Origin Offers Refunds: EA Announces 'Great Game Guarantee' So Gamers Can Return Downloaded Games Within A Week

On Monday, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) announced a new policy for the Origin digital distribution platform that will allow gamers to obtain a refund for a downloaded game that didn’t quite meet their expectations.

According to an EA press release, the new policy, named the Great Game Guarantee, allows returns according to the following conditions:

“You may return EA full game downloads (PC or Mac) purchased on Origin for a full refund --within 24 hours after you first launch the game, within seven days from when you purchased it, or within the first seven days after the game's release date if you pre-ordered it (whichever of these conditions happens first).”

To obtain the refund, Origin users just have to visit their order history and click the “request a refund” link located next to a recent purchase. After answering a few questions, Origin will process the request and grant a refund based on the guidelines detailed in its terms of agreement.

After the request is submitted, customers will get an approval for a refund within 48 hours and the refund itself within seven to 10 days after it has been approved.

According to EA, the policy is effective for 20 countries as of Monday and is expected to apply worldwide by September.

While the new program will allow customers to easily return games, there are a few caveats to the policy.

If a customer purchased a game as part of a bundle, all of the contents of that game will also be included in the refund, and access to those games will be revoked as well.

Certain games may be exempt from the refund policy during special promotions. However details for such promotional changes will be explicitly stated in the promotional details.

EA can also refuse refunds if they find fraudulent use or abuse of the process.

Third-party games, retail boxed games, and downloadable content are also not part of the policy.

The terms and conditions state:

“Purchases from the Origin Store for third-party games, packaged goods, game expansions, downloadable content, time cards, virtual currency and add-ons are not subject to the Great Game Guarantee.”

You can read the full announcement here.