What if I bought a game on Steam before sale?

If you buy a game on Steam before it goes on sale, you can request a refund for the initial purchase and repurchase the game at the current sale price, as long as you haven’t already requested a refund and the purchase is eligible. You can submit a refund request, and if approved, it may take up to 7 days to process, after which you can repurchase the game at the discounted price.

Understanding Steam Refunds and Purchases

To understand the process and implications of buying a game on Steam before a sale, let’s delve into the details of how Steam handles refunds, purchases, and game ownership.

Frequently Asked Questions

General Refund and Purchase Inquiries

1. Can I get a refund for a game I bought on Steam?: Yes, Valve will, upon request via help.steampowered.com, issue a refund for any title that is requested within 14 days of purchase and has been played for less than 2 hours.
2. What happens if I buy a game on Steam but don’t want it?: You can request a refund for nearly any purchase on Steam—for any reason, including if your PC doesn’t meet the hardware requirements or if you simply didn’t like the game.
3. Can I refund a game if it goes on sale?: If you recently made a purchase within the Epic Game Store that then goes on sale, you can refund your purchase for a full refund and immediately re-purchase the product, but Steam’s policy allows refunds within 14 days of purchase and less than 2 hours of playtime.

Game Ownership and Licensing

4. When you buy a game on Steam, do you own it forever?: No, when you ‘buy’ a game, you’re merely purchasing a license to play it under Steam rules and conditions, for an indefinite amount of time, but there is nothing there that you truly, actually, own.
5. Do you own a game if you buy it digitally?: Games purchased digitally are legally licenses and not sold, meaning consumers do not have legal ownership and cannot resell their games.

Buying and Gifting Games

6. Can I give my Steam game to someone else?: Yes, when you purchase a game on Steam, you can gift the item to anyone on your Steam friends list.
7. Can I buy a game twice on Steam?: No, as long as you’re using the same account both times, it can’t happen because Steam stores records of all purchases in your account.
8. Can you own 2 copies of the same game on Steam?: No, you can only have one instance of a game on your account.

Refund and Purchase Limitations

9. Will Steam refund a game after 14 days?: Yes, it’s not a hard limit, but the chances of succeeding will be lower, and you have to give a reasonable explanation for not refunding it earlier.
10. How many times can you buy and refund a game on Steam?: Valve will issue a refund for any reason, if the request is made within fourteen days of purchase, and the title has been played for less than two hours.

Steam Features and Support

11. Can Steam tell me when a game is on sale?: Yes, introducing Wishlist Notifications, Steam will let you know by email or through the mobile app when the games on your Wishlist are on sale.
12. How much does Steam take per game sale?: Steam takes a 30% cut, although some developers may have negotiated a smaller cut, for example, for exclusivity.

Account and Game Management

13. What happens if I accidentally bought a game twice on Steam?: You can request a refund for the duplicate purchase by selecting it under your purchases and choosing the option for accidental purchase.
14. Can you merge Steam accounts?: No, Steam accounts cannot be merged together, per the Steam Subscriber Agreement.
15. What would happen to your games if Steam closes?: If Steam dies, and if the software you want to run isn’t dependent upon some online mode created by the programmer, things would still run in offline mode, but any game you own that you haven’t downloaded would not be accessible.