Are they interested in the game? Refunds are not a way to demo games..

I believe the recipient must first approve the refund before the original purchaser can request it.

Gifted games can be refunded as any other purchase.
You initiate the refund on your side like for any other game, the person you gifted the game to then gets a notification and has to agree to the refund.
If they do it then thats it, the money will go back to you.

EA and DICE originally advertised that Portal mode in Battlefield 6 would grant full progression, including:

Career XP

Hardware (Weapon and Vehicle) XP

Mission and Assignment Progress

This was clearly stated in their official Steam news post:
"Playing Portal grants XP and progression opportunities just like any Multiplayer mode… anyone who plays a Verified Portal experience will earn the following XP and progress at exactly the same amounts as they would in a normal Multiplayer match."

However, these XP systems (especially weapon and vehicle XP) have since been disabled in Portal.
That means a feature that was explicitly advertised and influenced purchase decisions has been removed or materially changed.

This is not just a gameplay change; it can qualify as a misrepresentation or non-conformity under EU consumer-protection law.

Relevant EU Consumer Laws

Directive (EU) 2019/770 - Digital Content and Digital Services
This law states that digital products (like games) must conform to what was advertised and agreed upon at the time of purchase.
If the product no longer matches its description, functionality, or advertised features, consumers have the right to a remedy, including a refund or termination of the contract.
This applies to all digital goods sold in the EU, including games purchased on Steam.

Relevant Articles:

Article 7(1)(a): The digital content must be as described, fit for the purpose, and possess the quality and performance features "as represented by the trader."

Article 13: If non-conformity exists, the consumer is entitled to bring the content into conformity or receive a proportionate reduction in price or terminate the contract (refund).

Directive 2005/29/EC - Unfair Commercial Practices (UCPD)
This law prohibits misleading commercial practices and omissions that cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision they otherwise would not have made.
Advertising "full XP progression" and then disabling it post-purchase can qualify as misleading advertising under this directive.

Relevant Article:

Article 6(1)(b): A commercial practice is misleading if it contains false information or deceives consumers about "the main characteristics of the product," such as its benefits or performance.

based on the official claim that Portal mode offered full XP progression, you can request a refund because the game no longer conforms to its advertised description.

Even if you have more than 2 hours of playtime or are past the 14-day refund window, Steam’s own refund policy allows exceptions "when the product is not as advertised."

Gifted games can be refunded as any other purchase.

引用自 Beardface31：

Are they interested in the game? Refunds are not a way to demo games..

I mean they are. One of the refund reasons is "It's not fun."

You definitely shouldn't abuse it though with a large number of purchases and refunds, like you're trying to get free samples.

That's something that should be addressed on a case by case basis though.

引用自 Chaosolous：

引用自 Beardface31：

Are they interested in the game? Refunds are not a way to demo games..

I mean they are. One of the refund reasons is "It's not fun."

You definitely shouldn't abuse it though with a large number of purchases and refunds, like you're trying to get free samples.

That's something that should be addressed on a case by case basis though.

And in those cases when someone finds a game "not fun", it should be a rare refund. There is more than enough information out there to determine whether or not a game is of interest to someone.

引用自 rawWwRrr：

引用自 Chaosolous：

I mean they are. One of the refund reasons is "It's not fun."

You definitely shouldn't abuse it though with a large number of purchases and refunds, like you're trying to get free samples.

That's something that should be addressed on a case by case basis though.

And in those cases when someone finds a game "not fun", it should be a rare refund. There is more than enough information out there to determine whether or not a game is of interest to someone.

Yeah, and the refund reasons are more a way to let the devs or publishers know why people are refunding the game(s), I don't think Valve really cares as long as it meets the criteria for a refund (owned under 14 days and played less than 2 hours- though manual refund requests will sometimes stretch those limits a bit). If the devs/publishers get a ton of refund requests saying "The game was not fun." they'll (or they should) care about it more than Valve does..

引用自 rawWwRrr：

引用自 Chaosolous：

I mean they are. One of the refund reasons is "It's not fun."

You definitely shouldn't abuse it though with a large number of purchases and refunds, like you're trying to get free samples.

That's something that should be addressed on a case by case basis though.

And in those cases when someone finds a game "not fun", it should be a rare refund. There is more than enough information out there to determine whether or not a game is of interest to someone.

No. The refund policy, legally, can’t be obscure. It needs clear definitions of what, when, why and how you can refund.

2 weeks, 2 hours.

That’s all.

You should not abuse this system though, because intentional use of the refund system to repeatedly “try” different games, is not its purpose, and is a violation of Steam’s ToS.

Valve will have to make a strong case if they want to refuse a refund that falls within their own established policy. They’ll likely have “proof” of abuse if they intend to take action, considering it’s legally open to challenge. Like if a user, has in a very short period of time, repeatedly, bought and refunded many games that are close to the 2 hour mark.

The whole reason the refund policy is the way it is, is because Valve lost in court in Australia when they tried to be obscure.

They were literally legally ordered to offer refunds. It’s easier to have a clear blanket policy instead of going from country to country clients, from a business cost standpoint. They made a reasonable ish, refund policy, and it’s clear.

Also having a reasonable policy deters further governmental scrutiny.