Xbox One, Windows 10 become more Steam-like with “self-service refunds”

Xbox One is officially the first video game console to support digital purchase refunds by default. The new "self-service refund" system was announced on Wednesday on the console's "Alpha" preview ring, which is normally used to test and tease other upcoming features to the system's interface, and it confirmed that the refund process will soon land both on Xbox One consoles and the Windows Store marketplace on Windows 10 PCs.

The announcement later appeared on support forums for Xbox's Alpha group, but its effects have already begun propagating to normal users, who now can follow the below steps to request online-purchase refunds for qualifying software.

Microsoft's self-service refunds work much like returns do on PC game-download service Steam. Shoppers have up to 14 days after purchasing a game or app to request a refund, and that will only work if the software in question has not been used for more than two hours while owned.

Similar to Steam, Xbox and Windows 10 users will have to navigate to an "order history" section of their account to request such a refund, rather than any obvious tabs or buttons within a given game or app's landing page. However, this can only be done through a Web browser pointed to account.microsoft.com, as opposed to the Xbox One or Windows Store dashboards.

Microsoft offers a vague warning that the company "reserves the right to block access for users who abuse self-service refunds." Other restrictions apply, including a ban on refunds for "DLC, season passes, and add-ons" and a one-day wait after purchasing downloaded software before you can request a refund. Currently, users who've seen a "request a refund" button appear next to software purchases are reporting that the refund process isn't working just yet, with error messages indicating that the Windows Store site "couldn't process your return." That may explain why Microsoft only alerted members of its Alpha testing pool.

This Steam-like policy is more generous than that of the Google Play Store, which only permits refunds of software that has been installed within the past two hours. The latter policy is meant more to placate users with immediate incompatibility issues with their own phones. Meanwhile, no other console manufacturer offers a comparable refund policy, with PlayStation owners suggesting that they can sometimes get individual software-purchase refunds if they call in to a customer service hotline and complain.

One of the Xbox 360's coolest features came from a mandate slapped onto all download-only Xbox Live games: that they must include some form of free, limited trial. That rule was dropped for games published on Xbox One. For players who do not rampantly buy and return games—and thus trigger Microsoft's advertised alarm for refund abuse—this new policy may be as close as Xbox gamers get back to that era of limited-time trial demos and tastes. Anyone interested in how game developers feel about such refund-driven game downloading should check out Kyle Orland's take on the subject from 2015.