EA Origin Offers Limited Time Refunds on Games Purchased Through Great Game Guarantee

EA Origins is attempting to break free from the pack of digital distribution services by giving users a chance that other services have never offered: the chance to get refunds for a game.

EA has announced the company will begin the Origin Great Game Guarantee, which will offer gamers a limited time opportunity to return games back to the digital distributor for a full refund. As the Origin Great Game Guarantee FAQ states on the Origin official website:

"Starting, August 19, 2013 - the Great Game Guarantee (GGG) allows you to return EA digital game downloads (PC/Mac) purchased on Origin for a full refund within 24 hours after you first launch the game, within seven days from your date of purchase or within seven days from the game's release date if you pre-purchased/pre-ordered, whichever comes first...To clarify, we are absolutely honoring the 24 hour and 7 day GGG period starting August 19 - meaning you can refund your un-launched game from August 12; and your already launched game from August 13."

To activate this refund, users must go into their order history and hit the new "Request a Refund," and then complete a form. However, this offer is only for full EA games, and there will be restrictions on what content will be available for refund, as Origin explains.

"DLC and non-EA games purchased on Origin are excluded from the Great Game Guarantee. So, this is a guarantee for full game (a.k.a. "base game") digital downloads published by EA for now, including full games on pre-order and most full games on promotional discount."

However, EA is working with other companies that have games up on Origin to allow users to use the Great Game Guarantee on other non-EA games, so perhaps this will become a universal policy in the future for users of Origin. The offer is available in many different countries, with the full list of countries available on the FAQ website.

It is unclear if other digital distributors like Steam are planning to follow suit with similar services, however, they would most likely have a much more difficult time making the policy work since they would not have as many first party titles as EA has on Origin. In any case, this may prevent disastrous backlash from bug issues and terrible launch errors, as seen in EA's Simcity adventures.