Activision Reported To UK Fair Trade Office Over Black Ops

UK Consumer group Gamers' Voice has followed through on its threat to report Activision to the UK Fair Trade Office claiming that glitches in the PlayStation 3 and PC versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops are in breach of the Sale of Goods Act 1979. In an open letter to the UK Fair Trade Office, the group writes: "Since its launch, both the PlayStation 3 and PC versions of the game have been reported to be plagued by problems that are claimed to render it almost useless as the piece of entertainment the game purports to be." The group focuses its attention on the online multiplayer component of the game, citing "sudden disconnections from online multiplayer game sessions", the "inability to join servers that play host to multiplayer game sessions" and "freezing of PlayStation 3 console, forcing the user to reset it" among some of the issues that PS3 and PC players of the game are encountering. In the letter the group likens the situation to a consumer buying a fridge-freezer "only to find that the freezer component doesn’t work." The move comes a month after Activision failed to respond to an open letter from the group asking for an explanation for how these problems came about and seeking information on how Activision planned "to recompense [its] customer base." Now the issue has been escalated to the UK Office of Fair Trading, Gamers' Voice is claiming that "Activision UK Ltd [is] in breach of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) which states that when a consumer buys goods they must be: as described; of a satisfactory quality; and fit for any purpose made known at the time of sale to the seller." The office has the power to impose a severe financial penalties if the claim is upheld.