Steam will stop issuing refunds if you play two hours of a game before launch day
by Sean Hollister from The Verge - All Posts on (#6MA04)
Eight years ago, Valve began offering no-questions-asked refunds for any game you buy on Steam - as long as you asked for that refund within 14 days of purchase and hadn't played more than two hours of a game.
But when Valve started letting you play games ahead of their release dates with its Early Access" and Advanced Access" programs, it introduced a loophole: people could play for many, many hours ahead of launch and still request a refund after.
Today, Valve's closing the loophole: Your Advanced Access and Early Access playtime now counts against the two-hour refund limit.
Here's what Valve's updated refund policy says about that as of today:
REFUNDS ON TITLES PURCHASED PRIOR TO RELEASE DATE
When you purchase a title on Steam...