The folks at The Chinese Room are known both for their great games (Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture) and for their outspokenness.
About a year ago, they not-so-covertly accused CD Projekt RED of sexism in both The Witcher and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077. Now they've targeted the brand new self-service refunds program that Microsoft made available to select members of the Insider program, saying that it is "bollocks" and refunds should instead operate on a percentage of the game's completion.
Bit depressed about Xbox jumping on the 2hr refund BOLLOCKS ARSEHOLE WHY WHY WHY YOU FOOLS CANNOT SUSTAIN NORMAL TEMPER WTF MODERN CULTURE
— The Chinese Room (@ChineseRoom) April 13, 2017
It's REALLY simple. Refunds should operate off a percentage of game completed. Simple, fair, representative. This 2 hour thing is just cock
— The Chinese Room (@ChineseRoom) April 13, 2017
Garry Newman, the creator of Garry's Mod and Rust, jokingly pointed out that Garry's Mod technically could take two minutes to complete, so refunds should be only available to those who've played for less than six seconds. The Chinese Room immediately agreed.
BOOM. I'm in
— The Chinese Room (@ChineseRoom) April 13, 2017
Finally, they pointed out that in two hours (which is the time limit for the aforementioned self-service refunds program) people could go through over half of Silent Hill 2, for instance.
For reference, you can get nearly halfway through Silent Hill in 2 hours. If you need to play 50% of a game to figure out if you like it...
— The Chinese Room (@ChineseRoom) April 13, 2017
It will be interesting to hear what other developers think of this program and of course, feel free to leave your opinion on the matter in the comments section. Below you can find a recap on how it all works.
You’ve spoken; we’ve listened. In support of offering gamers the freedom of choice, we’re making changes to the Microsoft Store purchase experience by offering customers a simple way to instantly return digital products like games and apps through account.microsoft.com.
When a game or app leaves you wanting more, we’re here to help. Self-service refunds on Xbox One and Windows 10 provide a quick, simple way of returning a digital product.
To request a self-service refund:
1. Navigate to account.microsoft.com and sign-in.
2. From the top menu bar, select Payment & billing > Order history.
3. Navigate to a purchased game or app, and select Request a refund.
Please note the below conditions for requesting a self-service refund:
Games and apps are eligible for self-service refunds within 14 days of purchase if you have less than 2 hours of play time across all accounts.DLC, season passes, and add-ons are not eligible for self-service refunds.The game or app must be downloaded and launched before requesting a self-service refund.You must wait for at least 1 day after the game or app’s release before requesting a self-service refund.Certain Windows 10 apps may not be eligible for self-service refunds.Microsoft reserves the right to block access for users who abuse self-service refunds.