Gamestop Raids New Copies Of Deus Ex 3

[Michael D]

[QUOTE=Leo]
To clarify, GameStop is hard at work setting up it's own streaming service. So I suspect they didn't want to promote their future competition.

The negative PR from this stunt is going to far outweigh any risk GameStop was facing with just leaving these intact. OnLive isn't even making a small splash in the pond yet. These things were going to go unused by 99% of their customers.

All this does is feed the fire of negativity towards the corporation.
[/QUOTE]

That is worth pointing out, but that doesn't make it right.  And also, we don't know for sure if those digital copies would be used or not, and to generalize that they wouldn't is the same thing as people who claimed that Mega Man Legends 3 should be un-cancelled because they say that many people bought a 3DS solely for it (yet they can't prove it and probably will never be able to definitively).

There has been a development here since earlier today, though.  Gamestop is now pulling the boxed PC version of Deus Ex 3 from the shelves (aside from any pre-orders made that still haven't been picked up)and is in partnership with Square Enix for a recall that will result in new versions of the game that don't have the OnLive code in the box.  Square Enix is also admitting that they didn't tell Gamestop about it and that they "respect[s] the right of Gamestop to have final say over the contents of the products it sells."

I do have questions there, though.  If Square didn't tell any of the retailers about this, why is Gamestop the only one having a problem with it (basically, is it only because of their own OnLive-like service)?  Did Square tell other retailers about it?  Is Square's willingness to provide copies acceptable to Gamestop a sign of weakness on their part?  

And as far as the contents of what they bundle with the game, should Square or any other company have to tow the line of the retailers to get the game into stores?  For the latter point, I guess maybe some social concerns over an included item would override that, perhaps like Short Warp for 3DO which, true story, included a condom in the box (I wonder how retailers would have reacted to something like that or if it would have changed the situation).   

[Leo1]

[QUOTE=Michael D]That is worth pointing out, but that doesn't make it right.  And also, we don't know for sure if those digital copies would be used or not...[/QUOTE]

I clearly wasn't defending their decision, I was criticizing it.

And I'd say it's a safe bet to assume that the OnLive digital copy was going to go unused (And often, unnoticed) by the vast majority of consumers that were purchasing this. So I'll be sticking by that guess.

The problem here is much more the precedent set (GameStop opening new games, removing a standard component from them, and then selling them opened as new games) rather than the actual loss of the OnLive digital copy of this specific game.

I can assure you that this hasn't been making the internet rounds over the past day since so many were in an uproar that their copy of Deus Ex 3 that they bought at GameStop didn't include the code they were expecting.

[Viper821]

[QUOTE=gilly]I can never understand why people shop at Gamestop.
They are a plague!
[/QUOTE]

With absolutely no offense intended to my fellow forum dwellers, Gamestop is rich and powerful because they DON'T go after our demographic. They go after the kid-who-doesn't-know-any-better and the mom-who-is completely-ignorant-about-gaming demographics the most. I see it every (rare) time I went there: most of their customers are complete morons who jump at all the ridiculous add-ons offered. I certainly don't want to knock their usually great employees but the corporate office isn't interested in chasing after experienced and intelligent gamers like us.

It's similar to my other hobby (hockey). I quickly figured out the big chain stores are the worst possible places to go unless you are looking for a very specific item.

[Michael Prymula]

I didn't even know Gamestpo sold Pc games, I honestly could not care less aobut this if I tried, as for why I still shop at Gamestop, well alot of the times I can get used games cheaper there then I can on Amazon or at Best Buy, and out of the dozens of games i've bought from the store(used and new), they all played perfectly, and none of the "new" games I bought from there looked "used" in any way. 

What I don't get is why people would be into the idea of downloading a digital copy of something they already have(i've seen plenty of DVDs advertise that fact) I mean what's the point?  It just seems useless to me, if Gamestop really weren't told about this fact beforehand, then they do have a legitimate complaint against, they just dealt with it the wrong way, but i'll be damned if i'm going to boycott Gamestop over some code that I had no intention of using in the first place.  Besides, I wasn't even aware that Gamestop carried PC games in the first place, as neither of the two stores near me ever sold them.

[0-Storm]

What right does a retailer have to open a product, then sell it as new? It sounds illegal to me. To open a product, remove part(s) of the product & then sell it as new; that sounds even worse. It boggles my mind that a successful company like Gamestop can't just be content with success. Instead they push their power until it comes back to ruin them.

Gamestop gives the used gaming market a bad rep. That affects any individual that wants to sell their privately owned games. The more unethical that Gamestop acts the more game developers will try to destroy the used game industry. Personally I hope Gamestop gets sued out of existence & that no other crappy corporation pounces on the used game market. Leave it for the gamers.  

[Fenix]

Gamestop sucks. Buy from a local game store, stop supporting monopolization of video game stores.

[DrCruse1]

I don't even remember a Gamestop ever claiming to sell a game as new. Even so, one can easily look at a game's box and see that it is opened. It's not like they're trying to deceive you (until perhaps this remove the free code shenanigans).

[nesfan1]

[QUOTE=Michael Prymula]I didn't even know Gamestpo sold Pc games, I honestly could not care less aobut this if I tried, as for why I still shop at Gamestop, well alot of the times I can get used games cheaper there then I can on Amazon or at Best Buy, and out of the dozens of games i've bought from the store(used and new), they all played perfectly, and none of the "new" games I bought from there looked "used" in any way. 

What I don't get is why people would be into the idea of downloading a digital copy of something they already have(i've seen plenty of DVDs advertise that fact) I mean what's the point?  It just seems useless to me, if Gamestop really weren't told about this fact beforehand, then they do have a legitimate complaint against, they just dealt with it the wrong way, but i'll be damned if i'm going to boycott Gamestop over some code that I had no intention of using in the first place.  Besides, I wasn't even aware that Gamestop carried PC games in the first place, as neither of the two stores near me ever sold them.
[/QUOTE]

This is the part that I don't get. Why would you want a downloadable copy of a PC game that you already bought on disc? Aren't you going to install it anyway with the disc that you bought? Aren't they just giving away something that the consumer already paid for? Why don't they just sprinkle "fairy-dust" on the game and call that a bonus? I know I'm probably missing something here because I have no experience with digital copies either with games or DVDs or whatever. But if I do have the right idea, then I just don't understand the promotion at all.

[Michael D]

[QUOTE=DrCruse]I don't even remember a Gamestop ever claiming to sell a game as new. Even so, one can easily look at a game's box and see that it is opened. It's not like they're trying to deceive you (until perhaps this remove the free code shenanigans).
[/QUOTE]

Actually, Gamestop uses shrink-wrapping machines themselves (and I've been to other places that do, too), so looking at the box alone can't always determine if it's new and yes, it is deceptive.  I bought a game for a friend once at Gamestop and it was a used copy (the only one they had) and they offered to shrink-wrap it for me.   I also bought a DVD from somewhere recently (it wasn't Gamestop) that was shrink-wrapped and then, I took it off, opened the box and noticed the disc was clearly used, but was sold under the impression it was new.

[bluemonkey1]

[QUOTE=nesfan]

This is the part that I don't get. Why would you want a downloadable copy of a PC game that you already bought on disc? Aren't you going to install it anyway with the disc that you bought? Aren't they just giving away something that the consumer already paid for? Why don't they just sprinkle "fairy-dust" on the game and call that a bonus? I know I'm probably missing something here because I have no experience with digital copies either with games or DVDs or whatever. But if I do have the right idea, then I just don't understand the promotion at all.

[/QUOTE]

Because then you can still use the game from other devices you own that may not play the game, say on a laptop or netbook should you be unable or away from your main box.  Or if you uninstall it and just want a quick blast later you can play it that way.  Provides a means to stress test the OnLive service for free as well.