be Mateo
- 23 years old
- solo game developer from Germany
- goes on vacation, tries paddle boating with his brother
- realizes how hard it actually is
- gets home, builds a physics-based coop paddle game around the idea
- ships the demo in 2 weeks
- releases the full game as "Paddle Paddle Paddle"
- game blows up
- sells over 150,000 units
- goes full-time as an indie dev
- named Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2026
should be a total win
- 90% positive reviews
- game clearly works, clearly isn't broken
but the game is short, tight, and easy to finish fast
- 55,000 refunds
- 21% refund rate
- $164,000 clawed back at $2.99 a copy
not because it's bad
because Steam's refund window has a blind spot
- less than 2 hours played, 14 days since purchase
- instant refund, no questions asked
- built to protect buyers from broken games
- can't tell "this didn't work" from "I beat this and want my money back"
this exact exploit already happened in 2021
- different indie dev, Emika Games, hit the same wall
- nearly quit the industry over it
Valve still hasn't fixed it
- posts about it publicly, gets support from the community
- keeps developing anyway
- already teasing his next game, a coop voice-controlled chaos game called CAAAHR
went from a shower thought on vacation to 150,000 units sold to a six-figure hole in his pocket, all from the same industry that put him on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list