Sony and Nintendo reach agreement with CMA in the UK and stop charging for unused subscriptions.
Sony and Nintendo are joining Microsoft on a very specific issue of customer subscription management, namely the suspension of payments for unused subscriptions. A measure that takes effect in the Kingdom. Indeed, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has entered into an agreement with giant Sony to reduce unused PlayStation Plus accounts. Sony will remind inactive subscribers how to end their subscription and, if there is still no activity, will automatically stop charging them. In the meantime, Nintendo will no longer automatically renew Switch Online subscriptions by default.
Sony and Nintendo reach agreement with CMA in the UK
Last January, Microsoft said it would first cancel its Xbox Live Gold and Game Pass subscriptions in the UK and then globally. Like Sony, the Redmond-based company will inform customers first (after a full year of inactivity) and then lift the fee a year later. Microsoft also said it will provide more accurate and immediate information about these subscriptions, such as automatic renewal or refunds.
and stop charging for unused subscriptions
These changes resulted in the CMA dropping an investigation into online video game services that was launched in 2019. It focused not only on automatic renewals, but also on the difficulty of obtaining refunds and possible unfair subscription terms. At this stage, no one knows if CMA was able to solve all the problems identified, but the main one seems to have been solved anyway: you should have a lower risk of being billed for the service than you stopped using a long time ago.