Nintendo has lost a court case over pre-order restrictions

We weren’t sure it was even possible, but Nintendo has just lost a court case over their strict pre-order restrictions which prevent cancellations.

Thanks to a successful appeal by Norway’s Consumer Rights Council and the Federation of German Consumer Organisations, (VZBV) a German court has overturned a previous ruling in Nintendo’s favour, deeming the company’s pre-order cancellation policy unlawful. 

As a result of this overturned ruling, Nintendo has been forced to change their pre-order cancellation policy in German and Norwegian versions of the eShop. It is currently unclear if this policy will come into effect across Europe or the rest of the world.

Throughout the course case, which was first decided in 202o before this new appeal, Nintendo had claimed that their policy was fair due to games pre-loading onto the console before launching, therefore preventing preorders.

According to a translation by Nintendo Life, VZBV successfully rebutted this claim in their appeal, stating that “until the release date, the game is worthless for the buyers and the contract of Nintendo is not fulfilled in any way.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNsGXJ6Cl00

At the time of writing, Nintendo’s eShop policy currently states that “the voluntary right to cancel a pre-order can only be exercised seven days or more before the release date for the software.” 

This means that, if forget to cancel a pre-order, or change your mind once reviews come out, you may still be stuck with the game if the launch is less than a week away.