[Losi]

Valve is being taken to court by The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The ACCC is alleging that Valve has not fulfilled mandatory consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law. While neither Valve or Steam has any physical presence in Australia, the company must observe Australian law when it provides goods or services to Australians.

According to ACCC chairman Rod Sims, Valve has come under the spotlight due to its policy on refunds.

“It is a breach of the Australian Consumer Law for businesses to state that they do not give refunds under any circumstances, including for gifts and during sales,” Sims said. “Under the Australian Consumer Law, consumers can insist on a refund or replacement at their option if a product has a major fault.”

The consumer guarantees provided under the Australian Consumer Law cannot be excluded, restricted or modified,” he continued.

The ACCC will allege that:

consumers were not entitled to a refund for any games sold by Valve via Steam in any circumstances;

Valve had excluded, restricted or modified statutory guarantees and/or warranties that goods would be of acceptable quality;

Read the full article here: PCGamer article

[Adorapuff]

This really sucks since they seem to be one of the only gaming companies that cares about its community.

[Losi]

This really sucks since they seem to be one of the only gaming companies that cares about its community.

I really hope Valve/Steam wins. I doubt they had any intention of breaking Straya's rules.

[Nyx]

They're just looking for money. And it shouldn't be Steam's fault that Australians are buying their games and Steam doesn't give refunds. The only way Steam can control who visits their website is by blocking certain countries, and if Steam were to block Australia, people would call them on racism and bring them to court for that. This will end with Steam giving a refund to people that don't like the game within an hour of their downloads finishing or something.

[Seven]

it would be difficult for steam to be a functioning buisness if they gave refunds. They wouldnt make much money if they gave refuds and their prices for games where the same as they are now. If valve was to include refunds they would have to boost their games prices and that would suck.

[Feat]

This really sucks since they seem to be one of the only gaming companies that cares about its community.

This is true.

---

If you ask me, our good Aussy's need to just suck it up. Valve, whilst distributing in Australia, can't do anything to get around it. It's their policy and they're literally selling games almost everywhere. So if they were to block Australia, as @"Tarew" said, then they'd probably get pissed and call Racism or something absurd.

[3SidedSquare]

I think steam can get off on a technicality,

“It is a breach of the Australian Consumer Law for businesses to state that they do not give refunds under any circumstances, including for gifts and during sales,” Sims said. “Under the Australian Consumer Law, consumers can insist on a refund or replacement at their option if a product has a major fault.”

I could argue that since steam checks to make sure downloads are correct and up-to-date, the consumer will never get a "faulty" product, since literally every copy of a game is the same. Crashes and such are the fault of the developer, but steam still gave you a "perfect" copy.

[Silent Reaper]

>inb4 I lose access to Steam
Well this fucking sucks.

I hope Valve wins.

[Kekaap]

>inb4 I lose access to Steam
Well this fucking sucks.

I hope Valve wins.

Same, I've been using steam for so long I have almost all my games on there. Too much money..

[itaxim]

Everyone always praises Steam, but they do have a lot of shady practices. Especially considering the shit Microsoft got for even thinking about an online distribution system that made it hard to share games. Microsoft even had proposed a better Family Sharing feature than Steam has now.

If you purchase a pack with games you already own in it, the games/licences just disappear. You can't transfer licences under any circumstance, and apparently if steam ever sells a game that just doesn't work, you aren't entitled to a refund.

Don't get me wrong, my Steam library is 350 odd strong, and I've spent a *lot* of money on it. Just seems like it deserves a little more scrutiny than it's getting.