Skip to content

Nintendo wins court case over eShop pre-order refunds

Nintendo Eshop

Nintendo has been successful once again in the courts this time the issue was around pre-orders on the eShop and the consumers ability to cancel. The judge ruled in favour of Nintendo and they will not have to issue refunds on pre-ordered games on their digital storefront. This will come as a blow to customers who purchase their games digitally via the eShop as once you pre-order you can not cancel. The company was successful against both Germany and Norway where they were taken to court over the matter.

Source

47 thoughts on “Nintendo wins court case over eShop pre-order refunds”

    1. “This will come as a blow to customers” No. No it won’t! It clearly tells you that you can’t cancel your pre-order. If you’re not sure whether you want the game and pre-order anyway then you’re just dumb! This is the right decision by the court. It doesn’t discriminate against anyone because you’re not forced to pre-order, but if you want to take advantage of the service you have to play by the rules!

      1. This breaks consumer law in many parts of the EU and is already being escalated to a higher court. You can’t just go against the laws in the territory you want to sell in.

  1. Well, why pre order if you expect to change your mind. It’s a video game, not a new car in which case you’d lose your deposit anyway. If in doubt don’t preorder. Simples

    1. All sorts of reasons: unexpected debt, you have seen more trailers and didn’t like how the game was turning out, you learn the developers are putting their workers through crunch, delays in release. And even if there was no good reason, it should still be a right to the consumer.

      1. This is like buying something that currently isn’t in stock. The moment you pre-order you basically purchased. None of your arguments are valid. With anything you buy in an ordinary store you might have unexpected debt 2 weeks later. Just because in this case your purchase hasn’t arrived yet doesn’t mean you should have special privilege. Same applies to how the game turns out to be. If you buy a game and after you play it you don’t like it you have no right to return it. Just because you know beforehand that the game is going to suck because you read a review doesn’t make a difference. Entirely your fault. Same with your last argument. Just because you read some news about the devs before the game arrives doesn’t give you special privilege. The game could as well have arrived before you read those news.

      1. It’s definitely not a positive, but preordering through a marketplace isnt the same as preordering through a physical store. There’s no limited stock, so the need isn’t there. The small positives don’t outweigh the negatives so this is really only the consumers fault, specially after the eShop let’s you know that preorders can’t be canceled.

    2. what happens when new infro about the game you preorder turns it into something you dont jive with? you just lose that money and say oh well i guess ill never preorder again?

      1. You should only pre order if your dead set on the game in question, to be safe.
        I’d understand if for example a big Zelda game was promising a vast world etc and then before release they reduced the world and content etc.
        Like others have said too, it’s not like digital versions are going to run out.
        Personally I like to buy physical as much as possible especially looking towards the future ( looking at you Sonos speakers)

  2. This kinda sucks. Sometimes people jump the gun too early and preorder games that turn into a piece of shit. At least at physical stores, you could change it to store credit or something

    1. I mean you could also just wait and see if the game is gonna be good though. It’s not like digital games have low stock or anything

  3. Technically pre ordering is like putting a deposit down on something, such as a car, which if you change your mind before pick up of product the deposit should be fully refundable as you haven’t received full possession yet.

    1. …. What? Yes, it is exactly like the deposit down on something such as a car, which in numerous circumstances is not refundable for very good reasons. Why exactly is it you think people take deposits in the first place? Specifically because sometimes people change their minds at the last second.

  4. I can’t believe all these people commenting in favor of a huge company instead of individuals.
    Nintendo is a multi million dollar company, if an individual wants to cancel an order, they should receive a full refund.
    It’s crazy to me, not only the lack of empathy for the normal human beings, but the siding with a million dollar company that can afford a few refunds and not suffer any actual loses.
    It’s insane.

    1. Yup bunch of robots. A company should be friendly towards it’s customers, not rule with an iron fist. Just because they aren’t in the wrong legally does not make it morally proper to do this. Business and ethics go hand in hand. I understand why they won but that doesn’t make it right. Nintendo should change that policy.

      1. You’re calling the people saying you should actually think about your purchases instead of mindlessly pre-purchasing games before you know what they are the bots?

        1. There’s different circumstances that could lead to a change of mind later on. It doesn’t have to be a “mindless pre-purchase”, different things may arise. If a game is not released yet it would be a good business act to allow cancellation of a pre-order. Why anyone would support taking away our choices when they can easily allow the choice with no impact to their business is beyond me. Again this is an ethics dilemma, not a legal dilemma.
          People should clearly think about purchases beforehand but life is not black and white. Bad business practices should not be encouraged.

  5. Personally, I think it’d be better to have the option to cancel a preorder, but preordering in general should really only be for games that you have no doubts about whatsoever.
    Also, Nintendo states pretty clearly that they don’t offer refunds for preorders, so I don’t think the lawsuit really had much of a chance to begin with

  6. It is wiser not to pre-order on the eshop. No worries over short supply there, so wait until you’re 100% sure you want and can afford it. I prefer physical games as I can sell them if it turns out I don’t like them or I decide I no longer want to play them.

  7. I’ve pre ordered games quite a few times and they are always games I know that I will always want and thats mainly the reason for pre ordering. If I was in any doubt or I was suspecting money troubles down the line I simply wouldn’t pre order and then if so buy the game when it was released. It’s no big deal, and I mean the pre order option is also good as there are sometimes bonuses for doing so.

  8. Why is “inability to cancel an order” a good thing.

    I work with data, so I know there can be challenges with implementing a system that allows order cancelling, but anyone with a brain can figure out that the ability to cancel an order is a good feature.

  9. Are you guys kidding me?
    Some of you actually defend this?

    This is an asshole-move by Nintendo and really bad for customers. Why must Nintendo always be so damn backwards when it comes to online services and the sorts? Both Sony and Microsoft allows you to refund per-orders, so why can’t Nintendo do so as well?

    Starting to get really tired of the company I grew up with and loved. They have gotten really arrogant since the success of the Switch

  10. Pingback: Nintendo wins court case over eShop pre-order refunds | My Nintendo News - The Info Planet

  11. How did they win this? It will take another 1.5 year to proceed in this case. Nintendo have won either way if they can go around 3.5-4 years before they need to adapt to the law.

  12. With people more interested in digital these days, I think there should be the ability to cancel digital pre-orders. Maybe charge 5 bucks extra for a game. If they cancel their pre-order, they lose that 5 bucks. If they don’t cancel their pre-order, the 5 bucks is taken off the total of their purchase once they’ve downloaded the game onto their system. Provided the system is able to know whether you already fully downloaded the game or not.

  13. Pingback: The Wii U Lives On In 2020 And Ninja Theory Reveals Another Game?! | News Wave | Nintendo Online

  14. Pingback: The Wii U Lives On In 2020 And Ninja Theory Reveals Another Game?! | News Wave - Gaming News

  15. Pingback: Germany: Nintendo has lost a court appeal over Switch eShop pre-order cancellations - Disco Games

  16. Pingback: Germany: Nintendo has lost a court appeal over Switch eShop pre-order cancellations - Gaming News

  17. Pingback: Germany: Nintendo has lost a court appeal over Switch eShop pre-order cancellations - Fasolmi

  18. Pingback: Germany: Nintendo has lost a court appeal over Switch eShop pre-order cancellations - ALV Daily

  19. Pingback: Germany: Nintendo has lost a court appeal over Switch eShop pre-order cancellations - Best Bren

  20. Pingback: Germany: Nintendo has lost a court appeal over Switch eShop pre-order cancellations - Wissenhier

Leave a Reply

Discover more from My Nintendo News

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading