAQ: “Yes, you read that correctly.”

Unlike Steam’s policy, which dictates that the refund must be claimed within two weeks of purchase and the game must have less than two hours playtime total, GOG.com has implemented a much more lenient set of rules to allow you to feel if a game is right for you.

It’s important for us to say that this update is possible thanks to your respect for all the time and hard work put into creating the games you buy on https://t.co/TiMFdAcy7Z and playing by the rules. We're grateful for that and encourage you to continue to do so.

— GOG.COM (@GOGcom) February 26, 2020

Of course, this doesn’t mean that people can simply buy a game, play through it all, and then go get their money back. GOG.com says that it’ll be “monitoring the effects of the current update to make sure no one is using this policy to hurt the developers that put their time and heart into making great games” and that it “may refuse refunds in such individual cases.”

However, it does mean that if you buy a game, play it for a while, and find it’s just not for you, you’ll be able to get your cash back.

The new rules also mean that pre-orders can be refunded both throughout their pre-order period and for 30 days after their release date. As before, this doesn’t mean you can buy a game, play it all, and return it – it means if you pre-order something and it just isn’t what you expected, you can get your money back.

For more information on GOG.com’s new refund policy, you can read the updated FAQ here. Happy gaming!