I was reading an article about Nintendo, specifically their return policy. Apparently Nintendo doesn’t allow customers to cancel digital preorders. For those that don’t know, a preodering is when you purchase something before it’s actually released. It usually has some benefit, like being slightly cheaper, or giving special bonuses, like special ingame items that can only be obtained by preordering. Consumer authorities of Germany and Norway were suing Nintendo, as it was against the EU’s Consumer Rights Directive, which says that you must be able to cancel online purchases to receive a refund. The case went to court, and the court ruled in favor of Nintendo, meaning that their policy of no online refunds stands.
A lot of people dislike the idea of preordering, as it is basically giving the company money and hoping that they keep their promises. It’s sort of the same as the crowdfunded companies- you give them money and hope they give you whatever they promised to give you. This of course, doesn’t sit well with a lot of people. If the company doesn’t keep their promise, you won’t get your money back. Your money is completely gone. And even if the promise is kept, you might simply not like the game. If you had instead waited for the game to actually release, and try it out before buying it, you might have realized that you don’t like the game, and not have bought it. Either way, preordering is generally not a good idea. An example of this is the game No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky was released on August 9th, 2016. Before the game’s release, it was incredibly hyped, with many people extremely excited to play the game. The game was available for preorder, which many people did. However, on the day of release, the game was met with heavy criticisms. The game was considered too boring, too buggy, and not worth the money spent on it. This of course, made many people upset, especially those that had preordered, as their money was effectively lost.
This is why Nintendo not allowing refunds or preorder purchases is bad for consumers. Most preorders are a bad deal. While you might get a special item or character, the chance that you could lose your money with nothing to show is something to consider. Because you can’t get a refund, anyone that decides to changed their mind has already lost their money. This is of course, non-consumer friendly, and potentially a violation of laws in certain countries. In fact, Nintendo is one of the only companies that does not have any way to cancel or refund online software. I think that Nintendo should have to follow to rules, and should allow refunds, as the consumer should have safety and knowledge, that if they no longer want the item, they can get their money back. It’s unfair that Nintendo can just ignore the law because they say that their rules comply with the laws.
A Blog From a Guy Who Plays Games 
Reblogged this on Yellow Guy and commented:
Hi Guy who plays games! I enjoyed reading your post about Nintendo disallowing their customers to cancel digital preorders. It seems to be a regular theme of companies screwing over their customers, since I wrote my first blog post about Apple’s refusal to change their charging points. In that case, however, the EU was able to force Apple into signing an agreement that they will switch their charging to USB-C or micro usb cables due to the environmental impacts of thrown away wires.
I wonder why the court ruled in favor of Nintendo. If it is indeed against the EU’s Consumer Rights Directive, I do not see how Nintendo could have protected its stance on preorder returns. I would love to see more information about your source and how the case played out, because this makes no sense to me.
I agree with you that preordering games is rarely a good idea. Even established game franchises commonly come out with games that do not meet their own standard of quality, and receives outrage from the communities of players. I hope the common Nintendo consumer becomes aware of this policy, or they end up in disappointing situations with no way to get their money back.
A good policy that could help consumers would be required open betas for any game with preorders, so that players can get a feel for the game before placing their preorders. Of course, the real version of the game could unexpectedly be plagued with technical issues that could still ruin the experience for players.
At the end of the day, Nintendo’s policy is very predatory on consumers and players should stop preordering games until a change is made. I applaud the Consumer Authorities of Germany and Norway who were suing Nintendo, and hope they can find success soon.
It is really starting to feel like nobody cares about their customers anyway, and think the consumers will simply keep buying their products regardless. Looking at Apple’s success and now this, I am confused how these companies are not being punished by the consumers for the decisions they are making.
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I get what your saying, and it is kinda baffling to me too, but at the same time I understand why. Even if a company like Nintendo is predatory or has bad business practices, if you wanna get a Nintendo Switch, how else can you? So like video games and stuff, you can play another game, but the only way to play a certain game is to buy that certain game. Like, if you want an iPhone, the only way is to get an iPhone, which means Apple can do almost anything, as long as they still give you your iPhone. It’s rough to get around it, since it’s sort of like a monopoly.
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