Most commenters seem not to have read the actual case. This is not about Steam "preventing abuse".<p>The case here is purely about Steam MISLEADING buyers about what their rights are. The law is very specific here. For example, if you buy a game off Steam that says it's compatible with Mac, but turns out not to be, you are entitled to a refund. This case is about the fact that Steam's policies misleading people by saying there are no refunds even though consumer protection law in Australia states so.<p>This is a warning to companies who sell software- don't tell people they don't have rights and protections when they actually do.
The ACCC is <i>great</i>. They just stung MSY - one of the cheaper components suppliers - $750,000 for misleading signs about consumer rights.<p>If you buy stuff here, you’re protected pretty well. As a consumer, I think that’s terrific.<p>For example, a friend bought a hard drive from one of MSY’s competitors. Very shortly afterwards, it failed. The law says he’s entitled to a replacement from the shop that sold it to him, but they refused and claimed that it had to be sent back to the manufacturer. From a consumer’s perspective, that’s ridiculous: you just sold me a thing, and it doesn’t work! I don’t want a repair, I want <i>a thing that works</i>.<p>The shop he got that from - Scorptec - used to have similar signs to MSY. We checked last week. They’re gone.<p>ACCC notice: <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/msy-technology-ordered-to-pay-penalties-of-750000-for-consumer-guarantee-misrepresentations" rel="nofollow">https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/msy-technology-ordered...</a><p>MSY home page with court-ordered notice, as of 25/01/18: <a href="http://www.msy.com.au/home.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.msy.com.au/home.php</a>
I hope they lose. There is no legitimate argument against Steam having a good refund policy. Strict refund policies for games came around because people could buy a game, copy the disc, then return it. That is explicitly not possible with Steam, their whole system prevents that kind of abuse and so they should have a much more relaxed return policy than they do now.
Its pretty simple really, Valve just need to get over its god complex and abide by a countries laws. Lets be honest, the Policy in Australia mandates that it must be "fit for purpose" and it pretty fair with its judgement on such things. I know through personal experience that some games state controller support when they dont actually have it, ive got a couple of games which say co-op when its not actually true, I have a VR game which was VR then pulled VR support a month after I got it ( though it was a free to play game so cant complain there). The fact is they have to offer a fair refund policy and in Valves case this would be best to be decided on a case by case basis. All they have to do is state in its current refund policy that it doesn't revoke any users refund rights within their countries laws. Many refund and warranty statements say this and they are perfectly legal. Its not an issue of abuse, its an issue of doing the lawful thing when its the law
> All goods come with automatic consumer guarantees that they are of acceptable quality and fit for the purpose for which they were sold, even if the business is based overseas.<p>Does that mean that pretty much all software licenses are illegal in Australia, since most specifically include a phrase stating the software is not fit for any purpose?
I had issue with a game that crashed at launch but Steam continued clocking it as running.
Other issue is if you buy a game when it is on sale but you do not have time to play it in the 14 days.