Nintendo has agreed to offer all consumers the right to repair for affected controllers of the ‘Nintendo Switch’ gaming console free of charge, regardless of the cause, even beyond the legal guarantee. The breakthrough was announced by the European Commission on Tuesday 4 April, following a dialogue between the Network of Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Authorities and the manufacturer.
The CPC Network contacted Nintendo following a complaint from the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC) in January 2021 about premature obsolescence of controllers that were beyond the control of consumers, a systematic problem that rendered the game console inoperative (see EUROPE 12645/6).
Consumers who could not repair it easily or for free were forced to replace the console, resulting in unnecessary electronic waste, the Commission points out.
“It’s a tangible win for consumers, many of whom have had to pay for expensive repairs or replacements on a product that they would have reasonably expected to last for a number of years. However, this is only a short-term fix that will allow consumers to have their defective products repaired for free. Yet Nintendo can still sell the console with the potential bug”, commented BEUC.
The Commission presented on 22 March a proposal for a directive to promote an effective right to repair of defective products in the EU (see EUROPE 13147/7). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)