Tiga attacks EC game guarantee proposal

The European Commission is not reticent about taking action against companies it believes to be acting against the interests of consumers, with Nintendo currently appealing a €149 million fine for price fixing and Intel making waves after the recent AMD antitrust lawsuit resulted in a record €1 billion ($1.4 billion) fine for the chip maker.

Last week it was reported by GameSpot sister site ZDNet UK that the European Commission was proposing changes to the way EU consumer protections are applied, with the same provisions currently applied to physical products being applied to software. This could dramatically affect how games are developed, according to UK video game developers association Tiga.

The EU sales and guarantees directive is a consumer protection law that says physical products must carry a guarantee of at least two years. The plan to extend those rules to software could "stifle new ideas," Dr Richard Wilson, head of Tiga, told the BBC. "Consumers need good quality products--that is only reasonable--but if the legislation is too heavy-handed it could make publishers and developers very cautious."

Currently, bugs in a game are not covered by the directive--but this could change. By applying a two-year guarantee to software in the way it is laid out in the directive, any bugs that prevent a user from completing the game would entitle the gamer to an immediate refund.

Speaking to ZDNet UK about the proposals, Francisco Mingorance, director of public policy for Business Software Alliance, a group that represents many large software firms, including Microsoft, said, "Digital content is not a tangible good and should not be subject to the same liability rules as toasters. Unlike tangible goods, creators of digital content cannot predict with a high degree of certainty both the product's anticipated uses and its potential performance."