Remember five months ago when all those disgruntled Electronic Arts customers were peeved at the launch of SimCity, but barely anyone could get a refund? Of course you remember — it was a smorgasbord of shenanigans and muck-ups, and didn’t go toward easing the sting of EA winning the Worst Company In America tourney for the second year in a row. In what could maybe, possibly indicate that EA has finally learned a little something from those legions of unhappy customers, the company is debuting a new refund program for certain titles purchased from its Origin digital distribution system.

The Great Game Guarantee started Aug. 19, and includes any un-launched games purchased from a week before that date, so if you bought your game on Aug. 12 you’re still in luck — if you haven’t played it yet.

EA runs through the program with a FAQ here as well as an extended policies section, but here’s the gist below:

WHAT’S ELIGIBLE FOR REFUNDS?
• Full-game digital downloads — both PC and Mac — of EA games or an EA-published partner, sold on Origin.com or through the Origin Gaming App.

(So yes, that would’ve included many SimCity customers five months ago, but oh well, too bad, so sad, etc.)

• If you buy a physical copy of the game from a store and it comes with a digital download, you will have to contact the third-party retailer regarding individual returns/exchanges/refund polices.

• Customers who purchase a bundle of games (which have additional content or a discounted collection of games) will have to return all the games and have access revoked for all of them, even if it’s only one you’ve got a problem with. Refunds can be purchased within 24 hours of the launch of one game, or seven days after release or purchase, whichever is first.

• DLC — downloadable content — like extra maps or new characters, is not eligible for refund.

WHEN DO I NEED TO ASK FOR A REFUND?
• If you don’t play the game and merely have a case of buyer’s remorse, you can ask for a full refund within seven days of purchase, or if you pre-ordered/pre-purchased it, within seven days of its release date.

• However if you launch the game and play it, and then decided it stinks, you only have a 24-hour window to contact Origin for a refund.

HOW DO YOU GET A REFUND?
By visiting the Order History link and clicking on “Request a Refund.”

This is all happening before the Aug. 29 release date of SimCity for Mac, so it’s quite likely that customers will be able to test out this refund system quite soon. That is, if the launch is anything like the great SimSh**ty debacle of 2013.

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