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In some countries like Australia and New Zealand, Nintendo is bound by law to accept some types of returns: see https://www.nintendo.com.au/support/articles/ref
by vore 4y ago
In some countries like Australia and New Zealand, Nintendo is bound by law to accept some types of returns: see https://www.nintendo.com.au/support/articles/refund-for-downloaded-game-or-dlc https://www.nintendo.com.au/support/articles/refund-for-down... which has an extra section at the bottom:
We can provide a remedy if the game or DLC fails to meet a consumer guarantee under the Australian Consumer Law in Australia or the Consumer Guarantees Act in New Zealand. Details of Australian consumers’ rights under the Australian Consumer Law can be found at www.consumerlaw.gov.au. Details of New Zealand consumers’ rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act can be found at www.consumerprotection.govt.nz.
These protections are actually quite broad, as Valve found itself in hot water for quite a few years back: https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-posts-a-notice-about-australian-consumer-rights-on-steam/ https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-posts-a-notice-about-australia...
When you buy video games from Valve Corporation as a consumer located in Australia, the video games come with guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded, including a guarantee that the video games are of acceptable quality. You are entitled to a replacement or refund from the retail supplier of the video games for a major failure and for compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have the video games repaired or replaced by the retail supplier of the video games if the video games fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure. Certain other rights are available directly against manufacturers that cannot be excluded or limited.
- jay_kyburz 4y agoI don't think our guarantees extend to you just not liking it. The game has to be defective, or incomparable with your computer, or have been misrepresented before you bought it. IANAL Updated after your update: In this case I think we can assume "acceptable quality" has already been established by Nintendo's QA department. Its not an open store after all.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- izzydata 4y ago"Its not an open store after all." The Nintendo online market pretty much has no oversight anymore. They don't do any careful pruning of shovelware these days.
- djur 4y agoAt a bare minimum, you can buy games on the Switch with incomprehensible English translations: https://legendsoflocalization.com/this-be-bad-translation-19-refreshing-sideways-puzzle-ghost-hammer/ https://legendsoflocalization.com/this-be-bad-translation-19... NES games often had some pretty rough translations, but I can't think of a single game in that era that was this garbled.
- bombcar 4y agoThese are bad but seem to be at the level of "All your base are belong to us".
- boomboomsubban 4y agoWhich comes from a Sega game. Not that the NES was really better, it still has classics like "a winner is you!"
- selectodude 4y agoIt’s open enough because I’ve demanded a refund for a total dog shit game and received it. And I’m American.
- vore 4y agoWhether or not something is acceptable quality is not up to Nintendo, right? Otherwise it would be a weird conflict of interest that Nintendo would set the standards for their own store with no recourse for the consumer.
- jay_kyburz 4y ago"acceptable quality" is very broad and subjective. I don't think you'll have much luck convincing a court a game is objectively bad. (unless the game actually crashed like where somebody mentioned in KOTOR) If you take a game back to a major retailer like Target or Big W, they won't accept it with the seal broken unless you tell them there is something wrong with the physical disk or cartage. They won't accept a return if you just tell them you didn't like it. (in my experience - also not an expert on this either)
- vore 4y agoMy point is just that their broad "we don't accept returns, ever" policy in the UK is not legal in some jurisdictions, and nothing about returning a game because you don't like it. How that's interpreted is, of course, a matter of convincing the courts but the language Nintendo uses in the UK is not applicable worldwide, as many other companies have been raked over the coals for trying to do the same. Note that the wording on the UK page definitely excludes things like KOTOR II from being returned!
- JonathonW 4y agoThere's a AAA game from a major studio on Nintendo's store right now that can't be completed due to a game-breaking bug (the new Knights of the Old Republic II port), so Nintendo's obviously not doing that much of their own QA for things they're selling on their store.
- mrguyorama 4y agoEarly on in the Switch's lifespan, the GameGrumps decided to check out the "Worst rated games on the Nintendo store". For reference, these are two games that Nintendo gave the green light to sell in their store: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGtanhZvjcM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGtanhZvjcM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFJwO7AbfCk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFJwO7AbfCk They've actually published games with Nintendo before, so they discuss how such terrible games were allowed on the shop in the second video
- GlitchMr 4y agoNintendo's Lot Check doesn't really establish anything. Nintendo Switch's game store is flooded with games that don't really work as the testing was minimized.
- srazzaque 4y agoInteresting. In 2017 I purchased a game on Steam that was said to work on Linux (SW KOTOR 2). It didn't get past the initial splash screen. Contacted Steam support and they refunded without question. Would that experience have been different if I wasn't an Australian?
- jamesgeck0 4y agoNo. Valve has offered refunds in all countries since mid-2015. The Australian suit was filed in 2014. The usual refund conditions are “less than two hours of play, within two weeks of purchase.”
- bombcar 4y agoI recall some minor controversy as there are story games with less than two hours of gameplay and everyone was refunding them.
- Gigachad 4y agoeh, it’s not the end of the world if games just have to provide more than 2 hours gameplay. Steam is targeted at longer form entertainment. Just extend the story out with some puzzles or challenges that send the gameplay over 2 hours.
- bombcar 4y agoAs another poster mentioned, some have done just that - added "filler" to a game to inflate it over the 2 hour bar, which is disappointing. There should be some sliding scale where you can make a great 2 hour or less game without the risk of infinite refunding (perhaps the game could be marked with a "half-way" point, etc, though that would involve the shop actually playing it).
- vermilingua 4y agoThe problem I've now noticed is that there are many games with ~2hrs of filler before real content (which may only be worth 1-2hrs) begins...
- smcleod 4y agoAs is Sony for digital purchases - but believe me you have to fight tooth and nail to get anywhere, I had one return request email chain top 100 replies. I'm amazed the ACCC/ConsumerVIC aren't onto them more about it.
- ace2358 4y agoPut in a report with the ACCC. They’re usually very interested to hear your story and they almost always follow up with a company. I’ve had many problems solved just be reporting it, getting a case number, then calling the company back and giving the them case number. Usually gets their attention
- smcleod 4y agoI've logged at least 5, most of the time they come back with we don't deal with that you should contact consumers Victoria - I contact them and they only tell me my rights but don't do anything.
- someweirdperson 4y agoThat sounds as if their share of the email replies causes more cost than the refund itself. Unless that's all AI replies now. In which case the solution is an AI that negotiates the refund.
- n49o7 4y agoAnd the EU :)