GameStop Pulls OnLive Coupons From Deus Ex: Human Revolution

[Lillowh]

I can see why both sides did what they did. OnLive obviously has some agreement with Square Enix to have them promote OnLive by including a coupon for a free copy, in their new Deus Ex game. While I'm not extactly pervy to the exact arrangement of the agreement, I'm sure it's a binding contract that Square Enix has honored. Enter Gamestop...who orders thousands of copies directly from the publisher months ahead of time, probably before OnLive and Square Enix entered into a contract together. Gamestop isn't to pleased to see that the new merchandise of Deus Ex games includes a coupon for a direct competitor. I'm guessing they ALREADY appealed to Square Enix to send them copies of games without the coupon, but were denied. Since the agreement between Square Enix and Gamestop never mentioned anything about this conflict of interests, Square Enix told them "Too bad, count this as a lesson to be learned for next time" ...Well maybe not so harshly, but I'm sure Square Enix would have to break their agreement with OnLive in order to fulfill Gamestop's new request, not to mention take a hit at all the "unopened copies" (like that would exist) that Gamestop would have sent back. So Gamestop decides to take matters in their own hands and remove the coupons. I'm interested to see what consequences come out of this strategy.

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.

 

[Solo-Wing]

Gamestop, as sleazy as they are, are a retailer and should be allowed to choose what they sell. However they should NOT be allowed to open the games they sell and modify the contents. They should have refused to sell them until Square either allowed them to modify the boxes and take out the code or Square sent games without the codes in them.

They went about this the wrong way and deserve any thing bad that comes out of this.

 

[Vie]

Why did Onlive even bother advertising to people who already proved they don't need the service?

Because, if they are buying a current game they have at least one current system already - where is the need for Onlive?

 

[major_chaos]

(plus I never remember seeing anything about an Onlive voucher in the box and Gamestop came right out and said that the voucher would not be in their copies of the game so it wasn't some big running scam)If anything I see squeenix as the dicks in this situation, by including this Onlive thing they basically told GS (and other game retailers) "oh by the way if you want to sell this big name AAA release that's sure to bring in lots of sales you have to support a competitor *troll face*"

Just because you don't remember it doesn't mean it wasn't advertised. For that matter, gamestop did not "come right out and say it". When my brother bought his PC copy he noted "This is open" They told him "Yeah man, everything's in the box". They lied to customer's faces and then they had to be caught.

again I can only go by personal experience and as someone who is on the net wayyy more than they should by I just find it odd that I had never heard about it before. As for your brother buying the game and not getting told about the missing voucher, having talked to people who work at GS and I know they don't always get told everything so the guy might have made an honest mistake he might not have even known that the voucher was supposed to be in the box, although on the off chance he did know than yes that was an extreme dick move I just trust the guys at my GS to not do something like that but I cant speak for other stores.
PS: there is something inexplicably hypnotic and lulzy about your avatar no matter how long I watch it

also my captcha was a bunch of squiggly lines with no discernible letters, what the hell?

My brother loves the onlive service, he even bought one of the standalone boxes for your television. For him this was important. Sorry it doesn't matter to you though, Maybe when you get stepped on we can get our turn to stick our noses in the air.

you already get the game so why do you NEED in on another version(an inferior version that only works with a service that I didn't think that many people used)

Oh so because someone's in the minority it's alright to do whatever you want to them?

calm down. I apologize if anything I posted came across as a personal attack, I am honestly and geuinly confused by the rage this is causing and didn't mean to sound apathetic. if you were intentionally lied to than yes you deserve your money back its a matter of not being able to know if the guy for GS was covering his ass or just didn't know that he was telling you the wrong thing.

 

[thedarkfreak]

Gamestop, as sleazy as they are, are a retailer and should be allowed to choose what they sell. However they should NOT be allowed to open the games they sell and modify the contents. They should have refused to sell them until Square either allowed them to modify the boxes and take out the code or Square sent games without the codes in them.

They went about this the wrong way and deserve any thing bad that comes out of this.

While they should have contacted Square for permission to remove the tags, refusing to sell the stock you have during the first week that the game is on the market is just about the stupidest thing any retailer could do. Square made a bigger dick move by not telling GS in advance that they were sticking the coupons in so they could work out a deal, instead allowing them to purchase the stock and get it on their shelves before making the PUBLIC announcement that all copies included the OnLive coupon. By doing that, they forced GameStop between a rock and a hard place.

I think the line of reasoning on Square's part was "We have a deal with OnLive to include their coupons in all the retail PC copies of Deus Ex. The other retailers aren't going to like that, so we won't tell them about the deal, and around the day of release, we'll make the announcement that all copies include the coupon. The stores will either have to sell it as it is, or call us, send the stock back, and wait for a new shipment, which will most likely take longer than the first week or two that the game has been on the market. No retailer is going to want to be out of stock of a game that was just released, since most sales of games are done within the first couple weeks. They'll just sell it as it is, and will arrange for the next shipment to not have the coupons."

Unfortunately for them, GameStop took a third option.

They should also have told customers that it had been done. A simple line like "We refuse to promote competitors here, so we removed the OnLive coupons from the copies of Deus Ex we sell." Say it to every customer that purchases the game.

 

[Sad Face]

Lies!

My game wasn't opened at all.

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

The one here has the plastic machine right on the main counter.
When I used to shop there it was almost a guarantee that anything you bought had been opened by an employee.

 

[Trishbot]

I have a habit of DEMANDING sealed games from Gamestop (or I just order online), because they have habitually screwed up. Either they open new games and play them themselves (and still try and sell it to me "new"), or sometimes they give me the wrong game entirely.

One time I bought Pokemon White... they went behind the counter and got the wrong version, Black. When I found out, I asked for a sealed copy.

But to open games and remove content that the creators included? No. If I had discovered this, I would honestly call the cops. That is criminal. And who's to say they don't just keep those coupons to use themselves? Deceitful, deplorable, and condemnable. I hope they get sued hard for this.

 

[Akihiko]

I wonder if Game and GameStation will do the same.

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

No, but they are owned by GameSpot's parent company. It'll be interesting to see if this initiative is company wide.

I doubt it. Onlive is currently only available in North America. It's opening in the UK later this year, but I still don't think any UK PC copies actually contained the onlive code.

 

[Andy Chalk]

GameStop blew it but in the company's defense, it's getting bent over here pretty hard. It's facing extinction at the hands of digital and while it's done well to adapt and survive so far, it's still in a very precarious position. The situation was handled very poorly, but I can understand why it wouldn't want to be handing out games that are essentially advertising that you don't need to go to GameStop anymore.

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.

Anyway, rant over, and yes, GameStop definitely fucked up. The question now is, what's it going to do in the future? OnLive apparently plans a lot more giveaways with future releases; will GameStop arrange to not have those coupons included in shipments of those new games, or is this going to blow up into some serious ugliness?

 

[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...

 

[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!