Update: After long fight, I did get a refund (second time in my life)!

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So, this is like the first game I bought since February on Steam. I was happy that finally something I would want to play was on weekend deal and for a decent price of 4.99€.

After few hours of downloading (over 5GB), I finally launched my brand new game.

First the screen goes black…for whatever reasons after pressing ALT+TAB few times it finally launches with SEGA logo and everything. It’s all good, nothing to worry about.

Then after few seconds of watching the damn ads a window pops up, with a question ‘would I like to update the game?‘, so yeah first I thought ‘shouldn’t Steam version of the game be patched already?‘, but knowing how stupid Valve’s policy about 3rd party game is it’s kind of obvious that some games aren’t patched to their latest versions.

Anyway, I press YES. Game closes, my browser opens with a link to the patch (.exe file), and after 1 second…we have a 404 error.

OK, shit happens, I started the game once more, pressed NO on the update popup, logged in to Games For Windows Live in the game, entered my CDKEY (for some reasons most of people who got this game got their CDKEY too short lmao, mine is fine), then GFWL updated the game (with some progress bar that didn’t even move a thing).

After downloading it game closed again, and self-updater turned on, the game updated and opened again.

I played like an hour of the campaign, and suddenly this appeared:

OK, this happened 8 times now, plus the game sometimes goes into black screen.

Just to avoid stupid questions, no my system and hardware are both fine. Even tested this on my other PC.

So you think what did I do next? Well, I contacted the lovely Steam Support.

…
Hello Bartek,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

Technical support for this title is handled by a third party support department – please follow the link below for instructions to contact the support provider for this title:

Title: Universe at War: Earth Assault
Link: http://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1178-WNJM-4299

Please let us know if you encounter any difficulty contacting the support provider for this title, or if you have any further questions.

Then my response:

Hello Jacob,

This product is defective and the money I paid for it should be refunded or the game should be fixed.

And:

Hello Bartek,

Thanks for your response but this doesn’t fix my problems. I figured it out on my own to install the xliveredist. The game is still freezing, crashing and ‘black screening’ from time to time.

As with most software products, we will not offer refunds or exchanges for purchases made online as outlined in the software license – please review Section 4 of the Steam Subscriber Agreement for more information. The refund you received was a one-time gesture as should have been outlined in the refund message.

Steam Subscriber Agreement
http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=subscriber_agreement

We will make an exception for pre-ordered games if the request is received prior to the release date.

Few other messages and in the end:

Hello Bartek,

I am sorry but we cannot assist you. Please contact Sega support at http://www.sega.com/support/index.php?id=hp_topnav&lid=support&lpos=tnav_strip& to resolve your problems with the game.

So in the end I’ve uninstalled the game and lost 4.99€. Yay me!

By the way look at my original Steam Forums thread about the prices, it’s grown so big!

While browsing Steam forums I found something:

Originally Posted by supernaut
Oh lord, this one takes the cake…

Quantum of Solace – $19.99/€49.99

Dollar zone gets a price cut and Euro zone pays original price and in Euros. What is that, 250% higher ?

Originally Posted by SniperFox
LOL

€49.99 = $65.77
$65.77 / $19.99 = 329%

329% more expensive.
Originally Posted by Heinold
One little correction, $19.99 + VAT is somewhat higher, but 276% more is also a ridiculous high price in the €-zone.
Source – click

Price on Steam in €: click

Price on Steam in $: click

Company of Heroes just got released on Steam…

If you’re wondering, yes, it’s cheaper on Impulse (source).

BTW:
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?p=3465803#post3465803

Complain at Steam but not here, we dont make any prices.