Impact: In a new DFC Intelligence report on digital distribution of PC games chargebacks and refunds were identified as a major market problem. This is why having a service like Steam that can handle the headaches of refunds is so important for most game developers. With so many computer games being purchased via Steam these days a change in the original restrictive refund policy was always in the cards. Core gamers are pretty savvy by nature. They follow the progress of a wide selection of titles during development and have a good idea whether they will like, and whether that product will work well on their PC, long before making a digital purchase. Mainstream consumers are not so well informed and are more inclined to make impulse purchases. Steam could operate for years with its original restrictive refund policy because core gamers were the main customers. That’s changing as acceptance of digital distribution becomes much more widespread. Yet we suspect there is some competitive and governmental intrigue at work in Valve’s new refund policy.