Germany Cracks down on Video Game Pre-Orders with No Solid Release Date

The song remains the same every year. E3 rolls around, and before the press conferences are complete, or even the reveal trailer in the most extreme situations, you can pre-order any game under the sky that you want. It might get delayed, it might get canceled, it might get stuck in limbo for half a decade, but never you worry. You’ll get your game or (hopefully) your money back.

It seems one too many anecdotes about complications have caught the eyes of authorities in Germany. The Higher Regional Court of Munich recently ruled in a case against retailers, stating that products online could no longer be pre-ordered should generic phrases like “coming soon” or obvious placeholder dates be used instead of a solid release date.

Düsseldorf Consumer CEO Wolfgang Schuldzinski came down hard, saying “When consumers order goods on the internet, providers must specify by when the goods are delivered.”

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2018/07/19/germany-prohibits-video-game-pre-orders/