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Europe: Nintendo Has Been Accused Of Illegally Denying Refunds On eShop Pre-orders

Nintendo has recently been accused of breaking European law by not allowing users to get refunds on pre-ordered game via the Nintendo eShop. The Norwegian Consumer Council says Nintendo is the worst offender out of the seven major digital video games distributors. When you pre-order a game on the eShop it states that all sales are final and the council argues that this is illegal. Here’s what they had to say:

“[Nintendo] plainly states that all purchases are final. According to the right of withdrawal laid down in the consumer rights directive, such terms are illegal.”

“The video game industry uses incentives such as exclusive in-game content or other rewards in order to encourage consumers to pre-order games. However, pre-ordering could result in paying a lot of money for a product that turns out to be a disappointment. For most digital video game platforms, there are no possibilities to get your money back after the release date,” it adds.

Source

44 thoughts on “Europe: Nintendo Has Been Accused Of Illegally Denying Refunds On eShop Pre-orders”

    1. What’s that suppose to mean I’m mostly a digital preorder because, bought time a game release at midnight I wouldn’t be able to get it I like to wake up the next day to it, I do think this is stupid this is something Nintendo has been doing along time and most game companies do this also it’s honestly there fought they brought it in the first place and if anybody mentions kids there always parental controls

      1. Actually, no matter whether it has been the case for a long time, this specific thing has been decided by European law to not be permitted in order to protect consumers’ rights. Whatever you think about it, the law is the law and no company is above the law. These game companies including Nintendo will have to comply with it.

        1. Yes but you also gotta think of the other aspects of the situations. Which games are they demanding refund for? When exactly did they demand refunds, before or after the purchase? Did they even bother to read the terms first? They didn’t even bother to ask these questions and therefore, turn it into a one sided debate. I wouldn’t defend Nintendo if they did violate some agreement or law but there’s more to this than just “Oh they didn’t refund my money for etc. game. Sue them!” and call it a day. I wanna know more about this issue

      1. Color Splash, Sticker Star, most Mario Party games after 8, Animal Crossing amiibo Festival, and those are only off the top of my head; all those games are disappointing games. Don’t be a shill or a sheep

        1. Infinite Kalas X3, The Sonyendo King

          Stranga already brought up FedshitForce as he calls it Chibi Force. (I haven’t heard that shit game get called that in a very long while.) Which reminds me. Someone forgot to mention Chibi-Robo: Zip Trash!

        2. While poor additions to their respective series (and I can add to the list Paper Mario Sticker Star as well), they are perfectly playable games.

          Compare that to absolute fiascos like No Man’s Sky, Mass Effect Andromeda, Destiny 2, Star Wars Battlefront 2, etc. and I can see where the masses get their fears from.

      2. }{ Errm… You forget the Wii U’s Mario Tennis game, which was so empty it may as well have been an alpha… Not buggy, per se, but still so absolutely devoid of content you can’t call it anything other than a disappointment… Also, I would argue Mario Party 10 falls into this category, but Mario Tennis definitely illustrates the point better… }{

    2. If this is purchased AFTER the pre-order, that’s another story but if this is the case, they forgot to read the fine print. If you pay for it digitally after a while, you can’t get a refund unless the product is absolutely bad. Sonic Forces type of bad.

      1. Nintendo First Order Commander Quadraxis

        ||Whatever side of the argument is irrelevant, you pre-ordered a weapon despite it stating you will get no refund, period…||

        ||Now if the Xbots were as blindly obedient when I tell them to die, that would be even better…||

        1. lol Yeah they might. Anyway, the problem is people don’t read the FINE PRINT of the terms and blindly walk into an illiterate problem such as this. I understood Steam’s refund policy when I read about it and so the fuck should they with Nintendo. If it’s right there, they shouldn’t have missed it but wanna get mad or have an excuse to hate Nintendo more than they already (which means nothing because they like mainstream garbage from EA anyway) then this is pitiful. If this was canceling the pre-order before purchasing on release day, that’s understandable but if it’s AFTER, they should beware of the policy first. Also, I would love to know which games exactly are they screaming refunds for…

  1. I can agree with no refunds on digital goods.
    But pre-order (especially digital pre-order” should be able to be cancelled.

    1. Well this article isn’t telling the whole details or the writers of this article elsewhere isn’t giving us everything to know. They didn’t cite if this was after the purchase or during the pre-order period to which consumers has the right to cancel before release date. Also, WTF pre-orders digitally? That reduces your chance to get any sort of reimbursement back if you’re unsatisfied.

      1. I do not do digital pre-orders.
        I only pre-ordered Bayonetta 1 and 2, but with those I knew I would not be dissatisfied.

  2. I love Nintendo but Nintendo needs to change this policy. You can do better Nintendo. I know you can do better.

      1. Whatever to the YouTube policy. I could care less about that. It’s Nintendo content. Nintendo can do what they please with their IP.

        As for the Wii U. Sure, yes, it was a disaster but I never lost faith in Nintendo. If anything the Wii U days showed me how important Nintendo is to this industry.

        The Switch for the most part is doing everything right. I could use some new versions of existing IP. Like Mario Kart 9 or a new Star Fox, F-Zero. Or something crazy like a new Earthbound, Golden Sun, Battalion Wars.

        1. I wouldn’t say that if I were you because not even Activision goes that far being overprotective of their IPs.

          I see you are still disillusioned by Wii U’s stink. It proved nothing but how lowly arrogant Nintendo can get and it’s been biting them in the ass for a long time. This DEAD console was a wake up call of that reality. That’s why I came back and proceed with caution because I lost some faith in them and quite frankly, I was one of those stupid ass fanboys defending them to the death..until 2015 E3 happened and saw what they did to my favorite Metroid franchise. I grew so fucking furious that I literally quit instantaneously for 2 years. Nintendo is important but Wii U didn’t prove that. It was the opposite and don’t you dare deny or rethink that.

          Switch is doing things MOSTLY right except for online infrastructure, voice chat, FUCKING FRIEND CODES and some short comings like storage and stuff. Also, I have yet to hear about those games coming so don’t get your hopes up so that Nintendo may destroy it like they destroyed mine in 2015.

  3. I was going to say this has been a topic in Norway for a while, but there you have it xP
    Srs Nintendo is out right breaking our laws here. They always say “We’re only Bergsala, and not Nintendo, so we can’t help you”.

  4. “Worst offenders of digital” STOP RIGHT THERE. EA is clearly the most guilty of the bunch and WTF pre-orders digital when the physical version of the same game exists? Only UK because if Brexit tells me anything, they’re like America: They don’t use the most common knowledge and sense.

  5. Does playstation 3 and 4 and xbox 360 and xbox one offer digital pre-order refunds? (since I haven’t any of these consoles I don’t know) If they don’t, then why they just mention Nintendo?

  6. management needs to hit those targets for their bonuses. nintendo used to be pro-consumer. now they be like Go Fuck Yourselves here’s some wallpapers for supporting us. here’s a shit tonne of re-releases for all the people who never supported the wiiU. and you have to re-buy at full price even if you downloaded it a year ago. greedy fuckers. RIP Iwata

  7. Infinite Kalas X3, The Sonyendo King

    If the law prohibits pre-orders from being non-refundable, Nintendo should respect that country’s laws and allow people to get a refund.

    My question is is Sony & Microsoft also breaking their laws or do they actually adhere to them and do allow refunds of pre-orders?

    1. Since I’m a qualified Norwegian, I can answer that. lol
      Yesh. Every single Digital Distribution Store are refunding. I’ve tried all of them except Ubisoft’s Uplay, but they actually got a really nice and support with NORWEGIANS on the phone.

    2. Nintendo are not even respecting the EU Commission, buy paying their decade old fee for price fixing. NO FREAKIN’ way they’re going to listen to Norway. Even though we’re a strong Nintendo country(wrote “land” first lol) with the highest spending on electronics per citizen in the world, they’re not going to take a puny population on 5 million people serious. We should all take a stance.

  8. Pingback: Nintendo Says They Are Fully Compliant With European laws With Regards To eShop Pre-orders – My Nintendo News

  9. Pingback: Norway: Nintendo And Others Reported For Breaching European Consumer Law | My Nintendo News

  10. “All purchases are final” meaning if you choose to pre-order digitally, you are agreeing with their terms, the fact that a game may turn out to be a disappointment or wasn’t that good doesn’t change the fact that you chose to pre-ordered despite that risk.

    Also, the fact that Nintendo consumers are allowed to pre-load and play their digital pre-orders early means they are already able to use that purchased product days or weeks ahead of release date, if Nintendo does get forced to provide refunds then their only option to this solution is to deny Europe that privilege which is a possible outcome in this case.

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