Venba’s short length is actually ideal

“We did everything we wanted to with Venba,” Visai Games designer Abhi told Polygon. “Even if the team was given an additional budget to make more Venba content, I’m not sure if we would necessarily want to make more levels as we are really happy with the story we have told.”

Venba, a narrative cooking game that tells the story of an Indian Canadian family, is a short game — under two hours. Its length is a strong point; there’s a concise throughline that lets the emotional core really hit. There are plenty of games that are dozens of hours longer and have much less of an impact, and yet, there’s also a dialogue around short games — is the value there?

Most of the time, the answer is yes, and that’s doubly true in Venba’s case.

“A game’s price, like its story, mechanics and everything else is subject to a lot of factors and most importantly changes throughout development,” Abhi said in an email interview with Polygon. “For VenbaEvery year, we have seen the game grow and change. We invested all the money we received into improving the quality of our game. The music is a good example. Venba This is recorded using live music and real instruments, as well as famous Tamil musicians from around the globe. These things wouldn’t have been possible if we didn’t decide to spend more on Venba. But of course, a bigger budget has to reflect in the price eventually.”

Neha Patel, Venba’s sound designer, wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter), that the game was made ethically, with contract workers and employees “paid in full at industry rates.”

Visai Games

Some developers have expressed concern in the past over Valve’s refund policy on Steam with regard to game length. The refund policy offers money back to anyone who’s played less than two hours of a game within a two-week timeframe, regardless of the game’s length. It created The World Before Your EyesBela Messex is the lead developer of a BAFTA winning video game. She shared a review on Facebook that revealed the user had returned the product on Steam. It’s hard to say how often this is happening, but developers have been concerned over the practice, according to PC Gamer.

Abhi said it’s definitely a concern, but perhaps not as big of a concern as it may seem.

It is true that short game makers are still concerned about this, but it seems to me like the issue has been over-hyped. Another game developer released a short game that was lauded and said they were concerned about refunds. However, they found out their refund rates to be within the normal Steam game refund rates.

You can also find out more about the following: Venba, we’re actually lower than the average window for return rates on steam. Venba’s length did give me pause at times but it was hard for me to imagine a player who’s interested in Venba, plays and resonates with it, and refunds it just because it’s within the window. There might be some players who abuse the refund system to return it in time, but many of them wouldn’t have bought Venba in the first place if they knew they couldn’t return it. So I don’t really count those as lost sales!

Response to VenbaThe reviews and ratings of this title are overwhelmingly positive. It’s also another bit of proof that value in video games doesn’t necessarily come from length. Like a movie, which usually clocks in around two hours, the value comes from the quality of the experience — and Venba’s experience is incredible.