Nintendo Accused of Violating Consumer Rights in Europe

Nintendo is loved for their games and their family-friendly, fun-focused design. They are not loved for their business practices, which jump between annoying to exploitative at the drop of a hat. Between intentionally under-producing hardware to increase rarity and perceived value, to forcing streamers and Youtubers to join an archaic “creator’s program”, Nintendo has made it clear that their friendly, approachable face is merely a shell for just another money-grubbing company.

This is cemented by their approach to digital sales: while most digital retailers, including longtime holdovers such as Valve, have implemented return policies for their products, Nintendo has decided not to. Their stance is strictly “no refunds” and “no cancelations of pre-orders”, even if the purchase was accidental, done by criminals, or your bratty kid who stole your credit card. Nintendo don’t care.

But as it turns out, maybe they’re about to start: as Norway has accused Nintendo of violating customer rights.
 

The Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) has found that out of the seven leading digital video game platforms, only Origin and Steam had adequate systems in place for refunding purchased video games. Out of the seven platforms, Nintendo in particular violates consumer rights by not offering any way to cancel a pre-ordered game.

This is a problem because the EU is very, very strict when it comes to companies adhering to their customer protection laws, and Nintendo’s current policy is inarguably in conflict with them. Nintendo simply won’t be able to ignore the accusation, especially if other European Countries join Norway in petitioning them… something that seems likely now that politicians are eyeballing Video Games following the Star Wars Battlefront 2 debacle.

The most likely result, as far as I see, is a brief defense by the folks at Nintendo, and if that fails, they’ll quickly bend to pressure. It’s pure luck they managed to get away with it this long, and they don’t have much ground to stand on legally, so I wouldn’t expect much resistance. But who knows? Nintendo can be real scumbags when they’re trying…