App Store, Refund, and DLCs

by Rian

I didn’t think to see the remains of the wild west of App Store in 2024. I had bought an app that is working rather well with a minor glitch, and the developers’ response to the glitch was that the feature is actually part of the “pro” version. The pro version of the same app was sold at $9.99. I went ahead and bought it, and surprisingly I saw the same glitch again. After some googling, I found out they are actually identical apps only that the free version of the app has $9.99 in-app purchase to unlock the pro feature.

My request for refund is yet to be approved, and Apple did decline it once, asking for more information on my part. Considering App Store does have a policy against spamming, my request would be indirectly blaming Apple’s mismanagement of the digital store front. The case I wish to discuss is not about App Store spamming. It’s about refunds. It’s about asking for refunds on these stores. Apple, in fact, has a system where the user cannot ask for a refund until the pending payment goes through —which could last from few days to few weeks. After few days, most people would undoubtedly forget that they were waiting for an email receipt.

Sony has similar, if not more notorious, refund policy on its PlayStation Store. On paper, the company offers refunds for any games —and technically apps too— that are within 14 days of purchase. There is a big asterisk to the policy, which is that the game may not be downloaded or played to request for a refund. One would recall the fact that Cyberpunk 2077 had a public outcry when the faulty game could not be refunded due to the very same policy Sony has written. Instead of rewriting or revising the policy, Sony had issued full refund only on this particular game whilst pulling the game from the store. (note: as of writing this, Cyberpunk 2077 is back on the store)

Valve has more radical approach to this issue: 14 days since purchase, less than 2 hours of playtime. Gamers, —and technically some people do buy apps on these platforms— would have two hours long window to see if the game can even “run” properly. Apple and Sony seem to think they make the hardwares, thereby developers can guarantee the apps should run fine on smaller selection of devices. But as I had written before on Steam’s Early Access policy, it is possible to circumvent the process with ill intent.

I’m not saying Valve’s approach is the best one yet; clearly we are seeing the limit of it being applied squarely on on-going projects. But seeing as Apple doesn’t even allow “refunds” until there is a full payment, I believe the process in App Store needs to be revisited with modern standards in mind.