How is Microsoft Store's game refund policy competitive in the modern game distribution...

there are two versions of minecraft, bedrock and java. If you bought in the windows store then you got the bedrock edition that can play online with people on pc, xbox, android, ios, switch and ps4.

Java version is pc only and is not available on the windows store.

Your friends most likely own the Java version which you have to buy on the Mojang website.

Getting a refund to get the right version won't work as the only other version being java is not available on the microsoft store and has to be purchased directly from mojang.

all other platforms are the same, limited hours or 14 days without starting for refunds.

After years of hearing about the game and my friends telling me to play it, I finally pulled the trigger and bought Minecraft Starter Edition for Windows 10 for $29.99 through the Microsoft Store. I played the game for 4-6 hours to explore it myself, and
then contacted my friends on Discord to play. We tried to connect in game for about 5 minutes before they said "Oh, you have the Xbox version of Minecraft so we aren't able to play together." Great. So I'm a new player coming into the game, hoping to play
it with my friends and then I find out that there are multiple "versions" of the game that are not cross-compatible.

There is nothing in the product/game description that implies this or even mentions it, yet both versions of the game are for sale by Microsoft for the same price. It is completely plausible that you could buy the wrong version of the game by accident, especially
for someone new who doesn't know that these compatibility issues exist.

At this point the version I own is worthless to me, as a primary reason for my purchase was to play with my friends online. I reached out through the self service refund portal in the Microsoft Store with the intention of refunding the game and
then purchasing the correct one and my refund was denied. Seriously? Any other game distribution service that competes with the Microsoft Store, be it Steam, Epic Games, or Origin etc, would allow me to return the game given the number of hours played
and the fact that it's a digitally distributed product. I also intended to spend the same money with them again to buy the correct version, but I am not interested in spending the money again to do so.

In my mind this is a failure of the refund system and at the very least a poor customer service experience. If they aren't going to return/refund for this kind of error, the least Microsoft could do is update the product description so that people know what
they're getting into. Super disappointing.

Actually if you played more than 2 hours both steam and epic games would likely not give you a refund as both of their policies state you can only get a refund if its been played less than 2 hours. Origin would only give a refund if the request was made
within 24 hours of you first launching the game.

All of those companies refund policies are extremely similar if not exactly the same to Microsoft's so i would say Microsoft's refund policy is competitive to other companies

Hi,Nathaniel groves1

Welcome to the Microsoft Community

If you made the purchase inside the game, you can use your Return Tickets to return items purchased from the Fortnite Item Shop. You can see how to do it at this link.
How to refund or return Item Shop purchases in Fortnite - Fortnite Support

You can see at this link the EPIC games store refund policy.
Epic Games Store Refund Policy - Epic Games

Microsoft disclaims all warranties and/or guarantees, implied or otherwise, with respect to the information you receive from third-party linked sites or with respect to any support related to the technology.

Wish you all the best

Zoro-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Hey there!

We've all been here before, wishing that we had not bought a certain game or DLC...

As general policy, Microsoft does not refund games or content. If you bought the game on a disc from a retail store then you would have to review that store's return policies.

Unfortunately, I know of no work around or policy language that would entitle you to any type of refund.

Sorry

Cheers,

Nigel

The policy on game purchases using the store is that they cannot be refunded.