You may remember that last month, Nintendo introduced some new guidelines for small-scale fan tournaments. The guidelines were very strict and very few people were happy with the new rules. However, you may be surprised to know that one government agency is not happy about this news either.
The Norwegian Consumer Council learned about Nintendo’s new rules and Thomas Iversen, one of its senior legal advisors, spoke to Norwegian site PressFire about the matter. According to Iversen, Nintendo shouldn’t be able to set these new rules because they didn’t exist when Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released. He also criticized Nintendo’s restrictions on game modifications, something that was resolved when Nintendo lost a case against Galoob regarding the Game Genie decades ago. Iversen said, “You might think this issue was resolved then, as long as the use does not conflict with copyright.”
Finally, he criticized Nintendo’s ban on custom controllers. Iversen said he “does not respect such a restriction.” Inversen believes that this rule prevents people with physical difficulties from playing and, at the same time, harms competition. So there are multiple reasons why the Norwegian Consumer Council has problems with the new rules.
As for what the Norwegian Consumer Council plans to do in the future, it was stated that they will discuss with other European consumer bodies how to proceed. That said, it’s worth noting that this wouldn’t be the first time the Norwegian Consumer Council has legally challenged Nintendo. It’s thanks to them that European users can now cancel digital pre-orders on Switch, and that Nintendo has had to offer free lifetime repairs of Nintendo Switch controllers to players in the European Union.
Source/Via
