We’re sure this has happened to everybody at least once — you download a game off the Internet that, by all accounts, shouldn’t have a problem running on your computer, and it still crashes every single time. Most downloaded game policies will tell you that you’re fresh out of luck. GOG.com, however, is trying something new.
According to a new policy announced earlier this morning, GOG is now implementing a “worldwide moneyback guarantee” on all of its DRM-free games. If your computer meets the specification requirements for a particular game and it keeps crashing anyway, and GOG’s support team can’t find a way to fix it for you within 30 days of purchase, they’ll give you a full refund on the money you spent to buy it.
In case you like your explanations to be less verbal and more visual, GOG also put out this very informative video explaining the new system:
As their site announcement notes, this policy doesn’t just start today; they’ll also be honoring purchases made in the past 30 days as well. So if you bought a game two weeks ago and haven’t been able to get it working at all, then today is very much your lucky day.
In addition to offering refunds based on faulty games, GOG also says that they will also begin to offer refunds to customers who buy games “accidentally” within 14 days of the initial purchase. So if you’ve ever gone on a drunken game downloading spree and then woken up to discover that you bought all three Rollercoaster Tycoon games at once, then don’t worry about it. As long as you didn’t download the games to your computer, you will be able to get your money back.
GOG’s press release states that the new guarantee is intended to be “a declaration of trust” between the company and its customers. Just as players will now be able to trust that GOG will “do whatever it takes” to get their games up and running, the company will also trust its players not to lie about problems with their purchased content, as DRM-free games can’t be deactivated remotely if they’re reported as broken.
- Meanwhile, Steam is hard at work creating their first controller
- They also recently announced a Family Sharing plan
- Microsoft’s run into some trouble with their DRM policies in the past
