In the world of Deus Ex it’s the pro-augmentation crowd versus the precious bodily fluids-ish “purists” that would like to leave well enough alone. A similar battle is happening between online and retail game distribution, and GameStop is exactly in the thick of things. The retailer just got caught red-handed issuing orders to its employees to remove coupons for the OnLive version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution from brand new PC copies of the game.
GameStop removing OnLive coupons from PC copies of Deus Ex
Remember those free OnLive coupons included in copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the PC? GameStop intends to open brand-new copies of the game and get rid of them before selling the game at retail.
Remember those free OnLive coupons included in copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the PC? GameStop intends to open brand-new copies of the game and get rid of them before selling the game at retail.
is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
According to a GameStop representative, speaking to GameSpy, “Square Enix packed the competitor’s coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull and discard these coupons.” This makes a bit of sense -- GameStop has its own online distribution platform (Impulse, bought earlier this year), and it has balked at tie-ins with Steam in the past. Still, tons of titles have Xbox Live Arcade “coupons” that go along with the game... isn’t that a “competitor” as well in this sense? Besides, the model of buying a physical copy of a game and getting the OnLive version for free reminds us of a similar model that’s working surprisingly well for vinyl of late.
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