GameStop buys Impulse

GiantBomb is reporting this latest Gamestop corporate gem. A leaked memo from a GS field operations manager:

IMAGE(http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/39/1868929-deus_ex_letter_4e552a1_intro.jpg)

Section 1 instructs GS employees to open up the PC version of Deus Ex: HR, and remove the OnLive coupon and "discard" it. Aside from their typical despicable practice of opening packages, now they are removing competitor's ads/coupons. I'm sure OnLive paid the publisher money to have that coupon included in the box.

Lovely. You stay classy, Gamestop.

I'm going to be so mad when they are inevitably not taken to court for that.

It amazes me how many people still voluntarily give that scumbag company their money.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

It amazes me how many people still voluntarily give that scumbag company their money.

Exactly! I just don't get it. Well, I guess I get clueless housewives who have a nagging teenager who wants the latest call of duty so he can go 'pwn all the noobtards', and this woman has no concept of online purchasing or that you can buy video games at places other than video game stores, but for seasoned gamers to buy there ... that I just don't get. They are reprehensible, IMO. This is just more proof.

This is the kind of shady gross attitude that makes me have little to zero confidence that Gamestop has any capability of being a reliable service for PC gamers.

By the logic of not supporting another competing service, this is completely stupid. After all, Deux Ex is a Steamworks game, and you just put the code into Steam to get access through the ultimate PC competition.

I never buy there new, but will go there for used when they have buy 2 get 1 or some sweet promotion.

This, however, is incredibly despicable. I hope there is a legal action.

For Canadians who for some reason want this in a box, I got my copy from Future Shop (a Best Buy company). I got the box because I pre-ordered it for $34 during a crazy E3 promotion. Box came sealed with the OnLive code in it. Funny how Best Buy doesn't seem to care.

SallyNasty wrote:

I never buy there new, but will go there for used when they have buy 2 get 1 or some sweet promotion.

That's about the best situation for them though.

Jeff-66 wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

It amazes me how many people still voluntarily give that scumbag company their money.

Exactly! I just don't get it. Well, I guess I get clueless housewives who have a nagging teenager who wants the latest call of duty so he can go 'pwn all the noobtards', and this woman has no concept of online purchasing or that you can buy video games at places other than video game stores, but for seasoned gamers to buy there ... that I just don't get. They are reprehensible, IMO. This is just more proof.

I buy where it is most convenient for me. The moment they do something that affects me, I'll buy somewhere else. I bought DXHR at Target because it was pen two hours earlier. That was the only reason.

That said, I cannot see why a PC gamer would even consider Gamestop. They are less committed to PC games than a grocery store is to selling books and magazines.

Ars is reporting it as well. They have a quote from a GameStop spokesperson who says...

GameStop spokesperson Beth Sharum confirmed the practice, telling Ars that "Square Enix packed the competitor’s coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons."
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

For Canadians who for some reason want this in a box, I got my copy from Future Shop (a Best Buy company). I got the box because I pre-ordered it for $34 during a crazy E3 promotion. Box came sealed with the OnLive code in it. Funny how Best Buy doesn't seem to care.

Do we even have Gamestops up here?

LiquidMantis wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

I never buy there new, but will go there for used when they have buy 2 get 1 or some sweet promotion.

That's about the best situation for them though.

Yep, and this is primarily the reason they dumped PC games. They made shelf space for used console games, which they buy at like 5 or 10% cost, and resell at 85 to 90% cost. Huge markups.

Jayhawker wrote:

That said, I cannot see why a PC gamer would even consider Gamestop. They are less committed to PC games than a grocery store is to selling books and magazines.

They've shown nothing but contempt for PC gamers for the last 10-12 years. Back in the EB days, hell you had a return policy on PC games. Now Gamestop completely ignores PC games, unless it's a mega-seller (you can bet they'll carry Diablo 3 and have a midnight opening gala event for it), and then they open boxes and sell them as new.

I do stop in to a Gamestop every once in a while to play with new consoles, but that's about it.

tanstaafl wrote:

Ars is reporting it as well. They have a quote from a GameStop spokesperson who says...

GameStop spokesperson Beth Sharum confirmed the practice, telling Ars that "Square Enix packed the competitor’s coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons."

"our DXHR product"

WTF? their product? I didn't realize Gamestop developed and/or published DXHR. Good for them for branching out.

And like Mannishboy said, did they forget this was a steamworks game?

They should have said "employees: please remove the game disc and steam code and discard it. We do not wish for our customers to see this product"

tanstaafl wrote:

Ars is reporting it as well. They have a quote from a GameStop spokesperson who says...

GameStop spokesperson Beth Sharum confirmed the practice, telling Ars that "Square Enix packed the competitor’s coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons."

Without our knowledge... as if you're the only store selling the game. Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Amazon, etc. aren't doing anything like this. The publisher made a deal that has nothing to do with Gamestop, but they're sticking their noses in it. Jeez.

LiquidMantis wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

I never buy there new, but will go there for used when they have buy 2 get 1 or some sweet promotion.

That's about the best situation for them though.

I get what you are saying, but that is about the best situation for me as well:)

I do buy 90% of games new - the only ones I buy used are cheapo games just for achievements.

Vector wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

For Canadians who for some reason want this in a box, I got my copy from Future Shop (a Best Buy company). I got the box because I pre-ordered it for $34 during a crazy E3 promotion. Box came sealed with the OnLive code in it. Funny how Best Buy doesn't seem to care.

Do we even have Gamestops up here?

We have EB Games, which is the same thing.

muttonchop wrote:
Vector wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

For Canadians who for some reason want this in a box, I got my copy from Future Shop (a Best Buy company). I got the box because I pre-ordered it for $34 during a crazy E3 promotion. Box came sealed with the OnLive code in it. Funny how Best Buy doesn't seem to care.

Do we even have Gamestops up here?

We have EB Games, which is the same thing.

Literally, since Gamestop bought EB a few years back.

SallyNasty wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

I never buy there new, but will go there for used when they have buy 2 get 1 or some sweet promotion.

That's about the best situation for them though.

I get what you are saying, but that is about the best situation for me as well:)

I do buy 90% of games new - the only ones I buy used are cheapo games just for achievements.

GameFly and Goozex are your friends.

Garden Ninja wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

I never buy there new, but will go there for used when they have buy 2 get 1 or some sweet promotion.

That's about the best situation for them though.

I get what you are saying, but that is about the best situation for me as well:)

I do buy 90% of games new - the only ones I buy used are cheapo games just for achievements.

GameFly and Goozex are your friends.

I keep thinking about getting Gamefly. Enable me?

Terrible decision by Gamestop's management. All they're doing is hurting their own customers.

I wonder if PSN hadn't been down if Gamestop would have yanked the Steam copies of Portal 2 that were bundled with the PS3 copies of Portal 2.

Here's their official statement:

Regarding the Deus Ex: Human Revolution OnLive Codes: We don’t make a habit of promoting competitive services without a formal partnership. Square Enix packed the competitor’s coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons. While the new products may be opened, we fully guarantee the condition of the discs to be new. If you find this to not be the case, please contact the store where the game was purchased and they will further assist.
Jeff-66 wrote:

"our DXHR product"

WTF? their product? I didn't realize Gamestop developed and/or published DXHR. Good for them for branching out.

By "our product" they mean "our things that we put on our shelves."

Hoo boy. That statement's gonna open up a sh*tstorm.

Tanglebones wrote:

Literally, since Gamestop bought EB a few years back.

Many of the new stores opening in Canada are being called GameStop (we have a couple here now) and yeah, EB Games are literally the exact same thing.

SallyNasty wrote:
Garden Ninja wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

I never buy there new, but will go there for used when they have buy 2 get 1 or some sweet promotion.

That's about the best situation for them though.

I get what you are saying, but that is about the best situation for me as well:)

I do buy 90% of games new - the only ones I buy used are cheapo games just for achievements.

GameFly and Goozex are your friends.

I keep thinking about getting Gamefly. Enable me?

Totally worth it for me. $17 a month, for 1 game at a time. Plans up to 4 at a time for $30 (I think). Typically 2 or 3 day shipping each direction, so if I return a game Monday, I usually have the next one by Friday. Though other people have had longer shipping times, probably depending on where they are, since GF only have 5 shipping centers. I'm near Philly and there is a shipping center in Pittsburgh, like 4 hours away. Besides potentially the actual shipping time (which doesn't affect me personally, but is a concern), the only problem I've had is games not being available, even when my Queue is full, so sometimes they take a few days to send out the next game which means I am without a GF game for over a week. This doesn't happen very often though, unless you only have new games in the Queue, so even with just the 2 game plan you should always have at least one out.

muttonchop wrote:
Vector wrote:
Parallax Abstraction wrote:

For Canadians who for some reason want this in a box, I got my copy from Future Shop (a Best Buy company). I got the box because I pre-ordered it for $34 during a crazy E3 promotion. Box came sealed with the OnLive code in it. Funny how Best Buy doesn't seem to care.

Do we even have Gamestops up here?

We have EB Games, which is the same thing.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

Literally, since Gamestop bought EB a few years back.

Many of the new stores opening in Canada are being called GameStop (we have a couple here now) and yeah, EB Games are literally the exact same thing.

Right. Forgot about them. I don't think I've been to an EB in a few years. Still haven't seen an actual Gamestop. I always pictured Gamestop similar to Best Buy in size.

There was an announcement made about the coupon... how do you remove it from the box when it's general knowledge ALL retail copies have it?

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3...

Raelic wrote:

There was an announcement made about the coupon... how do you remove it from the box when it's general knowledge ALL retail copies have it?

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3...

By it not being general knowledge. Most people don't read Gamasutra, especially the kind of people who would still buy a PC game from a brick and mortar store.

Tanglebones wrote:

Literally, since Gamestop bought EB a few years back.

Yeah that was back in 2005.