Gamestop removed OnLive vouchers from Deus EX: HR; Now Pulling Game From Shelves

[quote name='Spyder187']Gotta love these "OMGGAMESTOPSUXBALLSFORXREASON" threads. Pretty much the same 15-20 trolls bitching about the same shit, regardless of the thread topic starter. Any GS thread is just trollfood these days.[/QUOTE]

This is the first time I have openly criticized GameStop for their actions. You don't see anything wrong with this situation?
 
[quote name='Yanksfan']Or just have come to the realization that it is an unnecessary way to criticize something or someone. It does nothing but undercut any statement you may be trying to make.[/QUOTE]

says the guy with a bat going into a hat

;)
 
this is crossing the line. I mean seriously, gamestop, once a game is opened it is used. I understand that you gut games in the past, but opening a game and then stealing a code is just ridiculous. It shouldn't matter if the code is from a competitor or not, it isn't your right to open up a game and take a code out of it. That should be up to the consumer. I wasn't planning on buying Deus Ex right now, but this is seriously ridiculous...
 
I'd love to see them actually attempt this with EA if they offered an Origin voucher. Of course Gamestop wouldn't even dare.
 
Here's what bothers me....they argue that this is just one copy or whatever being used by employees. I've bought 3 games from Gamestop in maybe the last 4 years. All 3 just happened to be ones that were "display" copies that they did that little resealing nonsense and then sold new. Needless to say, I won't ever be shopping at Gamestop regardless of the deal. It's a scam.
 
[quote name='Survivalism']I want most of you to take a step back and realize that you're ripping into Gamestop because they don't want to promote a competitor, and think about how that could possibly offend you in any way. As I said in another thread, that's like being mad at Wendy's because they won't sell you a Whopper. Really? Really? Is it really an issue? Or is the Blind Gamestop Hate Expresswagon just driving by again?[/QUOTE]

That's not the problem. The problem is, rather than handling Gamestop's own gripe at their own expense, pulling all PC copies of Deus Ex, and scheduling a recall with Square-Enix, Gamestop instead decided to make it the problem of their customers, rather than take responsibility and handle it, themselves, and that is unethical and very poor business practice.

Reputable businesses always put the customer first, whereas awful businesses like Gamestop are very content with passing the problem/inconvenience to their customers, instead.
 
[quote name='mcthatch']Here's what bothers me....they argue that this is just one copy or whatever being used by employees. I've bought 3 games from Gamestop in maybe the last 4 years. All 3 just happened to be ones that were "display" copies that they did that little resealing nonsense and then sold new. Needless to say, I won't ever be shopping at Gamestop regardless of the deal. It's a scam.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, they've tried to sell me gutted copies that were the "display copy" even though they never actually went to the display to grab the case because they had multiple copies of the same title all gutted!
 
[quote name='shaniqua1990']why would they get sued for selling a different product from their competitors? :roll:
I don't think they're advertising that their copies come with the OnLive coupons.


Are you serious? They paid for their merchandise. They can burn it in a fire if they want to. They can take the game out and sell the boxes only if they wanted to.

They bought the stock, they can do whatever they want to it, they can sell it however they see fit. The only thing they can't do is claim there's codes in there when they removed it. There is nothing immoral about doing whatever you want to your own property. THEY OWN IT. If you don't like what they've done it to it, you can decide to NOT purchase it. They are not obligated under any moral grounds to sell a product YOU want.[/QUOTE]

Welcome newb. Guess your title fits because you obviously do not read entire threads before replying to specific quotes you disagree with. Regardless if the Onlive was mentioned at full purchase or pre-order Gamestop raped the packaging and stole from every consumer. Because Gamestop's retarded execs aren't keeping up with publishers and their promos they end up with copies promoting a competitor's service. There is nothing that makes gamestop look good here. You can't give them Kudos for recalling the item after they robbed the consumer, that is standard business practice.


[quote name='shaniqua1990']They are opening THEIR OWN game cases. YOU don't own it. You can decide to purchase it or not. YOU don't own it. They are selling Deux Ex without onlive codes. Don't like it? Don't buy it.

They can charge whatever price they want. They can charge you 10$ or 100$. They own it, its their stock .They choose what they want to sell it at. You don't like the price they're charging for their modified version of the game? don't buy it.[/QUOTE]


After my original post above ^^ I continue reading and find more bullshit pertruding from your mouth/fingertips. The issue is not our choice "The Gamer" of buying or not buying you idiot. It is about Gamestop stealing a code that is part of the package, not informing you and then saying my bad you can return your incomplete copy. Please join us on topic because your going on tangent's that are annoying.

[quote name='xilly']So, how long have you been employed by Gamestop?[/QUOTE]

Love this question posed to shaniqua1990. She almost comes off like an employee. We all know we have the right to choose what we buy, but Gamestop did not provide that shaniqua1990. If so please give us full details, photos, and videos of the transaction of a Gamestop Employee informing the customer that they were purchasing an incomplete item at full MSRP. You won't and can't find this. Though some employees have mentioned here they wouldn't sell w/o the code there is no story of an employee actually being honest during a sales transaction.
 
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Here's what should have happened when GameStop discovered the Onlive coupon problem:

1) Sell initial supply of Deus Ex (PC) to satisfy pre-orders and new release week shoppers.
2) Complain to Square Enix and ask to exchange for boxed copies without the coupon present.
3) Send a memo to Publishers saying, in the future, you won't accept coupons that promote GameStop competitors.

Problem solved in 3 easy steps. How many boxed copies of Deus Ex is GameStop going to sell in a week? Not enough to justify a PR shitstorm, that's for sure. If 100,000 people (a number I pulled out of my ass) got their hands on an Onlive coupon from GameStop, would that really be so horrible?
 
So, the real issue is, who is going dumpster diving tonight?

Gamestop is dying anyway. The next consoles will probably start the trend to digital only, and it scares the flying dunkin donuts out of them. I'll be interested to see how Square responds
 
Well, as this is in the deal forum, and I like a deal as well as having more contempt for such business practices.... if I order the pc augmented edition, will it come with the onlive code? I saw all standard editions have the code, but I'd rather get the augmented, as well as the code. :D

I assume someone here has the DEHRAE, and I would thank you greatly if you could say, as my laptop is useless for games, and my computer is dead, so onlive would be pretty useful. Thanks.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Here's what should have happened when GameStop discovered the Onlive coupon problem:

1) Sell initial supply of Deus Ex (PC) to satisfy pre-orders and new release week shoppers.
2) Complain to Square Enix and ask to exchange for boxed copies without the coupon present.
3) Send a memo to Publishers saying, in the future, you won't accept coupons that promote GameStop competitors.

Problem solved in 3 easy steps. How many boxed copies of Deus Ex is GameStop going to sell in a week? Not enough to justify a PR shitstorm, that's for sure. If 100,000 people (a number I pulled out of my ass) got their hands on an Onlive coupon from GameStop, would that really be so horrible?[/QUOTE]


Completely agree. But this will have a Streisand Effect, so... I suppose karma's a bitch.

Thing is, is Gamestop selling games that use Steamworks? Because there's a competitor to one of their businesses and they don't seem to stop selling that on the basis of the game pushing a rival service...

It just seems to me this is a particular case of OnLive because the online streaming gaming market is so small they don't want to build ANY kind of momentum for their competitor before they can get their service up and running.

I think the best thing in the world for OnLive to do is to develop a way for gamers to use their regular keys to activate OnLive without a special key. That way, they can offer gamers a way to try their service risk-free and then, when they find they like it, they can keep going back to OnLive for the option to play their games on their HDTV, their iPad, or their laptop. If they can work out a way to make OnLive work well with an iPad, for example, imagine playing Deus Ex Human Revolution on your iPad. Imagine having your save game follow you when you jump into your iPad, then jump to your (let's imagine) AppleTV (or HDTV) version, then you're in work and you're bored, you pull up your laptop version. Same save. Same game. Different devices, same game, same save.

You can imagine that working out well for a lot of people in a lot of situations. Sure, it's not going to work perfectly for everyone, but it might well be enough to build up a Netflix-like niche base that builds up. The best way to do that is on the back of conventional sales, just like Netflix did with its DVD rental as a way to get people to HAVE and eventually USE the streaming option.

If you're OnLive, the best thing in the world is to "give away" your service as a secondary way to play games people are already buying, then offer the same games for cheaper on the side on your site. Eventually, people will go, "Hey, I'm always playing the OnLive copy anyway because I use my Macbook Air to game and I don't like the frame rates I get otherwise... hey, it's cheaper... hey, I'll just get the OnLive version."

It all makes sense. Especially on highly anticipated titles that can have potentially high system requirements and are seriously single player like Deus Ex, Batman: AC, AC:R, Rage or Skyrim. Not so much for multiplayer but if you price a game with SP that has significant MP (like BF:BC2 or MW3) so that you're essentially just paying for the SP, then you could snag those customers that don't even CARE about the MP (like me).

The thing is you can't have it be a one-off. You got to do it on a massive scale. Get publisher support on a lot of titles, make it synonymous with one brand that they give you that streaming option on top of regular sales so much that customers expect it.

But see, Gamestop knows all this and they can't have OnLive making inroads just as they're about to get their crap together. The OnLive market penetration is quite low and even a 100k would be a big jump for them. So they're going to shoot themselves in the foot in stark terror at the very possibility of OnLive using their stores as the way in.

All that said, I think Gamestop should have demanded a SKU that didn't have the OnLive coupon while selling what they had in stock. Only a store that thinks it owns the market could actually believe opening all its stock and stripping out the coupon was the way to go. For far too long, they've gotten away with opening "new" games and selling what is no longer new as new simply because they "assure" you it's not been played.
 
[quote name='AgentW']Well, as this is in the deal forum, and I like a deal as well as having more contempt for such business practices.... if I order the pc augmented edition, will it come with the onlive code? I saw all standard editions have the code, but I'd rather get the augmented, as well as the code. :D

I assume someone here has the DEHRAE, and I would thank you greatly if you could say, as my laptop is useless for games, and my computer is dead, so onlive would be pretty useful. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

People are saying the Augmented Edition does not come with the voucher.
 
I can't believe how many people don't understand why gamestop is doing this. They are releasing a competitor service. Think of it this way what if when you bought your copy of Madden next week at Best Buy you opened it up and it had a voucher that is only good at Wal-Mart to get $20 off NCAA Football 12. Would Best Buy be in the wrong for pulling it or removing the coupons?
 
[quote name='Yanksfan']Or just have come to the realization that it is an unnecessary way to criticize something or someone. It does nothing but undercut any statement you may be trying to make.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I don't care if you're a Nobel laureate, as soon as you play the "gay = stupid" card, you come off as a chubby 12-year-old who's never left his hometown.
 
I dont have a problem with GS doing this, but I think it would have been better if they left them in, just so people could see how bad the OnLive service is.
 
[quote name='shaniqua1990']
Are you serious? They paid for their merchandise. They can burn it in a fire if they want to. They can take the game out and sell the boxes only if they wanted to.

They bought the stock, they can do whatever they want to it, they can sell it however they see fit.[/QUOTE]

Completely and utterly false. If you buy at wholesale prices you are obligated to offer the merchandise for sale at retail. You have an agreement with the manufacturer and/or distributor spelling out exactly what you can or cannot do. Most of what you mentioned falls into the "cannot" category.
 
[quote name='morpheusx']I can't believe how many people don't understand why gamestop is doing this. They are releasing a competitor service. Think of it this way what if when you bought your copy of Madden next week at Best Buy you opened it up and it had a voucher that is only good at Wal-Mart to get $20 off NCAA Football 12. Would Best Buy be in the wrong for pulling it or removing the coupons?[/QUOTE]
If they sold it as new without any kind of discount and without telling you they took out the coupon then ya. Best Buy would be in the wrong. Just like gamestop is.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Here's what should have happened when GameStop discovered the Onlive coupon problem:

1) Sell initial supply of Deus Ex (PC) to satisfy pre-orders and new release week shoppers.
2) Complain to Square Enix and ask to exchange for boxed copies without the coupon present.
3) Send a memo to Publishers saying, in the future, you won't accept coupons that promote GameStop competitors.

Problem solved in 3 easy steps. How many boxed copies of Deus Ex is GameStop going to sell in a week? Not enough to justify a PR shitstorm, that's for sure. If 100,000 people (a number I pulled out of my ass) got their hands on an Onlive coupon from GameStop, would that really be so horrible?[/QUOTE]
That, or this:

UPDATE: Square Enix has issued an official statement regarding today's events, basically apologizing to GameStop for not informing the retailer about the coupon in advance of the game's release.

“As part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s boxed offering on PC, Square Enix included a third party coupon," said the company 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 4000 GameStop stores in North America," continued the statement, "or purchase a digital download copy online from www.gamestop.com. “
It's not GameStop's fault that Square Enix got shot on their hunting trip.
 
If anyone has one of these Onlive things and isnt interested shoot me a PM, maybe i could send u a couple bucks this friday on paypal for it.
 
Wow. This quote kills me: "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 4000 GameStop stores in North America," continued the statement, "or purchase a digital download copy online from www.gamestop.com. “

Translated: Anyone who wants to support GameStop being a piece of shit and destroy OnLive, feel free to buy the reshipped version without any added value.
 
[quote name='Ozonekill']The ps3 version of Portal 2 came with a steam copy. Did they send those back to valve?[/QUOTE]

It's a chain. Gamestop sucks Valve's dick, and SquareEnix sucks Gamestop's dick. It's a corporate circlejerk!
 
Square Enix is off my list of "to buy" now. They had the opportunity to make an example of Gamestop to the masses, and they caved. I still hope they get class-actioned for tampering, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and anti-competitive practices.

But, unfortunately, the judicial system is just as dirty as Gamestop. If anything comes of this, it'll probably be a fine, and the small group of affected gamers getting a check for less than what the removed coupon was worth.

I will personally drive to my mall and laugh at the people in my Gamestop every day of their liquidation sale when digital distribution finally puts them out of business. I won't laugh because the poor saps working there won't have a job soon, I'll laugh because they were stupid enough to stay with a corrupt company in the first place.
 
[quote name='preston181']Square Enix is off my list of "to buy" now. They had the opportunity to make an example of Gamestop to the masses, and they caved. I still hope they get class-actioned for tampering, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and anti-competitive practices.

But, unfortunately, the judicial system is just as dirty as Gamestop. If anything comes of this, it'll probably be a fine, and the small group of affected gamers getting a check for less than what the removed coupon was worth.

I will personally drive to my mall and laugh at the people in my Gamestop every day of their liquidation sale when digital distribution finally puts them out of business. I won't laugh because the poor saps working there won't have a job soon, I'll laugh because they were stupid enough to stay with a corrupt company in the first place.[/QUOTE]

Gamestop been doing well for years and not going out of business anytime soon. They will still get many parents and young children to buy/trade games there.
 
Indefensible.

Gamestop is garbage.

Squeenix, as if I couldn't lose any more respect for them, they find a way. What a miracle.
 
[quote name='BobbyTastic']Wow. This quote kills me: "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 4000 GameStop stores in North America," continued the statement, "or purchase a digital download copy online from www.gamestop.com. “

Translated: Anyone who wants to support GameStop being a piece of shit and destroy OnLive, feel free to buy the reshipped version without any added value.[/QUOTE]

:rofl:No kidding. I can't believe the people harping on SE after that. It's clearly the corporately correct way of saying: Go to GameStop to screw yourself.

THAT's the correct type of response a business should have.
 
[quote name='The Punisher']Gamestop been doing well for years and not going out of business anytime soon. They will still get many parents and young children to buy/trade games there.[/QUOTE]

I did say "when". It won't be soon enough, but it will eventually happen.

A lot of people thought Blockbuster was the king of movie rental places, and look what Netflix has done to them. (Personally, I thought blockbuster and their sleazy and deceptive late fees could go die in a fire).

The crappy economy and our country being behind in broadband, coupled with the ISPs "conveniently" capping bandwidth usage as the speeds and availability increase, are the reasons that digital game distribution hasn't taken over yet. Give broadband speeds and prices comparable to what they have in South Korea or Japan, (1 gigabit for about $35 a month), to the people here, and make it available to the people in "the sticks", and watch how fast the physical format takes a nosedive.

The only other factor would be the DRM. I think the Steam model (play from any computer, redownloadability, and killer sales), will eventually win out. Anyone calling themselves a CAG would have to agree that PSN and Xbox Live's "sales" are somewhat of a joke compared to Steam's sales.

Gamestop's days are limited. It may take another 5 years, but digital distribution and iPod "social gaming" will kill them.
 
while this was a dick move on gamestops part, do people really want digital distribution to take over? You know how much competition, therefore less sales there would be, and the fact that everything that you bought could be wiped out with one false move?
 
[quote name='preston181']Square Enix is off my list of "to buy" now. They had the opportunity to make an example of Gamestop to the masses, and they caved. [/QUOTE]

[quote name='Newl']
Squeenix, as if I couldn't lose any more respect for them, they find a way. What a miracle.[/QUOTE]

What? I thought SE was being really humble by apologizing for their mistake, unlike Gamestop. What else could they have done to make Gamestop seem lower than they already are?
 
[quote name='Proudgamer']while this was a dick move on gamestops part, do people really want digital distribution to take over? You know how much competition, therefore less sales there would be, and the fact that everything that you bought could be wiped out with one false move?[/QUOTE]

Like it or not we are only 2 or 3 generations from going full digital.
 
LOL at people hating on S-E's response. It was basically a PR version of a FU to Gamestop. They told people to go there if they didn't want free stuff.

What else did you want them to do?
 
Thanks for sticking up for your customers/fans/community Eidos.
Like the sales would take a hit if gamestop didn't stock the game. Every gamestop location is like 100ft from a Wal-mart anyway.
 
[quote name='Proudgamer']while this was a dick move on gamestops part, do people really want digital distribution to take over? You know how much competition, therefore less sales there would be, and the fact that everything that you bought could be wiped out with one false move?[/QUOTE]

Digital distribution also means you can't sell/trade the game once you're done with it.
 
[quote name='crazydom2']LOL at people hating on S-E's response. It was basically a PR version of a FU to Gamestop. They told people to go there if they didn't want free stuff.

What else did you want them to do?[/QUOTE]

I didn't read it as such.

I read it as "they can do whatever they want with the contents of the games they sell, they were right, and we messed up by not telling them we put the coupon in there".

Now, had they said "In light of this unprofessional and anticompetitive action by Gamestop, we will be suspending all PC game sales at their stores, pending litigation to the fullest extent of the law. We sincerely apologize for this embarrassing slap in the consumer's face", things may have been a heck of a lot different.

Instead, they basically said "we're redoing the packaging sans coupon, go give these greedy a$$holes your money once the "new" repackaged at the factory games arrive"

Screw Square Enix.
 
[quote name='preston181']I didn't read it as such.

I read it as "they can do whatever they want with the contents of the games they sell, they were right, and we messed up by not telling them we put the coupon in there".

Now, had they said "In light of this unprofessional and anticompetitive action by Gamestop, we will be suspending all PC game sales at their stores, pending litigation to the fullest extent of the law. We sincerely apologize for this embarrassing slap in the consumer's face", things may have been a heck of a lot different.

Instead, they basically said "we're redoing the packaging sans coupon, go give these greedy a$$holes your money once the "new" repackaged at the factory games arrive"

Screw Square Enix.[/QUOTE]

And gamestop could stop carry Square Enix game, which will hurt their sales. This has gone all over the net so that anyone who wants a copy of w/ the code know where to look anyway.
 
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