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Well I've opened a steam support ticket on the matter since Michael in the e-mail said I'd have to talk to them for further status updates. I will post here when I hear back from them with what they say.
 
Well got a response back from Steam below.

A staff member has replied to your question:

Hello

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

As with most software products, we do not offer refunds or exchanges on games, DLC or in-game items purchased on our website or through the Steam Client.

As a one-time customer service gesture we can issue you store credit for the amount of your purchase into your Steam Wallet. The credit will also remove the title or item from your account.

Please confirm that you would like us to proceed with this credit.

Not sure if thats what we can expect from the steam refund or if that guy is just offering me a the one time deal. But I am gonna ask if thats the refund I am supposed to be getting from Paradox and I also e-mailed Michael (paradox support) to see if that is the refund I am getting. Will post again when I hear back from either steam support or Michael.
 
Well I got a response from Paradox from Johannes.

The information appear to be correct.
We can't in any way control how Steam chooses to refunds you and unfortunately the usual form of refund from Steam is Steam Credits.

Kind Regards,
Johannes

So I ended up taking the steam credit. Not really too bummed by it since Steam has a big sale going now. But I hope this was helpful to anyone else trying for a refund.
 
Got my refund via GamersGate following on from the request submitted to Paradox.

For those that are still awaiting confirmation of their refunds I also received this email from Paradox after chasing up on the status of my refund

Michael, Nov-21 08:30 (CET):
Hello ***
Our part of the refund offer is to collect all information from the customers who wants their money back for the game. This means that from the moment we send your information to the outlet where you bought Sword of the Stars 2 (GamersGate), we will not get any information on how the refund is processing. I advice you to contact GamersGate for further questions.
Kind Regards,
Michael

Therefore it would seem that even though you are being advised to route your refund requests via Paradox the actual final decision on, confirmation of and payment of the refund lies with the vendor you purchased through.

Thus in the case of my experience with GamersGate a refund has been provided though they do not email you to confirm the fact.

Now I can forget about SOTS2, maybe I'll re-buy it from the bargain bin when there is actually a game to be played.
 
Wait so we can't get an official refund if we bought on steam? :(

I've already used my one-time steam refund (On Front Mission: Evolved, lol)

I emailed Steam Support to find out if this does indeed use up their one-time customer service gesture. I'm hoping that it doesn't, as this was supposed to be publisher initiated and not user initiated.
 
I emailed Steam Support to find out if this does indeed use up their one-time customer service gesture. I'm hoping that it doesn't, as this was supposed to be publisher initiated and not user initiated.

It's not really a one time offer, but they tell you that as to insure themselves not to be obliged to do it unless there are exceptional circumstances, and as to not encourage abuse of it. It's decided on a per incident basis.
 
I mailed them back today if there are any news about my refund and they claimed, that my last message was not correctly delivered (I guess in their ticket-system), but they found it now and are arranging it.
So if anyone else still waiting, try to send the information requested again and ask if they are working on it.
 
I am not sure how to take my latest reply from Paradox Support. It's been a month in my particular case and they have not been in contact with my e-retailer (Direct2Drive) or STEAM as of yet to secure my refund at all. It just took me one email to find out on my e-retailer's end and this is my support reply here...

Johannes, Nov-25 14:12 (CET):

Hello XXXXXXX,

We are still working on getting all the refunds back to our customers. Since you bought your copy of Sword of the Stars 2 in an external outlet, we are still trying to contact them regarding the refund. You will receive your refund as soon as we've solved this issue.

Thank you for your patience.

Kind Regards,

Johannes

You know guys uhm... email? Less than an work day turn around... o_O
 
I know people are frustrated, so this is worth mentioning this again.
Kerberos and Paradox have promised refunds, but do not have your money.
Normally the D-Distributors do not give refunds and Paradox has been working with them to get the refunds out.
Ultimately the timing, method and form of the refund will be handled by the distributor.
These things normally take a bit of time and even a month isn't too far out of the norm. While frustrating, emails like SOF12 got tell us Paradox is still working with them actively on the matter. Unfortunaly Paradox isn't a huge publisher and the breadth of AAA releases this month (BF3/COD*th/Skyrim) and their associated support is likely eroding any pull Paradox normally has.

For what its worth, I've been a customer of Kerberos and Paradox since 2007 and while they may not always release titles in the state we want, they have always been good to their word.
 
I know people are frustrated, so this is worth mentioning this again.
Kerberos and Paradox have promised refunds, but do not have your money.
Normally the D-Distributors do not give refunds and Paradox has been working with them to get the refunds out.
Ultimately the timing, method and form of the refund will be handled by the distributor.
These things normally take a bit of time and even a month isn't too far out of the norm. While frustrating, emails like SOF12 got tell us Paradox is still working with them actively on the matter. Unfortunaly Paradox isn't a huge publisher and the breadth of AAA releases this month (BF3/COD*th/Skyrim) and their associated support is likely eroding any pull Paradox normally has.

For what its worth, I've been a customer of Kerberos and Paradox since 2007 and while they may not always release titles in the state we want, they have always been good to their word.

The thing is that they should have sorted a way to give refunds quickly and efficiently by now, it has been 4 weeks now hasn't it? And I can't believe that there was no system already in place to issue refunds, I'm mean...c'mon at some point its going to happen and I've never come across a company who didn't have a proceedure for sorting refunds (even if their policy is not to issue refunds which in the UK can be a breech of consumer law anyway)...I suspect the ability is actually there...at the moment it very much seems like they are dragging their feet on purpose, possibly hoping that one of these pacthes will magically make the game playable with all its features working together correctly and therefore negating the need to give refunds. Either that or they are not really bothered and are hoping people will just give up and go away.

Companies shouldn't be allowed to act like this. They know they released a defective product and offered refunds and now is the time to start honouring those refunds, in fact they should have given refunds immediately! I think people have been patient enough!

It would be nice to get some feedback from Paradox. A definate time scale of how long it takes from requesting a refund to actually getting it. It is also very confusing. I've seen some posts saying Paradox is waiting on Steam etc and vice versa. I personally got a credit from Steam as a gesture of good will from Steam, not a refund from Paradox as such and some people have apparently been refused a refund this way.

I honestly can't see what the major problem is. If people have bought from Steam all they need is their Steam ID and for Paradox to tell Steam that they authorise all refunds. Steam can then remove the game from the account and credit the money back. Its not like some people have got a full game and others haven't. It should just be a blanket wide "if someone wants a refund then give it to them".

The same goes for any other digital distribution system.

Who has the money and whether Paradox needs to refund Steam etc isn't really any of the purchasers concern. Give people the refunds and then Paradox can sort out the mess that they have cause on their own time and at their own expense and perhaps they will think twice about doing this in the future.

Having said all that, I do hope they fix everything so I can repurchase it :D
 
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I should preface ths by saying I do not have anything to do with giving refunds, but I have to say you have a whole lot of "facts" wrong there.
Most people that have requested refunds have recieved them already, these need to go through the store you bought them from obviously.
It would be great if it was the case but Paradox does not control steam or their policies
I am not aware of ANYONE that has been turned down for a refund.
You yourself have already recieved a credit from steam.
 
For those of you who purchased from steam and state they have been waiting around a month, I've said it before and I'll say it again, request directly from steam. My turn around for my refund was twenty four hours when I spoke to them directly. This has been posted by myself and several others in this very thread. Gamers gate customers have reported similar success requesting directly from Gamers gate. So... if you haven't received your refund, you can try going directly to the retailer, as many others have reported their success in doing so in this thread.
 
I should preface ths by saying I do not have anything to do with giving refunds, but I have to say you have a whole lot of "facts" wrong there.
Most people that have requested refunds have recieved them already, these need to go through the store you bought them from obviously.
It would be great if it was the case but Paradox does not control steam or their policies
I am not aware of ANYONE that has been turned down for a refund.
You yourself have already recieved a credit from steam.

The only people I have seen get a refund were those who bought from Gamer's Gate (which Paradox was once the owner and operator therof) or STEAM. To be frank, those who bought from STEAM were granted a one time courtesy refund by the e-retailer on direct request and such instance was not due to Paradox intervention. Your own representatives suggested that we write Paradox for a refund, to send them (Paradox) our information, and not to mail the the e-retailers.

Are you now saying we need to write our e-retailer directly for a refund? If so, why have some of us waste a month on your word to do the opposite first?

I don't know you... You say most have their refund. I see enough who have followed your directions as a company that do not to be concerned and ... annoyed.
 
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I should preface ths by saying I do not have anything to do with giving refunds, but I have to say you have a whole lot of "facts" wrong there.
Most people that have requested refunds have recieved them already, these need to go through the store you bought them from obviously.

That's great to hear that most people already got a refund, even if it wasn't money, just store credit. I'm unfortunately still waiting on either (money preferably). Or a reply on an additional ticket regarding it on the customer service system (the reason why I post here).

Edit: I also had the impression the whole point handling the refund over Paradox was that you don't use up your courtesy refund with Steam - or in my case as D2D states they don't do refunds - to even get one, because it is initialized by the publisher because of a fault of the publisher/developer, not because of a fault by the customer. Now it sounds like I myself have to take care of getting my money back and/or become the "guilty" party in the eyes of my retailer? That doesn't sound right.
 
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