Aug 25 2011
GameStop Coupon Removal
When I read about GameStop opening brand-new copies of Square Enix’s new PC game Deus Ex: Human Revolution and removing a coupon from the publisher that would have given buyers a free copy of the game’s online version, I was shocked.
I realize that OnLive, the online service in question, is a competitor of the one that GameStop has, but how on Earth is what GameStop is doing even remotely legal? You can’t open a brand new game, remove a coupon, and sell the game as brand new! But tell that to GameStop.
Now that media reports have circulated and after talking to Square, GS has stopped selling physical copies of the game [they still sell digital versions] until Square ships them copies of the game without the free coupon for the rival service.
GameStop’s actions are completely ridiculous in my view, and I’m sure illegal as hell. I hope to see some sort of lawsuit come from this, whether it’s from Square or a consumer who bought the game as new, but it clearly wasn’t sealed.
GameStop was in essence really just selling used copies of Deus Ex at the “new” price. I guess GameStop really is only good for selling used games after all.
Wow…unbelievable! Yeah, I don’t see where that’s anywhere near being kosher legally or otherwise. It’s like GS was crying because they didn’t get their way or something. And, like you said, once they opened those copies they were basically selling used copies.
Yeah, no kidding.
Today, they announced an apology to those customers and offered a “buy two games, get one free” deal, plus a $50 gift certificate to anyone who bought a game in which GameStop’s employees opened to remove the coupon.
Good luck getting GameStop to honor it though. How are you going to prove to a GameStop employee that someone there opened it without photo or video proof of them in the act? It seems like a nice publicity stunt to save face. In practice, a lot of customers got hosed.