Court rules Nintendo's strict digital pre-order policies don't violate EU laws

A consumer rights case kicked off in Norway back in 2018 has ended, for the time being, in Germany, with a German judge dismissing accusations that Nintendo’s strict digital no refund policy violated the EU’s Consumer Rights Direction.

The German publication Pressfire reports that the court dismissed the lawsuit after hearings in December 2019, though the German regulator helming the case against Nintendo has already filed an appeal.

The original lawsuit alleged that Nintendo’s eShop policies that forbade refunds on digital pre-orders, both before and after release, went against EU rules that ensure customers have the right to withdraw from a purchase if the product in question has yet to be distributed.

The complaint was originally raised by the Norwegian Consumer Council, but was later relocated to the German court system and taken over by the German Consumer Protection Authority as Nintendo of Europe calls Germany home.

Nintendo’s claim throughout the proceedings had been that pre-ordered games are eligible for pre-loading and, though unplayable at that point, that potential download counts as the start of distribution.