While Microsoft and Steam have worked to institute refund policies for their digital stores, Sony and Nintendo have steadfastly refused to do so. And much like Sony, Nintendo is now finding itself in trouble in Europe over said refusal, where it is potentially in circumvention of consumer protection laws.

According to Nordish site PressFire, the Norwegian Consumer Council has reported Nintendo to German authorities (Germany being where Nintendo of Europe is based) over Nintendo’s refunds policy for digital pre-orders—in that there is a no-refunds policy for digital pre-orders.

The NCC feels that this is a violation of the customer’s rights. Nintendo disagrees, and cites article 16 of European Consumer Law Directive 2011/83. Specifically, Nintendo says that a refund is unnecessary if “the performance has begun with the consumer’s prior express consent, and with the acknowledgement that he will lose his right of withdrawal once the contract has been fully performed by the trader”.

The official legal proceedings are expected to start soon, and it remains to be seen how this goes down in court. However, personally, I hope Nintendo is forced to change its refund policies, and come more in line with what Valve and Microsoft already offer.

Nintendo has seen a bit of a shuffle in its upper management, and it seems that has extended to its overseas branches as well. With longtime Nintendo of Europe President Satoru Shibata returning to Nintendo HQ in Kyoto to take over as manager of licensing, Nintendo has announced that Stephan Bole will be taking over as President of Nintendo of Europe.

Bole has had a long and illustrious career at Nintendo of Europe, having most notably had a strong role to play in solidifying Nintendo’s position in the French market from 2001 to 2005 (and to this day, France remains one of Nintendo’s strongest markets worldwide). He will be assisted by Koji Miyake, who will be taking over as its new CEO and chairman.

“To say that Mr Shibata’s contributions have been instrumental to Nintendo’s European operations is an understatements,” Bole said. “His efforts over the past 18 years have helped to bring Nintendo products to generations of players across Europe – and beyond. While he will be missed by many, I have full confidence that with our new structure we’ll be able to continue our mission of putting smiles on people’s faces through our unique gaming experiences.”

Under Shibata, Nintendo ended up gaining an unusually strong position in the continental European market (albeit second to PlayStation), although Nintendo’s traditional weakness in the UK persists. How Bole plans to prepare Nintendo to become a mainstay in European gaming remains to be seen.

Nintendo of Europe will be releasing a total of 320 employees on August 31st. The company had revealed in June that 130 permanent employees would be let go and 190 temporary employees have been added to the list.

Nintendo told Kotaku that, “As previously communicated in June 2014, approximately 130 permanent employees will be released by Nintendo of Europe (Germany) at the end of August 2014 as part of a set of measures to better enable the European business to adapt to the rapidly changing business environment.

“As a separate measure, Nintendo of Europe is reorganizing its European Localization Development (ELD) department, where it currently uses a number of temporary agency workers in translation and testing activities, in order to increase flexibility and cost-efficiency in the long-term.

“It is intended that there will be an increase in outsourcing future translation and test activities to third-party companies on an as-needed basis, and very sadly this has meant having ended the contracts of 190 temporary agency workers, who were formally notified of this decision in June 2014.”

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments.

Nintendo of Europe has revealed that it is closing its HQ in Großostheim, Germany with 130 jobs having been lost. The closure will help the European arm of the company better “adapt to the rapidly changing business environment.” Going forward, the Frankfurt office will now be in charge of the market in Europe.

Speaking to Eurogamer, the company stated that, “Nintendo of Europe has entered into a consultation process on a number of changes it is intending to make to its European business which, in the long term, will better enable the European business to adapt to the rapidly changing business environment.

“The measures include the consolidation of the current European headquarters in Großostheim to Frankfurt, the closure of the warehouse and office in Großostheim, as well as outsourcing and reorganizing some functions.

“These intended measures have not been made lightly and have only been arrived at after thorough analysis and careful consideration. The intended measures will sadly have a direct effect on some of the employees based in the Großostheim and Frankfurt offices in Germany and would lead to the release of approximately 130 permanent employees.”

Hopefully the displaced employees will be able to find work again soon.