GameStop opening Deus Ex boxes, removing free game code

[JPX]

What a bs excuse.

I hope Square Enix sues them. I hope Onlive sues them, and I hope consumers open class action lawsuits against them.

This. Who the fak do they think they are that they feel they can open a product and remove content from it?!? In their Facebook post, they act like they've done nothing wrong too

[Solid Knight]

Yet another reason to never shop at GameStop. Is it even legal for a company to remove items from a boxed product? What's next, removing included mini-strategy guides? Then of course, they're going to sell all these opened games as brand new. This doesn't surprise me since they'll try to sell you the display case with a disc and manual inserted into it as new even though the case has been beat to hell. Hell, they once tried to charge me full price for a game whose case was missing. I've never gone inside a GameStop since. They're a terrible company.

As a tangent, their memo format sucks.

[rajputwarrior]

If gamestop doesn't like whats in a product then they shouldn't sell the product. Not opening and removing what they don't want and still selling it as new.

I'm utterly disgusting that anyone would be ok with that.

they didn't know... maybe you should read the OP before first before commenting.

[spaceelf]

It's still part of the product whether they agree with it or not. I think OnLive could probably sue Gamestop for this, if they wanted to. (Hopefully they don't, the industry has enough BS in it already.)

[Slammers]

There's plenty of reasons, you can play away from home and any computer, use it to show friends etc. That's no the point of the article. Gamespot are stealing.

Everyone who brought the game there with the coupon removed now is in right to go back and demand their money back or the coupon. It wasn't theirs to tamper with it's no different to removing the instruction manual.

[Rigby]

if he has a ****ty computer he shouldn't be getting the new game anyways... well he could, via on live...

and i don't blame gamestop for doing this at all. why would they sell a products that promotes a competitor without their knowledge? that doesn't make any sort of business sense...

If they don't want to sell the product then they shouldn't sell it at all. Opening the boxes, removing some of the content and then selling it as new should be illegal.

[r0c]

Will never shop there.

[Gerowen]

I just sent them a nasty message, and sent a message to the OnLive corporate offices making them aware of it. Looks like Gamestop just lost me as a customer, as well as plenty of other people. I'm probably going to go pull all my pre-orders and start shopping elsewhere. It annoyed me for the longest time that they opened the games at all, but I understood the reason. It also annoyed me that the price stickers they use are hell to get off, and you can never get your gamecase clean without tearing it up. But now I find out they're actually cheating customers out of things intended for them by the game makers. Nope, I'm done with Gamestop. Time to go cash in my Powerup Reward points.

[r0c]

If they don't want to sell the product then they shouldn't sell it at all. Opening the boxes, removing some of the content and then selling it as new should be illegal.

I agree with you a thousand percent.

[Doli]

I just sent them a nasty message, and sent a message to the OnLive corporate offices making them aware of it. Looks like Gamestop just lost me as a customer, as well as plenty of other people. I'm probably going to go pull all my pre-orders and start shopping elsewhere. It annoyed me for the longest time that they opened the games at all, but I understood the reason. It also annoyed me that the price stickers they use are hell to get off, and you can never get your gamecase clean without tearing it up. But now I find out they're actually cheating customers out of things intended for them by the game makers. Nope, I'm done with Gamestop. Time to go cash in my Powerup Reward points.

You sent Online a message about this? Im sure they found out some time ago when the news broke out :laugh:

.

[SimplySchizo]

You already made your choice by buying the pc version. If your choice was to play it on onlive, why would you buy the pc box instead of choosing to go to onlive for it?

How about if I chose to purchase the PC Version knowing it came with a free version I could play on another platform? Only to find out my reserved property had been opened without my consent and removed?

Many people purchased Portal 2 on the PS3 simply cause the Steam copy came along with it, FREE.

What if those people were robbed of their copies as well?

Everyone likes 2 for 1. No one likes being robbed.

[The_Observer]

dont go to gamestop? problem solved.

+1

[Mockingbird]

My friend works at GameStop and he gets to keep all the coupons.

[Gerowen]

So I went to the local gamestop with a printed copy of this news story and asked the store manager about it. According to him they were instructed to remove the coupons by Square-Enix because of issues with some of the codes not working, not all of the copies had a coupon, etc. I did get him to print me out a copy of every PS3 game they're tracking for the next 2 years and their current release dates.

[blade1269]

Doesn't that make every game a used copy? If there opened...

[Blackhearted]

How about if I chose to purchase the PC Version knowing it came with a free version I could play on another platform? Only to find out my reserved property had been opened without my consent and removed?

Many people purchased Portal 2 on the PS3 simply cause the Steam copy came along with it, FREE.

What if those people were robbed of their copies as well?

Everyone likes 2 for 1. No one likes being robbed.

Except in your portal example you forgot to mention what you're getting for free is faaaaaaaarrrrrrr superior to the what you bought(as, let's face it, an fps is a joke on a console). Here is not the case however. Here what you're getting is a vastly inferior copy of the game on a futureless service.

Also, considering the fact that most of the crying children(including those here) would have never used the onlive copy, they're not really being robbed or losing anything at all.

[Gerowen]

Except in your portal example you forgot to mention what you're getting for free is faaaaaaaarrrrrrr superior to the what you bought(as, let's face it, an fps is a joke on a console). Here is not the case however. Here what you're getting is a vastly inferior copy of the game on a futureless service.

Also, considering the fact that most of the crying children(including those here) would have never used the onlive copy, they're not really being robbed or losing anything at all.

It's not your place to decide what they are or aren't losing. It's the principle of the matter that the vendor is opening and changing the contents of a product before it reaches the consumer, and still charging them for the price of a new, unopened game.

And your "FPS games are a joke on a console" is irrelevant to the discussion. It's a personal opinion that I highly disagree with, but that's another topic.

[rajputwarrior]

If they don't want to sell the product then they shouldn't sell it at all. Opening the boxes, removing some of the content and then selling it as new should be illegal.

they have...

This resulted in a wave of negative press, and GameStop responded in the most reasonable way possible: it simply removed all copies of the game from store shelves.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/08/gamestop-responds-to-deus-ex-controversy-removes-game-from-shelves.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

and hey look, the publisher agrees with them!

Square Enix is defending GameStop's right to control what is sold in their stores. "As part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution's boxed offering on PC, Square Enix included a third-party coupon," Square Enix said in a statement. "GameStop was not made aware of this inclusion and Square Enix respects the right of GameStop to have final say over the contents of products it sells and to adjust them where they see fit in accordance with their policies. Square Enix invites gamers who want to purchase the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution without additional coupons to buy the game at any one of over 4,000 GameStop stores in North America or purchase a digital download copy online from www.gamestop.com."

how none of you understand the fact of why one business wouldn't want to sell a product that promotes another business is beyond me...

[Ayepecks]

So I went to the local gamestop with a printed copy of this news story and asked the store manager about it. According to him they were instructed to remove the coupons by Square-Enix because of issues with some of the codes not working, not all of the copies had a coupon, etc. I did get him to print me out a copy of every PS3 game they're tracking for the next 2 years and their current release dates.

Not trying to sound like a jerk, but you would've annoyed the hell out of me if I was that store manager. He's not the one in charge of making those decisions, nor is he even as likely to know any more about the situation than you know from the Internet. It's not appropriate to get on his case when he has nothing to do with the situation.

[+ir0nw0lf Subscriber²]

We gamers can be a pretty nasty bunch when the mob mentality hits us. :devil: But I can understand them pulling it off the shelves totally, opening a "new" product, removing ANYTHING from it then trying to still sell it as "new" or "complete" is totally wrong-o and probably illegal in some places. They probably should have just removed it from the shelves first and then figured a course of action. I am sure this is a lesson learned for the future.

[Eric Veteran]

if he has a ****ty computer he shouldn't be getting the new game anyways... well he could, via on live...

and i don't blame gamestop for doing this at all. why would they sell a products that promotes a competitor without their knowledge? that doesn't make any sort of business sense...

I'll go suggest to the grocery store down the street that they remove all the other grocers' coupons from the newspapers when they get them in the morning. I wonder how that'll fly?

[HawkMan]

Except in your portal example you forgot to mention what you're getting for free is faaaaaaaarrrrrrr superior to the what you bought(as, let's face it, an fps is a joke on a console). Here is not the case however. Here what you're getting is a vastly inferior copy of the game on a futureless service.

Also, considering the fact that most of the crying children(including those here) would have never used the onlive copy, they're not really being robbed or losing anything at all.

Kind of a subjective opinion.

[Gerowen]

Not trying to sound like a jerk, but you would've annoyed the hell out of me if I was that store manager. He's not the one in charge of making those decisions, nor is he even as likely to know any more about the situation than you know from the Internet. It's not appropriate to get on his case when he has nothing to do with the situation.

I didn't "get on his case". I just showed up with a printed copy of the news story, and was very polite. I asked him what he knew about the situation since he engaged me first. I didn't know he was the store manager until he told me. I realize that the people at "this" Gamestop have no control over decisions made by corporate, but I assumed they may at least have some information about those decisions. The least he can do is go to his next managers' meeting and let them know that lots of people are getting angry with them over this decision.

[WolvesHunt]

Kind of a subjective opinion.

Off Topic --

hardly, ever one knows (ever one from 1980 to current) knows that FPS belong on a pc via mouse/keyboard support

The only reason a FPS should ever be on a console is, if that console also supports 100% keyboard and mouse support with out Aim Assist or Auto Aim...

RTS (read above) still true

Console can keep there Platformers, and games that do not need precise moment, or control

Back on topic --

If I was a manger or someone working at GameStop/Ebgames I just ignore the letter, The Company dose not need to know that the coupons were removed in the first place. and I doubt head manager going to go around ever store to see if they have

[Rigby]

how none of you understand the fact of why one business wouldn't want to sell a product that promotes another business is beyond me...

Pulling the game from the shelves is NOT the same as ripping open the boxes and stealing content from inside. That was the issue people had. I have no problem at all with them not wanting to sell the game at all; just don't remove items and try to sell open boxes as new. They only pulled the game after they realized they were getting in trouble over what they were doing.