Oh, GameStop.
In sum: The new PC game Deus Ex: Human Revolution comes with a coupon, worth $50, to download a copy of the same game from the new game streaming service OnLive. Except at GameStop, that is.

See, GameStop employees were instructed by corporate to open the packages, remove and discard the coupons, and re-seal them and sell them as new. They also apparently did not intend to tell their customers about this fact until many people took their games home and found no coupon. GameStop's higher-ups have admitted the truth of this and said it's because OnLive is a competitor, and they did not want to endorse the service without a formal partnership.


ETA: cmdr_zoom pointed out that there is some unfunny in the comments of the second Kotaku link; I didn't look at the ones on that particular article myself, so please tread carefully.


TechCrunch blog post

Kotaku blog post #1

GameStop Policy: Open Your Games, Steal Your Codes, Sell Game Like New

GameStop tells Gamespy.com that they have been removing the codes for free copies of the OnLive PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution from the new PC copies of the game they sell at their stores and selling the game, without the free bonus, as new.

The free Onlive copies were part of a deal that Square Enix and Onlive announced earlier this month, but GameStop officials tell Gamespy that they pulled and discarded the coupons because OnLive is a competitor.

Here's what the world's largest video game retailer had to say for themselves on their official Facebook page:

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 assis

Losing out on the OnLive coupon may not seem like a big deal when you've already purchased and paid for one copy of the game, but consider the precedent this particular instance is setting. Also consider that, without the coupon, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is $49.99 download at OnLive.

GameStop employees are opening new products and removing an element intended by the developers to be included in the purchasing price. Depending on the motivation behind this action, this could indicate a move in a negative direction for GameStop and other retailers, allowing them to remove other coupons and promotions from games in the future. At worst, it could lead to the removal of optional hardware from bundles so that the retailer can sell the components individually.

When considering possible motivations for removing the coupon, Gamespy reminded readers that GameStop obtained rights to it's own online gaming community, Impulse, which is also selling downloads of Deus Ex for $49.99.

If you've picked up a copy of DEHR from Gamestop, perhaps you could let us know if your OnLive copy had been removed.

Reached this afternoon, an OnLive spokesperson declined to comment for the story. GameStop hasn't responded to questions from us about whether they tell customers that the copies no longer contain the coupon, or what they are doing with the coupons once they are removed.

GameStop has responded by ordering stores to pull their remaining copies of the game pending a recall, in cooperation with SquareEnix.

ETA 2: GameStop is now trying to make up for their flub by (Joystiq link) offering people who purchased DeusEx a $50 gift card and a coupon to buy two used games and get one free if they bring in their receipt and a copy of an e-mail sent to shafted customers.