Interesting... wasn't that a thing back in the PSP days for marketing/review copy of games? Is that still a thing?
I feel like I used to see tons of hole-punched PSP games on eBay and stuff. Don't seem to see many for the Vita.
It's definitely still a thing, just not as common nowadays as it's a different time.
There's so many trade in options now in which hole punching the bar code doesn't really account for anymore.
Just because there's a hole punch in there, doesn't really guarantee it won't be sold or returned for a profit.
LRG is probably the only ones that are actively trying to prevent with listings on eBay for their titles that are like that, but there's only so much they can prevent, and prove to really stop it.
But yeah, it's still a thing, and it's actually been a thing even back then in the olden days. Didn't you ever get Sonic the Hedgehog cartridges that had "Not for Resale" labels on them? That was pretty much the solution back then. But instead of spending extra money to print a separate label, it's easier just to make a bunch of the same copies, and then hole punching the bar code. Times have changed, relatively speaking.
Certainly not as common as it used to be since most developers and publishers just say screw it, but it's still around. My brother in law is a reviewer, and gets boxes every year, and each year there are less, and less games that have hole punches in the UPC. Just too hard to really prevent people to resell this stuff in this age.
It still happens for Sony published games, although in the last few years I'd say that most other publishers don't even bother to bar code punch, at least based on the press copies I have received. LRG has been concerned about it because generally if their games are showing up on Ebay with a punchout, it means it came from a Sony employee as I don't think LRG generally punches their press copies. I wasn't aware LRG was selling punchouts as this is the first I have heard of someone getting one from anywhere other than Ebay.
Dang, you beat me to it while I was typing a wall of text. Curse you!
And yeah, I'm surprised they sent out that B&C copy to someone, but it was probably just the very last ones they had, and they figure the person who got it wouldn't complain anyways since it was a blind box. I mean, I certainly wouldn't have.
ups, so ideally you want less people. Just hiring 5 translators to bang out your text does get it done fast, but then you have to sort those 5 different styles into a single game. It’s not pretty. Less is more here and throwing more people at it tends to make it worse.
