- In October, when the Consumer Rights Act comes into force in the UK

- some interesting bits from the article:

1) For the first time anyone who buys faulty goods will be entitled to a full refund for up to 30 days after the purchase.

2) The Act gives consumers a clear right to repair or replacement of faulty digital content such as online film and games, music downloads and e-books.

3) They will be entitled to a full refund, or a replacement, if the goods are faulty.

4) The Act also covers second-hand goods, when bought through a retailer.

5) People buying services - like a garage repair or a haircut - will also have stronger rights:

For the first time, there are clear rules for what should happen if a service is not provided with reasonable care and skill or as agreed. For example, the business that provided the service must bring it into line with what was agreed with the customer or, if this is not practical, must give some money back.

6) unfair terms in a contract

7) Under the new Act, providers who do not carry out the work with reasonable care, as agreed with the consumer, will be obliged to put things right. Or they may have to give some money back.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-citizens-advice-works/citizens-advice-consumer-work/the-consumer-rights-act-2015/

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34403005

Do you think this Act could have an impact on UK gaming? How could it impact gaming in the United Kingdom?

It could potentially make companies perform more testing and QA on their games as under this law if the problems of the PC version of Arkham Knight happened on consoles then this would allow everyone to refund the game due to a faulty product. PC wise steam refunds basically cover what this law will bring in anyway for any standard gamer.

Nice to see this kind of guarantees being enforced for digital distribution. I hope this scares publishers into putting more resources into Q&T.

Good news. hopefully more countries follow suit.

What does faulty imply though, when it comes to games? Does the game have to be absolutely glitch-free to not be faulty? Or does it have to be playable?

Good news. Hope this becomes an in platform policy for XB, PS, Nintendo going forward.

There is this part in the first link:

The Consumer Rights Act says that goods

• must be of satisfactory quality, based on what a reasonable person would expect, taking into account the price
• must be fit for purpose. If the consumer has a particular purpose in mind, he or she should make that clear
• must meet the expectations of the consumer

Too vague. "Must meet the expectations of the consumer"; what if I expect a glitch free game from whatever, then I buy the game, complete it within 30 days then ask for a refund because it had some random bugs?

"Must be of satisfactory quality, based on what a reasonable person would expect"

How do you define satisfactory quality?

It's currently the same for all other products you buy. A product must be fit for purpose. However there are always stipulations of what is and isn't fit for purpose. At this current time, I can buy a toaster, return it one day later in it's original box fully working but opened and get a full refund, as long as I've got a good reason for why I'm doing that. Usually 'Bought as a gift' or 'they already had one.'. If it doesn't work so 'didn't toast bread', then you've got good reason to return it.

The part that becomes questionable is 'working' and what is reasonable to return it. With digital content, it becomes odd as you cannot return a game unopened if you already own it as it's digital... you don't open it. And just saying 'It was crap.' won't fly as that's your opinion and may not conform to general concensus. 

This no doubt covers games like Arkham Knight on PC, where the game was not fit for purpose. Basically this law overrides Steams 2 hour thing and would apply to all digital content IF the game is actually broken.

Uk industry will nosedive, they make it too easy to buy a product, (game) complete it or get bored of it then get your money back and repeat.