Gamestop is damaging its relationship with developer Square Enix, as well as damaging faith in their company with this huge backlash. This all revolves around Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
Square Enix forgot to inform GameStop that they would have a coupon for OnLive. Onlive is a competitor to Gamestop’s Impulse distribution service. In retaliation, Gamestop is having its employees forcibly remove the coupons from copies of the new Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
This story was originally broken by GameSpy, and it appears to be just what it says. On the one hand, this is a major and very stupid oversight by Square Enix. If it turns out to be true that they did not inform Gamestop then they are in trouble. The digital distribution wars are in full swing, and this fighting over games is to be expected.
What makes the situation even more complicated is that Gamestop also owns Spawn Labs. This means that this is a double conflict of interest for the involved companies. But that isn’t where the problem ends. Gamestop’s reprisal has made it even more complicated.
The first and most serious issue is the fact that these new copies are going to come opened. This doesn’t really bother Gamestop, as they have had a policy of allowing their employees to open games then sell them as new for a while. Still though, it is quite bothersome to see this disregard for the customer.
The other larger issue is that Square Enix may have legal recourse on the issue of their product being tampered with, and Gamestop may be able to counter-sue them for not informing them of the full terms of the agreement. Both sides are in the wrong here. This could lead to a rather massive and unfortunate legal battle between Gamestop and Square Enix. It is a shame to see this happening around such a great game.
You never asked for this, and you will not be getting it.
