The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt decided against Nintendo in a case surrounding the denial of refunds for eShop pre-orders.
The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) and The Norwegian Consumer Council led the case against the gaming giant. Although the Regional Court of Frankfurt originally ruled in favor of Nintendo, the undeterred VZBV took the case to an appellate court. This time, the judges ruled in favor of VZBV and advised Nintendo to recognize their claim for relief.
Nintendo lawsuit background
The case against Nintendo centered around the company’s denial of refunds for pre-orders on the eShop. Although physical stores allowed refunds to people who cancelled pre-orders on recent titles, until recently, Nintendo denied this right. Essentially, pre-ordering a game on Nintendo’s eShop acted as an early purchase.
When a person pre-ordered an upcoming game on the eShop, the game would install on their console. Upon the game’s official launch, an update would then make the game playable. However, between the time of pre-order and the time of launch, players became frustrated at Nintendo’s decision not to include a cancellation option.
Because of the four year long case in court, however, Nintendo finally made slight changes to its pre-order policy last year. Beginning in September 2020, players could cancel pre-orders more than seven days ahead of a game’s launch. However, German courts ultimately decided the updated policy remained unfair, leading to the final appellate decision.
Following the recent decision against Nintendo by the German court of appeals, the company will likely alter their pre-order policy. What do you think about Nintendo’s current pre-order policy on the eShop? Do you agree that denying players the right to withdrawal pre-orders is unfair? Tell us what you think below!
Via Nintendojo
