Tech companies have been the target of some undesired attention by the European Union as of late, be it over data protection of their consumers, or tax evasion and it looks like video game companies might have their fair share of trouble in the region.
The Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) has reported Nintendo, Sony, Valve and Electronic Arts for not complying with European consumer laws regarding the right of withdrawal on their digital purchases.
According to the NCC, Valve does not warn the consumer at all about the loss of their right of withdrawal during the purchasing process on the Steam platform. Sony and EA, on the other hand, do warn the consumer about the loss of the right of withdrawal but do not require express consent from the user (such as ticking a box) in regards to that loss.
It should be noted that Steam does have a refund policy that works similarly to the right of withdrawal, but as stated by an NCC spokesperson, it does not require explicit consent from the consumer regarding that policy.
Nintendo"s situation is slightly different because it refers to the consumer"s right of cancellation. This is because Nintendo does not allow the cancellation of pre-orders of video games on its Nintendo eShop platform once the game has been pre-loaded onto the user"s system. The report mentions that the NCC got in touch with Nintendo regarding the violation, but the company"s German branch responded that it acts in accordance with the Cancelation Act.
So far, none of the mentioned companies have responded to the accusations, but we can expect the story to develop over the coming weeks.
Source: NCC via GamesIndustry