It looks like Nintendo is dealing with more legal issues. This time it has to do with their Nintendo Switch eShop, specifically when it comes to their pre-order system. A German Court of Appeals has officially reversed decision from a previous case, one that Nintendo actually ended up on the winning side of. The issue pertaining to this has to do with the cancelation policy for pre-orders, something that has been a major topic of discussion for the last few years, and something that the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) takes seriously.
The organization successfully argued that the current pre-order cancelation policy was still unfair as it does not give the consumer enough time to fully commit to playing a game they’ve never tested, even if it’s a digital download. Nintendo had altered their policy in December of last year, changing it from not being able to cancel at all to being able to up to seven days before it releases. Essentially, if you pre-ordered title through the eShop, you were given all the way to a full week before the title launched if you no longer wanted to pay for it. The entire statement and appeal case can be viewed here on the VZBZ official site which is in German.
This is only the latest in a long and legal battle between Nintendo and the German legal system, as well as other European countries that view the practice in bad faith. For nearly four years, both Germany and Norway have been trying to get Nintendo, as well as other companies, to cease and end these policies altogether. Since Nintendo lost the appeals case, this means that they will more than likely have to remove the day-limitation altogether and allow full refunds for those who wish to cancel pre-orders on the eShop, at least in Europe for the time being.