London-based indie dev Qwiboo impacted by Steam refunds

London-based indie developer Qwiboo were quoted by Destructoid as saying that out of 18 sales on Steam in the last three days 13 were returned. Not a massive body of data, but for small developers it can obviously have some major impact.

Beyond Gravity is also available on Android and iOS and it's a short experience most players can complete in an hour and change. It costs £1.59 on Steam, and given the new refund policy (return any game within 14 days for a full refund if you've played less than two hours) it is a prime candidate to be taken advantage of.

Of course, the problem here isn't with this one game. One could argue that perhaps some or even mos of these 13 returns are from people who wouldn't have bought the game at all if the policy had not been in place. But if the policy means that shorter linear experiences aren't viable on Steam it is a problem.