Germany Bans Pre-Orders with No Release Date

Germany have this week ruled that the sale of any products with no delivery date for the customer is banned.

The Higher Court of Munich (although it did not make its ruling explicitly pertaining to video games as such) has now ruled that no products in the country can be offered for pre-order without a release date.

According to Heise, the issue was brought up by a consumer protection group (fighting the good fight!) when Media Markt did not offer a release date for its Samsung Galaxy S6 - instead, it wrote, "This product is available soon. Get a copy now!".

Under the new ruling, Germans will need to be told in black and white exactly when the product they are ordering is due to be delivered. It states that it is the "legal duty of the seller" to ensure that they are informing customers of when products will be available, instead of vague placeholders where some retailers may have already taken the hard earned cash.

How exactly this will be employed in the case of a delay we don't know, or for those who participate in crowdfunded projects. It may be that publishers withhold pre-orders from the country until they are certain a game will hit its deadline. Duke Nukem Forever would have cost more in fines than it would have made back in sales.

Those elsewhere in the world are unaffacted by the law in Germany. Would you like to see it where you are?