Valve has issued a statement on the legal situation in Australia involving consumers’ rights and the gaming platform’s policies.
Several days ago, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a statement on the ongoing legal situation that attempted to find Valve in violation of Australian consumer laws. After confirming that the High Court of Australia had dismissed Valve’s appeal against a fine of several million dollars that was levied against the company, Valve has responded with its own statement about the situation that’s been going on for years now.
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“On 24 March 2016, the Federal Court of Australia found that Valve Corporation had engaged in misleading conduct contrary to the Australian Consumer Law in representing to Australian consumers via the Steam Subscriber Agreement and Steam Refund Policy that consumers had no entitlement to a refund in any circumstances and that Valve had excluded, restricted or modified statutory guarantees of acceptable quality,” the statement from Valve said.
Valve also shared a link to the judgement from the Australian Federal Court. Much of the legal battle dealt with whether Valve was doing business in Australia by selling to Australian consumers, and a portion of the statement from Valve was directed straight towards these consumers.
“When you buy video games from Valve Corporation as a consumer located in Australia, the video games come with guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot be excluded, including a guarantee that the video games are of acceptable quality. You are entitled to a replacement or refund from the retail supplier of the video games for a major failure and for compensation for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. You are also entitled to have the video games repaired or replaced by the retail supplier of the video games if the video games fail to be of acceptable quality and the failure does not amount to a major failure. Certain other rights are available directly against manufacturers that cannot be excluded or limited.”
Expanding further on the “acceptable quality” factor mentioned in the statement, Valve continued to say that The test for acceptable quality is whether a reasonable consumer, fully aware of the state and condition of the video games, would find them” adhering to the following perimeters.
- Safe, durable and free from defects;
- Acceptable in appearance and finish; and
- Fit for all the purposes for which video games of that kind are commonly supplied. This must take into account the nature and price of the video games, and any statements on packaging or labelling.
