Nintendo and Sony update their warranty policy after FTC sends warning letter
In the last issue of This Week in Gaming, we talked about the Federal Trade Commission sending out a warning letter to a few select companies, two of which were Nintendo and Sony. These letters were sent because the FTC found both companies' policies were technically illegal, as voiding a warranty due to peeling a sticker off cannot be grounds for denying a full repair.
Nintendo and Sony might find themselves in hot water soon, in regards to a policy they have. The Federal Trade Commission states that both companies current policy is against a law that was enacted in 1975. And that policy entails warranty voiding. Normally, if you open up a Sony or Nintendo console to repair it, or use third party components, then your warranty is voided. However, this is illegal, and the FTC is cracking down on those don't abide by it, which means both gaming companies have been sent "warning letters", which means they have 30 days to remove such statements from their policy.
Now, a few weeks later, there's been a response, with Nintendo and Sony changing their warranty policies to allow for users to open up the console without voiding the warranty. Nintendo's policy has been changed from
Old policy said:This warranty shall not apply if this product: (a) is used with products not sold or licensed by Nintendo (Including but not limited to, non-licensed game enhancement and copier devices, adapters, software, and power supplies.
To...
New policy said:This warranty shall not apply if this product has been damaged by products not sold or licensed by Nintendo (Including, but not limited to, adapters, software, and power supplies).
So now, if you open up your console, repair it yourself, or use third party hardware on it, you're fine, however, if these items or your actions cause damage to the system, then the warranty is still considered void, which is compliant with US and Canada law.
Source: GBAtemp Press Inbox