Nintendo and Sony are making major changes to their online subscription services following an investigation conducted by the UK government.
Specifically, the companies will have to adjust their online subscription renewal systems for PlayStation Plus, PlayStation Now, and Nintendo Switch Online. The move is designed to make it harder for customers to accidentally pay money to Sony and Nintendo in the event that they have, for example, forgotten they're subscribed to a service.
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Gamesindustry.biz reports that these changes are being made as the result of findings made by UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in an investigation into automatic renewal practices.
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Moving forward, Sony will contact customers who haven't made use of PlayStation Plus in a long time and explain to them how to cancel their subscription. If users are unable to cancel themselves, for whatever reason, Sony will simply stop taking payments.
Meanwhile, Nintendo will no longer have automatic renewal set as the default option for customers who sign up to Nintendo Switch Online. Anyone that wants automatic renewal will have to activate the feature manually.
"As a result of our investigations, a number of changes have been made across this sector to protect customers and help tackle concerns about auto-renewing subscriptions," Michael Grenfell, executive director of enforcement at the CMA, told gamesindustry.biz.
Microsoft made changes to its Xbox subscription services (Gold and Game Pass) back in January when the investigation was initially launched. The company agreed to more clearly communicate automatic renewal systems to customers, and offer refunds in the event of accidental renewals.
Featured Image Credit: SonyTopics: Playstation Plus, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Xbox