Sony and Nintendo to update subscription guidelines to avoid accidental renewals

Most people are on the hook for multiple subscription services at any given moment, so it is often tough to keep track of all of them. Since so many of these services take the money directly from our bank accounts with no input from us, it is easy to forget that you even signed up for something like PlayStation Plus in the first place, resulting in repeated charges for a service you don’t even use anymore.

Both Sony and Nintendo have agreed to make changes to how their subscription services auto-renew each month to prevent charging customers if they haven’t used them. This is due to an investigation from the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK, which resulted in some suggestions for the two companies going forward.

Sony will contact long-term PlayStation Plus subscribers that haven’t used the service for a while, telling them how to cancel their subscription. Sony will also stop collecting payments from the user until they reengage in the service. The company hasn’t yet said how long this time period will be, however.

Nintendo has also made changes to how its Switch Online service operates. Auto-renewal will no longer be turned on by default when customers join the service. It can be turned on in the Switch Online settings after joining, but won’t be the default option. This is to prevent customers who just want to try the service for a month from being charged unintentionally.

The companies follow the trend begun by Xbox, which already made similar updates to its subscription guidelines for Game Pass to make it easier to cancel and get a refund earlier this year.