A recent denial of a legal appeal by Nintendo Switch customers by making their refund policy more akin to the refund policies of other companies.
The rise of digital game pre-orders and s in recent years has created uncharted legal territory for game developers, with companies often varying in their policies when it comes to refunds of digital products. For a long time after the console's release, the Nintendo eShop did not offer any refund options for digital pre-orders of releases - Nintendo would take the 's payment immediately, offering no recourse if they decided later they did not wish to purchase the game. Nintendo changed their eShop policy in September 2020, allowing for players to request refunds on their purchases until 7 days before the game's release.
European consumer advocacy groups took issue with this policy in 2018, with the Norwegian Consumer Council filing a lawsuit against Nintendo that year, eventually being ed by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations - known as the VZBV - in legal proceedings against the company. Initially, this case looked like a win for Nintendo, with it being reported that the German court ruled in Nintendo's favor, dismissing the case. However, Nintendo Life reported today that the VZBV's appeal of the case was successful, with the court's decision stating that, "Nintendo had excluded the right of withdrawal and relied on a legal exception. However, the prerequisites for the right of revocation were not met, as the made available after the pre-order did not yet contain any usable game. Until the release date, the game is worthless for the buyers and the contract of Nintendo is not fulfilled in any way." This runs counter to Nintendo's argument that the return policy was fair because players could pre-load games after the pre-order was complete, thus fulfilling the sales contract.
This legal outcome so far has not been challenged by Nintendo, although no return policy changes seem to have been made at this time - Nintendo still states on their website that returns can be made up to 7 days before a game's release. However, based on the outcome of this case, the company may now be forced to implement an updated policy soon. This case could set a precedent for how digital game sales are handled, now that a court has ruled that pre-ordered content does not equate to a product being rendered to the customer.
Issues with refunds being issued to video game buyers has been a long-standing problem in the gaming community, with refund policies varying vastly between different retailers - something that many gamers find unfair. Some companies like GOG have very lenient refund policies, while others like Nintendo have only recently started loosening their strict rules for returns. This case set out to improve the consumer rights of Nintendo Switch s, and with this new verdict, it looks like it will do just that.
Sources: Nintendo Life
