Throughout the years, we have seen many different methods used by publishers in order to squeeze that little bit extra cash from players. Such techniques have included DLC, microtransactions, loot boxes and battle passes. The latest trend to begin hitting the industry sees publishers charging extra for a couple days of early access to a game. Valve has taken note, and is now introducing its new Advanced Access label alongside store policy changes.
Making the announcement on their blog, Valve revealed their latest update to the Steam refund policy. As you likely know, all steam games can be refunded without question as long as you have played for less than 2 hours within two weeks of your purchase.
This policy is not changing, however, it has been altered somewhat, with the company stating that “This change covers titles that are in pre-purchase and offer ‘Advanced Access’. Playtime acquired during the Advanced Access period will now count towards the Steam refund period.”
Advanced Access is a new label being used by Steam for all those games which allow “users that have pre-purchased a game to play prior to the game’s official release”. Titles which have offered Advanced Access in the past include Starfield, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and most recently TopSpin 2K25.
If nothing else, the creation of the label Advanced Access will help to differentiate such titles from genuine Early Access games. That said, hopefully this Advanced Access trend goes the way of the lootbox.
KitGuru says: What do you think of Advanced Access? Is it exploitative? Will this become a staple in the industry? Let us know down below.
