The PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One consoles and the companies that make them, Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft respectively are now being investigated for consumer rights violation. The Competition and Markets Authority has announced that it has launched an investigation into numerous business practices exercised by these companies which may violate consumer rights.
The authority is responsible for preventing anti-competitive business activities in the United Kingdom. It has written to these three companies to seek information about their online gaming contracts. Its intentions for the investigation include ascertaining if the contract terms are fair. It will look at whether the auto-renewal process is fair or not and just how easy it is to cancel a pre-order or get a refund. Sony did make a change last week to its digital refund policy which made it easier for users to get refunds.
“Our investigation will look into whether the biggest online gaming companies are being fair with their customers when they automatically renew their contracts, and whether people can easily cancel or get a refund,” said CMA chief executive Andrea Coscelli.
The authority does not have anything at this point in time which would suggest that these companies are in violation of consumer protection law. However, it will take legal action against them if some evidence supports this.