05-27-2018, 11:51 PM
Honesty contributed to Quarantine Circular’s 2 percent refund rate
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/honesty-contributed-to-quarantine-circulars-2-percent-refund-rate.jpg" width="200" height="200" title="" alt="" /></div><div><blockquote readability="6">
<p><strong>“I’d like to think our return rate is so low because we’re very clear about the experience the player should expect.”</strong></p>
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<p><em>– Developer on Quarantine Circular Mike Bithell on why the game has a two percent refund rate. </em></p>
<p>Steam can be a tricky platform for developers looking to market short, narrative-driven games. After all, if players aren’t satisfied with their purchase they can request a refund, so long as they’ve played less than two hours of it. </p>
<p>Bithell Games’ newest title, <em>Quarantine Circular</em>, has a fairly short runtime of about one to two hours with only a two percent refund rate. 96 percent of its 718 reviews are positive, and Bithell credits honesty as the reason for 98 percent players not refunding the game after finishing it.</p>
<p>“I think we’ve been very upfront about the short duration of the game, and we’ve done similar with <em>Quarantine Circular</em>,” he explains. “We try to be very clear this is a text adventure and what that entails, but the majority of returns are people who were expecting a very different game than the one described on the store page or in the trailer.”</p>
<p>Another factor which may have played into the low refund rate of <em>Quarantine Circular</em> is the non-existent marketing of the game, which seemed to appear out of the blue. “We are terrified of people getting the wrong idea from a screenshot of the game,” Bithell admits.</p>
<p>“What better way to control expectation than to not allow time for it to build? Here’s our game. This is what it is. We put a lot of work into it.”</p>
<p>Make sure to check out the entire piece <a href="https://steamed.kotaku.com/steam-developers-secret-to-a-two-percent-refund-rate-h-1826277903#pg8bq20ui">over at Kotaku</a><a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/paradox-theres-room-for-improvement-in-how-we-present-our-dlc/">,</a> which goes into more detail about how Bithell could get away with dropping a game with little public hype before release. </p>
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<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/honesty-contributed-to-quarantine-circulars-2-percent-refund-rate.jpg" width="200" height="200" title="" alt="" /></div><div><blockquote readability="6">
<p><strong>“I’d like to think our return rate is so low because we’re very clear about the experience the player should expect.”</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>– Developer on Quarantine Circular Mike Bithell on why the game has a two percent refund rate. </em></p>
<p>Steam can be a tricky platform for developers looking to market short, narrative-driven games. After all, if players aren’t satisfied with their purchase they can request a refund, so long as they’ve played less than two hours of it. </p>
<p>Bithell Games’ newest title, <em>Quarantine Circular</em>, has a fairly short runtime of about one to two hours with only a two percent refund rate. 96 percent of its 718 reviews are positive, and Bithell credits honesty as the reason for 98 percent players not refunding the game after finishing it.</p>
<p>“I think we’ve been very upfront about the short duration of the game, and we’ve done similar with <em>Quarantine Circular</em>,” he explains. “We try to be very clear this is a text adventure and what that entails, but the majority of returns are people who were expecting a very different game than the one described on the store page or in the trailer.”</p>
<p>Another factor which may have played into the low refund rate of <em>Quarantine Circular</em> is the non-existent marketing of the game, which seemed to appear out of the blue. “We are terrified of people getting the wrong idea from a screenshot of the game,” Bithell admits.</p>
<p>“What better way to control expectation than to not allow time for it to build? Here’s our game. This is what it is. We put a lot of work into it.”</p>
<p>Make sure to check out the entire piece <a href="https://steamed.kotaku.com/steam-developers-secret-to-a-two-percent-refund-rate-h-1826277903#pg8bq20ui">over at Kotaku</a><a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/paradox-theres-room-for-improvement-in-how-we-present-our-dlc/">,</a> which goes into more detail about how Bithell could get away with dropping a game with little public hype before release. </p>
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