Yes, please do...
Living life in the Limelight is nothing new for GameStop, one of the only remaining, and fuctional, video game retailers in the US. GameStop has been a constant source of ire and joy for many fans of the video game industry. Whether you enjoy them for their eclectic collection of used video games, or dislike their practical abuse that very used video game concept; you probably know that when it comes to GameStop they really only look out for themselves. There have been several controversies surrounding the company and their definitions of used video games. One instance was their policy on allowing GameStop employees to check out merchandise for up to four days. Sounds great, who doesn’t want to rent a game or system for four day straight and for free! Well, not so fast. When the four days are up the item rented is simply repackaged and sold as if it was still factory sealed. Isn’t that great, knowing that you may have purchased a game in the past for full price that was not only opened, but played by another person? Well, it only gets wore from here on.
With the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution last Tuesday, GameStop has managed to once again be the center of controversy. Square Enix, the company behind the game, had included a bonus gift with every purchase of a physical copy of Deus Ex. Included with the game, was a code that could be used to play the game using the OnLive services for free, a $50 dollar value! Square Enix, a partner with OnLive, saw this as an opportunity to not only make their customers happy, but allow them to test the new cloud gaming format in hopes of spreading the word. A great deal for everyone involved, right?
Well, according to GameStop, someone forgot to inform them of this fact.
So, in traditional GameStop fashion, their response was to open up every single copy of the brand new Deus Ex game, and remove the coupons. Afterward, they sealed up the now morally tainted copies and simply planned to sell them to unsuspecting customers at full price. Fortunately for us, a leaked copy of the mandate released by GameStop made its way around the internet, causing a backlash of negative press. GameStop’s immediate response to leak was, “We don’t make a habit of promoting competitive services without a formal partnership.” What’s wrong with this picture is not that GameStop would open up new merchandise to remove a competitor’s promotion, but that they would do so with the intention of never informing their customers. It’s a shady practice, and one that should not be forgotten easily. There may be no legal issue’s here, as the packaging never mentions the OnLive coupon; however, there is an ethical business issue present that should be addressed by the company.
Since the backlash occurred, GameStop has already attempted to make up for their momentary lapse in business ethics. The following day GameStop promised anyone who purchased the physical copy at one of their stores would receive a $50 GameStop gift card. A fair trade in terms of reimbursing the coupon that was removed. However, it still doesn’t make up for the fact that GameStop was specifically trying to go behind their customers backs, and remove something from a product they were purchasing, all the while charging factory sealed price. When this didn’t prove to be enough, GameStop decided to pull all copies of Deus Ex and return them to Square Enix for new copies that no longer carried the coupon. I’d like to think we, the gaming community, will hold onto this experience and attempt to change the way GameStop deals with its customers…but chance are that just won’t happen. Regardless, I think it goes without saying, “You dun goofed Gamestop. You dun goofed.”
Stupid GameStop and their shady ways. I have heard that some GameStop retailers chose not to remove the coupons because they aren’t shady motherf$@kers though so maybe there is hope after all.
Yeah, some customers did report that the coupon was still inside the box when they purchased it. It’s great to know that not everyone at GameStop has this terrible mentality, but it really is a lot like the empire. It may consist of a few good people, but the whole is just wrong.
This is waaay messed up. to be fair, one of my local gamestops always tells me if im getting the copy they play with.
Thank goodness. I’m actually friends with my local GameStop as well, they’re all swell guys, still I have major issues with their corporate policy.
Heh I never shop at Gamestop anyway.
I’m seriously considering discontinuing all future purchases.
I used to work there, and we did check out games, new, used, it didnt matter. I dont like shopping there anymore because the stores are full of dicks now and they dont know shit anymore.
How can they get away with selling an item as factory sealed when it’s been used! Err.
I was a manager for EB and then GameStop after the merger, for a total of seven years.
I was not a fan of the check-out policy. EB Games discontinued it after I began working for the company (to be frank, it’s difficult to manage well, and it’s a potential loss prevention issue), and I was not anxious to implement it in my store after the merger.
But I was told by my new regional director that I had to implement it in my store; if I didn’t, I’d be fired. I wasn’t allowed to restrict employee check-outs to used games, I wasn’t allowed to second guess the corporate policies or implement more restrictive policies in its place. GameStop prided itself on the check-out policy; they saw it as a benefit to the employees. Oddly, it’s about the only time GameStop thought about its employees. GameStop treats its employees like dirt. It’s an abusive company; it abuses its employees, it abuses its customers, and this Deus Ex situation is one of the few times GameStop’s been called out on its abuse.
As for “get[ting] away with” it, GameStop just doesn’t care. I never had an issue with customers complaining over gutted product; in seven years, I can only remember one customer getting outright pissy over buying a display product. The bleating on the internet over gutting just doesn’t register; the truth is, GameStop’s customers don’t care. As for customers complaining that gutted product might’ve been used by employees, if that happens, knowing GameStop, they’ll throw an individual store manager to the wolves and find a way to make the customer happy. (In my experience, that would mean buying a factory-sealed game at Best Buy or Target, removing the stickers, and letting the customer exchange his gutted game for that.) Internet complaints are nuisances at most to GameStop.
This is to Allyn, as it won’t let me directly respond to you.
It kills me to see that kind of stuff. To know just how callous and rude GameStop is really infuriates me. Ugh, I’m never shopping there again. It’s such BS, I think I’ll just save all my purchases for Amazon now.
yup, i go to only one gamestop and it’s cause i like the girl there and she knows me
this is pretty fucking shady though. i’d be super pissed if this was me.
I’m beyond flabbergasted by the ethics of GameStop,
Wow, this is something new to me- what dicks! I think I’ll just stick with the competetors now on…
Yes! Please do, it’s really the only way GameStop will change things.
It won’t change anything. GameStop will still have countless people shop there, regardless. I am a manager at GameStop and while mistakes are made, they are in the business of making money. Honestly, it’s the bottom line that counts to the corporate level of it.
On the store level, where we are, we just try our best to make sure the customers leave happy and have nothing but good things to say about us. We bend over backwards and in some cases violate our company policy in order to ensure the customer is happy. We hold midnight releases for the people here in hopes they have a good time purchasing their product.
Yes, the gutting games thing is stupid and technically “not a new game”. However, we have people who steal the gutted cases from the displays thinking there’s a game inside. I mean, it’s just common sense as an anti-theft measure. The “check out” policy is also somewhat screwy, and I don’t know about other GameStops, but I thoroughly inspect any new checked out game upon its return for any imperfection and if there is, believe me the employee has to buy it. The game is also left to be sold as a last resort. Much like the gutted copies. They are sold last.
In the case of this current Deus Ex crap. It was a mistake. Square-Enix even apologized to GameStop and everyone kissed and made up. In the end, they screwed up and did what they could to make it right. It doesn’t make what they did any less wrong, but we’re only human. We’re gonna fuck up here and there.
G, I’m sorry. It’s my fault you do midnight openings for World of WarCraft.
We’d done midnight openings for Halo 2 and, I think, Gran Turismo 4. Those were company-wide things. I had a lot of pre-orders on WoW (about 1 for every 4 Halo 2, actually; I was a strong PC store.), and since I had the product on hand, I decided to do a midnight opening.
And it was phenomenally successful. There were people who drove three hours, just so they could get WoW at midnight.
There were also stores that lost pre-orders because of this. I was open at midnight. They weren’t.
I think the company’s done midnight openings on WoW ever since.
My fault. Sorry.