Steam's two-hour refund policy has been the topic of controversy for a while now what with it undercutting short games, letting you finish them while still being eligible to get your money back. This naturally hurts the indie developers behind these short experiences and one such indie dev has been pushed so far, it's left the industry.
Emika Games, the developer behind Summer of '58, has stated that it is leaving the games industry "for an indefinite time" after its latest release saw a "huge number of returns."
It's not that the game was poorly received - it currently sits at "Very Positive" with 281 reviews on Steam. It's also not that expensive, selling at £6.19 normally while being £4.76 right now due to a 23% sale. The problem lies in the fact that people can get their money back after beating such a short game, regardless of context, so they do.
"Regardless of context" is the important part to note. The refund policy isn't purposefully malicious, it's just suited primarily toward triple-A blockbusters, ignoring the indies. For instance, it makes perfect sense to let users refund a game after an hour or so of if its something along the lines of Tales of Berseria, a 60-hour RPG.
However, that context isn't applicable to a two-hour indie game like Before Your Eyes which faired the same issue in April, sparking discussion online as to what the solution is.
For now, Emika Games is out, but it released a statement to clarify: "Thank you for your support! I'm leaving game development for an indefinite time to collect my thoughts. I do not earn anything to create a new game. I am very glad you like my games, but since I have no conditions to do something new, I have to do something else."
It would've begun work on its next game, From Day To Day, but due to so many people refunding Summer of '58, Emika Games simply does not have the funds now to start development.