Earlier this week, GOG released a snapshot of its overall performance over the course of 2020. The report revealed a variety of statistics, but arguably the most notable number is the storefront's miniscule refund rate, recorded to be only 1.39 percent.
GOG, an acronym for Good Old Games, is a digital distributor of games created and run by Polish game developer CD Projekt. Unlike other digital storefronts such as Steam, GOG sells software free of digital rights management, or DRM. The platform has a fairly unique stance of "you buy it, you own it," regularly hosting sales like the massive GOG Spring Sale that ended April 5.
The low GOG refund rate can likely be credited to the platform's lenient refund policy, which it implemented in February 2020. Under the policy, consumers are able to get a refund for any game up to 30 days after purchase. This is not limited to regular titles, as players can get full refunds on pre-orders, games in ongoing development, and bundles as well, according to GamesIndustry.biz. Gamers can even get their money back if they've downloaded, launched, and played the game. Steam's refund policy pales in comparison, with the competitor storefront only allowing refunds on games within 14 days of purchase, and only if they've been played for less than two hours.
While GOG may be seeing a low refund rate, the company behind it doesn't appear to be as fortunate. A recent projection has the company expecting to lose around $50 million dollars from Cyberpunk 2077 refunds, with the highly controversial game still attempting to fix its numerous bugs and glitches.
Source: Gamesindustry.biz