Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dollar freefall

Re:Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dol... by whatevaa on Friday October 24, 2025 @06:46AM (#45693219)

2 hour return policy can already be a problem for a very short indie game. There was one which you could beat in 2 hours and refund and people did that.

GOG gets away with their policy because only people who believe in GOG ideallogy go there, and they won't refund a good game. If steam did that, abuse would skyrocket.

And in my country, unless explicitly stated otherwise, most physical goods can't be returned if they are used.

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Re:Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dol... by Aerolfos on Friday October 24, 2025 @05:04PM (#45699062)

In some sense, GOGs entire existence is testing the hypothesis that it's impossible to run a consumer friendly digital store due to abuse.

If you took the common sense publisher view then no DRM = everything you make is instantly pirated and the whole store fails instantly. But GOG is a viable storefront, so that's demonstrably wrong.

The evidence is no better for Steam's refund policy than it was for DRM being necessary.

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Re:Counter-Strike's player economy is in a multi-billion dol... by throw10920 on Friday October 24, 2025 @10:30PM (#45700936)

> But GOG is a viable storefront, so that's demonstrably wrong.

How many developers can make a living based off of GOG revenue alone vs Steam revenue alone?

[ Parent | on HN ]