In 2013, Valve had an estimated worth of approx. $2 - 4 BILLION USD.
Ultimately, it is their job to figure this out; a legitimate storefront and the manufacturers of said product need to be held accountable for the quality and state of said product.


An "Early Access Fee" would set a percentage aside from revenue resulting from Early Access Game sales. This would be akin to the "Transaction Fee" on the "Steam Market". The Early Access Fee would have 2 components:

1) Global Early Access Fee: A set percentage set aside from ALL Early Access sales (for example, 5 - 10 %)
2) Game Specific Early Access Fee: A set percentage set aside from All sales of a particuar Early Access title.

Once the game evolves into Full Release status, Steam/Valve would keep the proceeds from the "Global Early Access Fee" and the developer would keep the proceeds from the "Game Specific Early Access Fee".
These funds could be used to provide refunds, when necessary.


An "Early Access Fee" towards developers is a reasonable concept given the fact that they reap the benefits of early money, playtesters, high profile through the EAG marketing machine, the benefit of avoiding the need for a publisher and ensuing loss/compromise of IP rights/need for royalties, etc.

In a similar manner, Steam would have a vested interest in fostering and supporting customer satisfaction and game completion, given the fact that a small percentage of overall profits relies on this.

Additionally, having a set/longer lag time (for example, 3 months) between customer purchase and the moment at which the Devs receive the money would be advisable; in order to maintain a rolling purse at all times. Another possibility would be to use an Escrow method.


It should be specified, that gamers would ONLY be entitled to refunds under the 2 hours/2 week Steam refund policy OR if the developer were to violate "Early Access Guidelines."
Other circumstances would be considered in a case by case basis, the status quo.

Once an Early Access game is completed and achieves 'Full Release" status, standard Steam refund policy applies.


Another alternative would be for the customer to be able to pay for an optional "EAG Contingency Fee." This fee would be available at the initial time of purchase of the game and for a specified term thereafter (3 months?). The fee would be a small, manageable price in the ballpark of $3-5 USD (subject to actuarial economic analysis).

All customers that purchased the "EAG Contingency Fee" would have the option for complete refunds for a set of stated standardized reasons.

Suggestions:
-Change in monetization
-Game abandonment
-Failure to deliver content that was promised
-Significant delays in timeline
-Forum/Critique censoring/Developer "game ban" abuse


This is a multimillion dollar industry and both Valve and the Devs are taking handfuls and running to the bank; and single products have resulted in millions of dollars in losses for customers. Losses which remain unaccounted for; at worst, the products have been removed from the store and at best, a particular subset of customers have received refunds.

The only way to incentivize responsible use of the program is to share the risk/accountability between the three of us.

Ultimately, there are many ways of doing it.
The point is that some accountability AND transparency towards game completion/progress, timeline and additional monetization needs to be instituted, as all these facets are being abused and the customer is at a distinct disadvantage and vulnerable to scams.