It's finally happening. Microsoft is going to let your get refunds for digital games and apps that fall short of your expectations. The 'Self-Service Refund' is not available to all users yet, only select Insider Members at the moment, but the return process being tested out is pretty simple.
How can you get a refund for a game? Well, it's actually fairly easy if you didn't actually like the game. All you have to do is make you the game was purchased within the last 14 days and has less than 2 hours of play time across all accounts on your Xbox. As for DLC, Season Passes, and/or addons — they are not eligible.
The announcement for the selected Insider Members on the Xbox One reads as follows:
You’ve spoken; we’ve listened. In support of offering gamers the freedom of choice, we’re making changes to the Microsoft Store purchase experience by offering customers a simple way to instantly return digital products like games and apps through account.microsoft.com.
When a game or app leaves you wanting more, we’re here to help. Self-service refunds on Xbox One and Windows 10 provide a quick, simple way of returning a digital product.
To request a self-service refund:
1. Navigate to account.microsoft.com and sign-in.
2. From the top menu bar, select Payment & billing > Order history.
3. Navigate to a purchased game or app, and select Request a refund.
Please note the below conditions for requesting a self-service refund:
Games and apps are eligible for self-service refunds within 14 days of purchase if you have less than 2 hours of play time across all accounts.
DLC, season passes, and add-ons are not eligible for self-service refunds.
The game or app must be downloaded and launched before requesting a self-service refund.
You must wait for at least 1 day after the game or app’s release before requesting a self-service refund.
Certain Windows 10 apps may not be eligible for self-service refunds.
Microsoft reserves the right to block access for users who abuse self-service refunds.
The Xbox One and Windows 10 Self-Service Refund system will be released when Microsoft is done testing it, but it shouldn't be too much longer. Hopefully Sony patches something like this in too!