TheGamingEconomy Daily Digest brings you the trending business stories in gaming. In today’s edition: Mainline Raises USD$6.8m (£5.26m); ACCC enforces refunds for Fallout 76 customers; and Amazon disallows non-approved third-party Nintendo sales.

Mainline Raises USD$6.8m (£5.26m)

Esports tournament software company Mainline has announced that it has raised USD$6.8m (£5.26m) in a Series A funding round led by Work America Capital. The funds will purportedly be used to further develop the software powering its tournament platform, as well as boosting its marketing efforts. Originally spun out from Fan-React (now Truss) in 2016 as a collegiate esports platform, Mainline now hosts tournaments for various brands and gaming organisations worldwide, whilst retaining their collegiate foothold, most notably with the inaugural ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship which took place in May this year.

In a press release announcing the funding, Chris Buckner, CEO of Mainline, said, "The world of esports and gaming is exploding; however, continuity in tournament organisation is lacking, keeping the sport from really taking off in other viable and exciting markets. Mainline gives brands the tools they need to run powerful esports programs that will evolve the quickly maturing industry to the benefit of players, students and the greater esports ecosystem."

ACCC enforces refunds for Fallout 76 customers

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has ordered Zenimax (ZeniMax Media Inc, ZeniMax Europe Limited and ZeniMax Australia Pty Ltd) to issue refunds to Fallout 76 customers following the publisher accepting that their actions, in refusing to initially offer refunds, were "likely to have contravened the Australian Consumer Law (ACL)." Consumers in the country who requested refunds between 24th November 2018 and 1st June 2019 following faults with the title, which included server issues, graphic errors and lagging, are now eligible to receive full refunds.

In a statement, ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said, "When a consumer buys a product it comes with automatic consumer guarantees, and retailers must ensure their refunds and returns policies do not misrepresent what the Australian Consumer Law provides. When a consumer has purchased a product that has a fault which amounts to a major failure, the Australian Consumer Law provides them with the right to ask for their choice of either a repair, replacement or refund.”

Amazon disallows non-approved third-party Nintendo sales

Amazon has disallowed third-party sales of Nintendo products unless they obtain express prior approval, according to an email sent to sellers on the platform. The move in effect bans all current third-party sales of Nintendo products:, as the email reads "If you do not obtain approval to sell these products prior to 31st October 2019, your listings for these products will be removed," the email was sent on the same day.

At this stage it is unclear whether Amazon or Nintendo were responsible for the change to the ecommerce platform's reselling policy, which affects both new products as well as retro devices and titles. However Amazon has instigated similar rules for third-party sales of Apple products and DVDs.