GameStop Pulls OnLive Coupons From Deus Ex: Human Revolution

[ThunderCavalier]

I can understand GameStop's incentive not to allow their products to explicitly advertise their competitors, but this was handled just the worst way possible.

I agree with everyone that's said that the best course of action would have been to remove the copies of the OnLive coupon and notify people as such. They would have still lost some customers, but a majority wouldn't care and would still buy the game. Because of what they've done, I can expect many angry customers to be returning their games claiming they were ripped off and "wanted the full product", while Square and other media websites (like... uh... The Escapist) spread bad PR about GameStop due to this event.

 

[gphjr14]

I've frequently heard of Gamestop opening "new" copies of games.
But fortunately the ones in my city give you actual new games on release.

 

[www.2geeks1donkey.com]

As a huge fan of OnLive, this comes as a disappointment to me. I love the service, and I realize many people either do not like it or have not tried it yet. However, this is causing quite the commotion, and obviously little ole' OnLive is being seen as the one being bullied by GameStop. I hope this drives some people to their service, and increases their customer database. I love having all of my games playable from my microconsole without having to hull around a backpack, because I need them to be portable. I also like cutting out retailers, while eliminating download times and updates. Think about it- with a service like OnLive one may never need to upgrade their PC's hardware or any of their games ever again.

 

[Therumancer]

Understand something.

Gamestop is a retailer, not selling on comission for a client. They are buying the product and then re-selling it. They actually own the inventory they are selling you, and it's not your property until you actually pay for it. Selling a product "as is" is not an uncommon practice and is generally how the game business works.

It's unlikely that they will face any kind of charges of theft, because they owned the boxes. What's more unless those boxes actually say that an Onlive coupon is included in them, as opposed to annoucements on the internet, there isn't a case as long as everything promised by the package is actually included.

How sleazy what they did was is debatable as well.

See, technically it could be argued that hiding these coupons in the packages unannounced would fall under one of many definitions of "corperate espionage" which can carry some pretty heavy criminal penelties. Hidden advertisements and things like that included in a product can be a VERY big deal, the product producer is supposed to be effectively neutral in these kinds of matters, and if you do something like this to favor one group your doing business with over another and hurt the business of someone buying from you... well that can get nasty really quickly. The big question is how Gamestop found out about this. See, if Gamestop found out over the Internet like the customers, then it's a problem. On the other hand if Gamestop purchused the product and knew ahead of time when it was paying that it included a coupon for a competitor... well that's another issue entirely.


Overall one has to look at the lesser of two evils in dealing with this. Gamestop could basically remove the coupons like they did, or refuse to sell the games at all, and then fight to get a refund from the producers they purchused from. Had they done the latter
people would probably be even more upset because of not being able to get their game through gamestop and having to wait at least until the producers removed the coupons from the copies going to Gamestop.

Of course the simple fact that returing the merchandise would cost Gamestop money and lost sales would be a big deal, and of course Gamestop would probably wind up in court against Square-Enix to recoup the lost business, and it would be a bigger deal all around, and probably wind up pissing off the customers even more.

In a situation like this there is no ideal way to handle the situation. In the position of Gamestop I probably would have done something very similar.

All told the situation is a mess all around, and truthfully I think Square Enix is the company that really needs the solid kick in the teeth here for creating the entire problem. This just wasn't a cool thing to do.

 

[Nurb]

I can understand it. No company should be forced to promote a competitor.

THEY JUST SHOULD HAVE BEEN UP FRONT ABOUT IT.

 

[fozzy360]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.309040-GameStop-Pulls-PC-Copies-Deus-Ex-From-Shelves

News gets worse. All PC Copies are being pulled from GameStop after another security leak.

While I don't see what you mean by "security leak", I will say that Gamestop should have done this to begin with had they known from the get-go that the coupons were inside the packaging.

Probably the smartest thing for them to do at this point.

 

[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.

Gamestop gutting games to put them on the floor without being stolen really is bad when you don't mention WHY they do it.

That's not even what I'm talking about. I'm fine with the floor copies being opened, it's the ones behind the counter that have been opened that bother me.
And before someone jumps on me for that, I said it was the one here specifically.

With regards to this issue specifically I don't see why GameStop would have an issue with something that would boost their sales. It's not like people can open the games, take the coupon and return it, if anything they'll get a boost in sales from pre-playeds.

 

[Dragonclaw]

Understand something.

Gamestop is a retailer, not selling on comission for a client. They are buying the product and then re-selling it. They actually own the inventory they are selling you, and it's not your property until you actually pay for it. Selling a product "as is" is not an uncommon practice and is generally how the game business works.

It's unlikely that they will face any kind of charges of theft, because they owned the boxes. What's more unless those boxes actually say that an Onlive coupon is included in them, as opposed to annoucements on the internet, there isn't a case as long as everything promised by the package is actually included.

How sleazy what they did was is debatable as well.

See, technically it could be argued that hiding these coupons in the packages unannounced would fall under one of many definitions of "corperate espionage" which can carry some pretty heavy criminal penelties. Hidden advertisements and things like that included in a product can be a VERY big deal, the product producer is supposed to be effectively neutral in these kinds of matters, and if you do something like this to favor one group your doing business with over another and hurt the business of someone buying from you... well that can get nasty really quickly. The big question is how Gamestop found out about this. See, if Gamestop found out over the Internet like the customers, then it's a problem. On the other hand if Gamestop purchused the product and knew ahead of time when it was paying that it included a coupon for a competitor... well that's another issue entirely.


Overall one has to look at the lesser of two evils in dealing with this. Gamestop could basically remove the coupons like they did, or refuse to sell the games at all, and then fight to get a refund from the producers they purchused from. Had they done the latter
people would probably be even more upset because of not being able to get their game through gamestop and having to wait at least until the producers removed the coupons from the copies going to Gamestop.

Of course the simple fact that returing the merchandise would cost Gamestop money and lost sales would be a big deal, and of course Gamestop would probably wind up in court against Square-Enix to recoup the lost business, and it would be a bigger deal all around, and probably wind up pissing off the customers even more.

In a situation like this there is no ideal way to handle the situation. In the position of Gamestop I probably would have done something very similar.

All told the situation is a mess all around, and truthfully I think Square Enix is the company that really needs the solid kick in the teeth here for creating the entire problem. This just wasn't a cool thing to do.

Corporate espionage? Really?.....no.....This is advertising and Square is well within their rights to offer advertising inside their packaging. They did not advertise on the box that the customer would get a free copy from OnLive and for THAT Gamestop should be thankful. Then I could see them not selling it. Or, as I said earlier having the OnLive advertisements in the openning credits or sporadically in the game itself. It is no more "espionage" than Burnout Paradise having it's billboards for Best Buy and Curcuit City...BOTH major competitors in game at ALL times.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Good thing they'll be going bankrupt soon enough with the prevalence of online game sales.

 

[zehydra]

They're gonna get sued.

 

[FreakSheet]

UPDATE:

GameStop is now pulling all PC copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution (aside: so what is that, 2?) and returning them to Square Enix

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/24/gamestop-pulls-deus-ex-human-revolution-pc-versions-from-shelve/

 

[Therumancer]

[
Corporate espionage? Really?.....no.....This is advertising and Square is well within their rights to offer advertising inside their packaging. They did not advertise on the box that the customer would get a free copy from OnLive and for THAT Gamestop should be thankful. Then I could see them not selling it. Or, as I said earlier having the OnLive advertisements in the openning credits or sporadically in the game itself. It is no more "espionage" than Burnout Paradise having it's billboards for Best Buy and Curcuit City...BOTH major competitors in game at ALL times.

It's quite differant because the billboards in the games were open to any bidder, it's just selling advertising space.

What they are doing is more akin to a business trying to poach customers from another business. Sort of like how if you run a store, and someone comes into your store from a competitor and starts handing out advertisements to your customers to tell them to go
accross town and get a better deal.

This becomes corperate espionage because in this case it's not that overt, it's a sabotage intent being conducted under the table. What's more it's being perpetuated through a third party that is acting under the pretensions of neutrality, and also not telling the party about to be victimized what is going on.

See, if I post publically that someone purchising my product can buy advertising space, that's one thing as long as I don't discriminate. On the other hand when I get in bed with another business directly and cut a deal like this with them... well, that's differant.

You'd feel a lot differant about it if you were a business owner and the people you buy from started promoting the business accross town.

Basically what happened was Onlive got in bed with Square Enix and they figured they could pull this off on Gamestop. They wound up getting caught.

 

[FreakSheet]

OT: I would of been pissed had I pre-ordered Deus Ex and not been given what is essentially what I am paying for, granted, it is free, and for the PC [which mine couldn't ever hope to play], but still.

It was in the package that I purchased, I would have a right to have a code to redeemed for a free copy.

Even if it IS on Origin or not.

Actually, if how I understand OnLive is correct, as long as you have a good internet connection (and capable monitor) you can run games at max settings as they are doing all the processor calculations for you, thus meaning even a shit PC can run Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

 

[Sabrestar]

I think a bigger problem than anything else is that it sounds like this was done covertly without mentioning it. If they had a sign/disclaimer/something explaining the situation, then yeah, that's just dirty but probably okay. But quietly altering the product and hoping no one notices, that's borderline tampering.

I'm happy (usually) to buy some things from Gamestop when they're the best option (such as older GBA or DS games that my local indie store doesn't have) and I had no interest in this game, but I think I need to think very carefully about any further business with a company that seems to want to tamper with its products.

EDIT: I don't care about the legality of the SE/Onlive deal. If GS has an issue with that, then there are avenues to pursue that, be it refusing to sell the game (which seems to be happening), filing a lawsuit against them, and/or basically trying to get the first PR stone thrown. Turn it into "they're trying to force us to support a competitor!" The reaction could well be different if they promoted their position properly. But if GS feels that they have been wronged (and they may have a point), this sort of covert maybe-tampering is about the worst possible way to go about it.

Two wrongs DO NOT make a right and the ends DO NOT justify the means. And yes, that means I will also think very carefully about any further business with Square Enix as well.

 

[FunKing]

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

you know whats greasy?.....those Gamestop fucks....i hate them w/ every inch of my soul

 

[Dragonclaw]

[
Corporate espionage? Really?.....no.....This is advertising and Square is well within their rights to offer advertising inside their packaging. They did not advertise on the box that the customer would get a free copy from OnLive and for THAT Gamestop should be thankful. Then I could see them not selling it. Or, as I said earlier having the OnLive advertisements in the openning credits or sporadically in the game itself. It is no more "espionage" than Burnout Paradise having it's billboards for Best Buy and Curcuit City...BOTH major competitors in game at ALL times.

It's quite differant because the billboards in the games were open to any bidder, it's just selling advertising space.

What they are doing is more akin to a business trying to poach customers from another business. Sort of like how if you run a store, and someone comes into your store from a competitor and starts handing out advertisements to your customers to tell them to go
accross town and get a better deal.

This becomes corperate espionage because in this case it's not that overt, it's a sabotage intent being conducted under the table. What's more it's being perpetuated through a third party that is acting under the pretensions of neutrality, and also not telling the party about to be victimized what is going on.

See, if I post publically that someone purchising my product can buy advertising space, that's one thing as long as I don't discriminate. On the other hand when I get in bed with another business directly and cut a deal like this with them... well, that's differant.

You'd feel a lot differant about it if you were a business owner and the people you buy from started promoting the business accross town.

Basically what happened was Onlive got in bed with Square Enix and they figured they could pull this off on Gamestop. They wound up getting caught.

I own a business and deal with a simillar situation every day...In many comic books there are not only ads for competing mega-stores but also many online services looking to cut retail out altogether...however you don't see me ripping out those pages of advertising...after all the main story would be unaffected and you'd still be getting the full story you paid for...just without the ads for my competition. My customers would be furious, and rightfully so.