GameStop Pulls OnLive Coupons From Deus Ex: Human Revolution

[Andy Chalk]

GameStop Pulls OnLive Coupons From Deus Ex: Human Revolution

GameStop has acknowledged that it removed coupons for free OnLive copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution from the PC version of the game.

OnLive and Square Enix announced yesterday that as an extra incentive for gamers who couldn't quite bring themselves to pull the trigger on the new Deus Ex release, all boxed copies of the PC version of the game will include a coupon for a free copy from cloud gaming company OnLive. I don't really see it as a "seal the deal" offer but it might come in handy someday and hey, free stuff is free stuff, right?

Not if you bought it from GameStop. Shortly after it went on sale, buyers began reporting to GameSpy [http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/deus-ex-3-unofficial-title/1190175p1.html] that their supposedly brand-new copies had been opened and that the OnLive coupon was missing. Dodgy, yes, but things didn't get full-on greasy until an anonymous source provided the site with a photo of an email, allegedly from GameStop management, telling employees to pull the coupons from the PC version of the game and throw them away. "Our desire is to not have this coupon go to any customers after this announcement," the memo said.

Confirming the situation, a GameStop rep told GameSpy that the removal of coupons was in fact mandated by the company. "Square Enix packed the competitor's coupon with our DX:HR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull and discard these coupons," she said.

To be fair, it's a tough situation for GameStop. The company is effectively being forced to promote a direct and even existential competitor, without any say-so in the matter. But cracking game boxes and pulling freebies sure doesn't pass the smell test, particularly from the perspective of OnLive, which probably sunk a hefty chunk of change into making this happen. And then there are the gamers, who at the bottom line aren't getting stuff they're supposed to, and that they paid for, simply because GameStop doesn't want them to have it.

Tough situation or not, that's pretty greasy.



Permalink

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Good for you Gamespot, you gave me another reason to hate you.

 

[NotSoNimble]

Lies!

My game wasn't opened at all.

EDIT: Same goes for some other people who bought this for PC. Not every Gamestop did this, nor were they all told to do this.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Lies!

My game wasn't opened at all.

Gamespot repackages games all the time. They have a plastic machine in the back room.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Wouldnt this be stealing? If it comes in the sealed boxed, and they removed it, then its stealing. Me, i buy the game new, and its opened then i wont pay full price for it. An people shouldnt buy it from Gamestop out of principle.

 

[NotSoNimble]

Lies!

My game wasn't opened at all.

Gamespot repackages games all the time. They have a plastic machine in the back room.

They have fresh bar-coded xbox seals?

No, they don't.

EDIT: Thanks to those who point out it's PC only while remaining civil : )

 

[uppitycracker]

Well that's pretty underhanded. I mean, yeah, I get it. Competition with their service that hasn't launched yet (far as i know anyway, maybe i'm wrong). But to defile a sealed copy of a game is straight up bullshit. That should in no way be their call, and just further reinforces my stance that I will never shop there. Way to do business, guys.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

GameStop, you are in the wrong here. You could have refused to sell the copies with OnLive coupons, but taking them out and not making it blatantly obvious that you'd done so is nothing short of theft.

Well done, you now look even worse in the eyes of the consumer, and OnLive looks brilliant.

 

[The Bucket]

GameStop, you are in the wrong here. You could have refused to sell the copies with OnLive coupons, but taking them out and not making it blatantly obvious that you'd done so is nothing short of theft.

Well done, you now look even worse in the eyes of the consumer, and OnLive looks brilliant.

To play Devils Advocate a bit, they did say Square never told them about it when they were buying it, maybe they wouldn't be able to return them. But still, dick move extradinare, they should have made it clear you wouldn't get it.

 

[RvLeshrac]

If you purchased a copy of the game from Gamestop and didn't get your OnLive coupon, I'd recommend calling the cops, then. This is clearly theft-by-deception, if not theft-by-taking.

 

[DigitalSushi]

Lies!

My game wasn't opened at all.

Gamespot repackages games all the time. They have a plastic machine in the back room.

Some stores also have those fancy machines that re-lacquer discs in the back room too.

I had my copy of Shadow of Collossus done in like, "the right now" in front of me time frame, I didn't keep time but when it happened it was like... the right now, thats a measurement of time to me since then.

 

[scnj]

I wonder if Game and GameStation will do the same.

 

[Keava]

GameStop, you are in the wrong here. You could have refused to sell the copies with OnLive coupons, but taking them out and not making it blatantly obvious that you'd done so is nothing short of theft.

Well done, you now look even worse in the eyes of the consumer, and OnLive looks brilliant.

To play Devils Advocate a bit, they did say Square never told them about it when they were buying it, maybe they wouldn't be able to return them. But still, dick move extradinare, they should have made it clear you wouldn't get it.

I don't know the laws surrounding that issue but, does the publisher needs to list content of boxes for a retailer? If not, then GameStop had no real right to do so. They had other options to go for, like not stocking the game at all if they didn't like the OnLive promo.
That's really a low move by GameStop in the end, hitting a starting up company, no matter how silly currently the OnLive idea looks. Should they just stop selling Steamworks games as well, since Steam is direct competition to their Impulse and retail ?

 

[esplode]

Glad I bought mine on Steam. But more on topic, this definitely has legal issues. It'd be like if Gamestop removed Online Passes from games and charged separately for them or doing the same thing with parts of a collector's edition.

It may suck to be giving customers to your opponents Gamestop, but this isn't the way to fix that.

 

[Akihiko]

I wonder if Game and GameStation will do the same.

Doubt it. GAME aren't currently beta testing their own game streaming service.

 

[NotSoNimble]

Lies!

My game wasn't opened at all.

Gamespot repackages games all the time. They have a plastic machine in the back room.

They have fresh bar-coded xbox seals?

No, they don't.

Xbox version doesn't come with OnLive code, only PC.
No reason to open non-PC version.

Also, troll harder.

Dude, no need to call people names, that's rude and uncalled for.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Hah as if I needed another reason to hate gamestop.

Publishers really need to just band together and tell gamestop to go screw themselves because the corporation is noting but a parasite on the industry.

 

[Rednog]

Lies!

My game wasn't opened at all.

Gamespot repackages games all the time. They have a plastic machine in the back room.

They have fresh bar-coded xbox seals?

No, they don't.

Xbox version doesn't come with OnLive code, only PC.
No reason to open non-PC version.

Also, troll harder.

How is he trolling?
Read the escapist article, it doesn't mention it being a PC only problem. Personally I assumed this was a 360, PS3 problem for 3 reasons. 1) Most gamestops don't even sell PC games anymore, hell the 6 gamestops around Chicago that I visited in the last year or so stopped selling PC games years ago. 2) Why would PC gamers care about OnLive? If a person is buying Deus Ex for the PC they probably have a gaming rig capable of playing the damn thing, so why sign up for a service that is essentially PC games for people who don't own gaming rigs? 3) It is fairly hard to open a PC gamebox without anyone taking note. They have those clear sealing stickers on both ends of the box, most people just take a knife and cut straight through the sticker to get into the box, because if you try to peel the thing you're most likely going to tear a piece of the gamebox with it.
And considering Soviet Heavy also said repackaging, both him and Notsonimble were thinking this was a console problem. Notsonimble bought a 360 copy, his wasn't opened. Soviet Heavy said they repackage console games all the time, notsonimble retorted that while yes they can put on the plastic shrink wrap, gamestop doesn't have the xbox green seals that usually come on the top/side/ and or bottom of the case.

So where is the troll here?

 

[Weaver]

Also a great chance for an employee to steal your serial key, rendering the whole game useless. AWESOME!

 

[NotSoNimble]

Spoiler

Lies!

My game wasn't opened at all.

Gamespot repackages games all the time. They have a plastic machine in the back room.

They have fresh bar-coded xbox seals?

No, they don't.

Xbox version doesn't come with OnLive code, only PC.
No reason to open non-PC version.

Also, troll harder.

Lies!

My game wasn't opened at all.

Gamespot repackages games all the time. They have a plastic machine in the back room.

They have fresh bar-coded xbox seals?

No, they don't.

Xbox version doesn't come with OnLive code, only PC.
No reason to open non-PC version.

Also, troll harder.

How is he trolling?
Read the escapist article, it doesn't mention it being a PC only problem. Personally I assumed this was a 360, PS3 problem for 3 reasons. 1) Most gamestops don't even sell PC games anymore, hell the 6 gamestops around Chicago that I visited in the last year or so stopped selling PC games years ago. 2) Why would PC gamers care about OnLive? If a person is buying Deus Ex for the PC they probably have a gaming rig capable of playing the damn thing, so why sign up for a service that is essentially PC games for people who don't own gaming rigs? 3) It is fairly hard to open a PC gamebox without anyone taking note. They have those clear sealing stickers on both ends of the box, most people just take a knife and cut straight through the sticker to get into the box, because if you try to peel the thing you're most likely going to tear a piece of the gamebox with it.
And considering Soviet Heavy also said repackaging, both him and Notsonimble were thinking this was a console problem. Notsonimble bought a 360 copy, his wasn't opened. Soviet Heavy said they repackage console games all the time, notsonimble retorted that while yes they can put on the plastic shrink wrap, gamestop doesn't have the xbox green seals that usually come on the top/side/ and or bottom of the case.

So where is the troll here?

Thanks.

I didn't see 'PC' in the article, but I guess it was implied or something. I was wrong, even though what I said was all true, so I must be a troll?!

Regardless, the Gamestop in Tinley Park (South Suburbs of Chicago) doesn't pull that open every games box and reseal it crap.