Game Retailers' Return Policies Criticized

Posted by simoniker on Monday September 22, 2003 @09:50AM from the returning-my-atari-2600 dept.

Thanks to GamersWithJobs for their opinion piece discussing the allegedly harsh return policies for videogame retailers. According to the author, "There is no reasonable reason... why a [non-defective, but unwanted] product in such condition should not be returnable, and any retailer who refuses such should not be burdened with customers or money." However, as a forum reply points out: "...if the policy on returns is too liberal, game stores will turn into free game rental outlets for people who don't want to pay for software." Have retailers been changing policies, and where does the balance lie on this subject?

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Re:It's Real Simple Folks... by Firehawke · 2003-09-22 09:58 · Score: 4, Insightful

Not always possible. Many games don't have a demo at all, and those that do don't always have accurate demos. It took Epic two or more months to release an updated demo of UT2K3 that accurately represented the final product instead of being the pre-release open beta.

Then you've got console games, where demos are only obtained through magazines and are often inaccurate as well because they're 6-month-old betas in many cases.