Far from the quality of its games, Nintendo has long been in the spotlight of various courts, due to the controversies that have arisen around its joy-con controllers, its crusade against emulators, and the policies of the Nintendo eShop. And it is in fact that the latter has returned to be the focus, after the reopening of a case in Germany.
Earlier this year, the Frankfurt Regional Court dismissed a petition from the German Consumer Organization and the Norwegian Consumers Council, asking Nintendo of Europe to allow the return and refund of pre-purchased digital games, a “Right” that for the moment is still not present and that is considered could be violating the right of European consumers.
So, under these arguments, the plaintiff organizations escalated the complaint to the Frankfurt High Court, which seems to have rejected the decision of the previous one in favor of Nintendo.
Specifically, the German Consumer Organization notes the ineffectiveness of this refund service by not allowing you to test the product Before deciding whether or not to comply with what was promised on a commercial level: «The download available after pre-order did not contain any usable games. As of the release date, the game is of no value to the buyer and the Nintendo contract has not been honored in any way.«, They explain in their statement.
The Frankfurt High Court finally ruled against Nintendo, allowing Nintendo Switch digital game reservations to now have a new return and refund period that will allow cancel pre-purchases up to seven days before game launch.
Although in the eyes of these institutions, the developer was still far from complying, seeking to further improve user rights. However, it remains to be seen how the sentence of a new resolution could or not affect the search for permanent changes in the return policy of the Nintendo eShop.
