GameStop Pulls OnLive Coupons From Deus Ex: Human Revolution

[Ghengis John]

PS: there is something inexplicably hypnotic and lulzy about your avatar no matter how long I watch it

Why thank you. I happen to like it myself, lol. But then again I made it so I'm naturally going to be biased. A tip of the hat to you.

It's from an unusual little show called Spice and Wolf. How could I explain it? It's an economic detective show with some supernatural and romantic elements? There's not a lot of fighting to speak of and nobody ever gets punched into the moon. It's bizarrely grounded for a fantasy show and more intelligent than I'd have expected. Mostly intrigues, mostly merchant matters. It's different and it's surprisingly good, at least it was to me.

 

[major_chaos]

for some reason this doesn't bother me much. I've never had a bad experience with Gamestop before and I HATE onlive with every fiber of my being (that and the fact that I fail to understand the "boo-hoo the box is open gamestop is evil" thing) so i'll let this slide.

First they came for the onlive coupons,
and I didn't speak out because I don't use onlive...

you are the second person who has replied to me with something along those lines and i'm still not sure what it is that they they will stop including that would be such a tragedy

 

[sindremaster]

for some reason this doesn't bother me much. I've never had a bad experience with Gamestop before and I HATE onlive with every fiber of my being (that and the fact that I fail to understand the "boo-hoo the box is open gamestop is evil" thing) so i'll let this slide.

First they came for the onlive coupons,
and I didn't speak out because I don't use onlive...

you are the second person who has replied to me with something along those lines and i'm still not sure what it is that they they will stop including that would be such a tragedy

I can imagine them pulling out all bonus codes like EA's project 10 dollar to make their used copies more attractive.
Edit: thinking about it, maybe I shouldn't give them any ideas

 

[mjc0961]

Like I needed another reason to not shop at GameStop, but here one is. Once again, removing the shrink wrap makes the game used, so they should be selling every single PC copy for $5 off like the rest of their used games. Second, taking out something the customer is supposed to be receiving? I don't care if the publisher told them or not, that's completely unacceptable. It doesn't hurt them anyway because people have to buy and open the game to get the OnLive code, and after they do that, they can't return the game (because even GameStop's return policy agrees that a game with no shrink wrap is no longer new). And aside from that, it's just OnLive. They aren't a threat to anybody, so why throw out the codes? Let people use them, let people see how poor a service OnLive actually is with the whole streaming thing and always online DRM, and they'll never use OnLive again.

I just hope everyone who has a right to sue does sue GameStop as hard as possible. Let them get away with this now and next time they'll take your Online Pass or your free DLC.

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

You mean like when you called the article writer and everyone who claimed they had their game open and code removed a liar? Yeah, you don't get to call people names and then tell people who call you names back that it's rude and uncalled for. If that's how you feel about name calling, you shouldn't have done it in the first place.

 

[major_chaos]

PS: there is something inexplicably hypnotic and lulzy about your avatar no matter how long I watch it

Why thank you. I happen to like it myself, lol. But then again I made it so I'm naturally going to be biased. A tip of the hat to you.

It's from an unusual little show called Spice and Wolf. How could I explain it? It's an economic detective show with some supernatural and romantic elements? There's not a lot of fighting to speak of and nobody ever gets punched into the moon. It's bizarrely grounded for a fantasy show and more intelligent than I'd have expected. Mostly intrigues, mostly merchant matters. It's different and it's surprisingly good, at least it was to me.

haha sounds interesting i'll have give a try, thanks

OT: I find it interesting and somewhat surprising that a long time escapist contributor Andy Chalk actually has the same opinion as me about the smug "retail is dumb lol" comments that pop up every time someone mentions Gamestop being annoying

 

[major_chaos]

for some reason this doesn't bother me much. I've never had a bad experience with Gamestop before and I HATE onlive with every fiber of my being (that and the fact that I fail to understand the "boo-hoo the box is open gamestop is evil" thing) so i'll let this slide.

First they came for the onlive coupons,
and I didn't speak out because I don't use onlive...

you are the second person who has replied to me with something along those lines and i'm still not sure what it is that they they will stop including that would be such a tragedy

I can imagine them pulling out all bonus codes like EA's project 10 dollar to make their used copies more attractive.
Edit: thinking about it, maybe I shouldn't give them any ideas

somehow that just seems unlikely to me because it would kill new game sales which are a larger dollar amount per sale (unless they lied about not having the code in the box but then they would just lose mass amounts of customers) but than again what do I know. the sad thing is that I have to like Gamestop, because I prefer hard copies to downloads and the only other places to buy games that are close to where I live are a wallmart where no one is ever staffing the games area and when I go the front desk to ask for help the person they send consistently glares at me like i just got in the way of something immensely important, and a best buy which is just.....ugh

 

[lotanerve]

Yes, but there is no information that GameStop made any attempt at asking them to remove it. If they really had a problem with it the only thing they should legally be able to do about it is to refuse to sell the game. Instead, they broke into the box of legos, stole one of the pieces, and closed it, resealed it, and lied about it not being a new (meaning complete package produced) product. I'm pretty sure what they did crosses the line of what a retailer can or cannot do with what they sell to their customers, or even what they buy from the producers.

I really find it hard to believe that Gamestop (who's had on ongoing relationship with the publisher) would act like a small child and not make any attempt to resolve the issue. I believe that made such an attempt, and couldn't come to an agreement. As far as them lying about it, They already made a statement (though only when confronted about it-they should have made a statement before the issue was raised) "Regarding the Deus Ex: Human Revolution OnLive codes: We don't make a habit of promoting competitive services without a formal partnership. Square Enix packed the competitor's coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons. While the new products may be opened, we fully guarantee the condition of the discs to be new. If you find this to not be the case, please contact the store where the game was purchased and they will further assist."

 

[Danceofmasks]

One of my big points of frustration through all this is the assumption that retail is irrelevant now anyway. The smug comments like, "ha ha, people still buy games at GameStop?" make me want to punch people. There is a huge number of people who either don't have access to an internet connection that makes digital distribution practical or are just not interested in stepping away from the comfortable experience of popping over to the mall to buy their shit. The suggestion that people who still buy at GameStop are some kind of ignorant Luddites drives me crazy.

Well, I don't know about GameStop, but the company they own here in Australia (Electronics Boutique), sells games at about double the price they're worth. On all platforms.
I buy retail, but I do so from a store that doesn't ass-rape me.

But, having said that, the reason people shouldn't buy from them isn't due to price.
I bought Second Sight from them, and the CD key was missing from the box.
Then when I asked about it, they asked me to prove it.

That's torches and pitchforks time right there.

 

[Dragonclaw]

I fail to see why anyone thinks Square had a responsibility to tell Gamestop ANYTHING. Videogames are a media, just like magazines and NO magazine tells it's retailers what advertisers are featured in any given month. When I worked for Longs Drug the magazines we carried FREQUENTLY featured ads for Walgreen's...hey, Walgreen's paid for the advertising, just like OnLive did here.

If *I* were Gamestop I'd much rather leave the code in knowing that 90% of the people will probably throw it away anyway...much better than all the bad press they are currently getting or Square putting the ad ON THE DISK where the customers who would have chucked the ad would see it EVERY TIME they boot up the game...

 

[Dukenstein]

I this so ironic. Secret emails from corporations asking people to do seedy things, it reminds of of a certain game...oh yeah! Deus Ex!

 

[Lillowh]

Yes, but there is no information that GameStop made any attempt at asking them to remove it. If they really had a problem with it the only thing they should legally be able to do about it is to refuse to sell the game. Instead, they broke into the box of legos, stole one of the pieces, and closed it, resealed it, and lied about it not being a new (meaning complete package produced) product. I'm pretty sure what they did crosses the line of what a retailer can or cannot do with what they sell to their customers, or even what they buy from the producers.

I really find it hard to believe that Gamestop (who's had on ongoing relationship with the publisher) would act like a small child and not make any attempt to resolve the issue. I believe that made such an attempt, and couldn't come to an agreement. As far as them lying about it, They already made a statement (though only when confronted about it-they should have made a statement before the issue was raised) "Regarding the Deus Ex: Human Revolution OnLive codes: We don't make a habit of promoting competitive services without a formal partnership. Square Enix packed the competitor's coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons. While the new products may be opened, we fully guarantee the condition of the discs to be new. If you find this to not be the case, please contact the store where the game was purchased and they will further assist."

Like I said if they had an issue with it, they should not sell it. They should have no right to do what they did, and instead of being a good business, went for greed and decided to sell the game anyway, and modified the product without the consent of the publisher, and without tell the publisher or consumer. They acted like a small pouty child, and should get punished for it.

 

[draythefingerless]

so what would happen if the coupon was in the software? hmm?


sad gamestop...sad.

 

[Jake Martinez]

I'm pretty sure this is theft. Gamestop can call it a coupon all they want, but its a voucher for redeeming a copy of a video game, a game that has a monetary value.

If they removed them from the PC boxes, then I'm damn sure they defrauded their customers.

 

[Callate]

Given how infamously difficult it is to return PC software, I'd say at the very least GameStop owed their increasingly minute number of PC gaming customers some notification that the package they were purchasing was different than the one the issuing company promised.

Yes, there's a good chance the customers would then decide to buy their copy at Target or Wal-Mart or the like instead, but maybe that's a good reason not to do it in the first place, yes? It's not like they refused to sell the Orange Box because it included Steam...