14 DAY TRIAL // Gamers' Voice, an independent consumer group operating in the United Kingdom, has said that it will be registering a formal complaint with the country's Office of Fair Trading linked to the problems that have plagued those who have chosen to play the first-person shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops on the PlayStation 3 from Sony and on the PC.
Late in December Gamer's Voice has sent a letter to Activision Blizzard, the publisher that has launched the game, stating the significant problems, ranging from freezes in the multiplayer mode to graphical glitches, that affected gamers.
The letter asked the publisher to say what it was doing to solve the issues and how it planned to offer compensation to the customers that were affected.
Speaking to IncGamers, Chris O'Regan, who is the Head of Industry Relations at Gamer's Voice, has said that the formal complaint it designed to “test the might of government agencies against Activision. ... These agencies do exist to protect our rights as consumers, let us see if they can fulfill their remit on this pressing issue.”
He also hopes that action against Activision and its well-known Call of Duty: Black Ops title will mean that other developers and publishers will make more of an effort to create gaming experience that runs without issues on all platforms.
The United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading has the mission of making sure “markets work well for consumers” and that “businesses are in open, fair and vigorous competition with each other for the consumer's custom.”
It has the power to impose fines on companies that are found to be delivering broken products to their customers.
Call of Duty: Black Ops was the best selling title in the United Kingdom for the year of 2010, and a slew of patches were delivered for both the PlayStation 3 and the PC in order to make the experience smoother for gamers.