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GameStop Pulling Deus Ex: Human Revolution PC Off Shelves [UPDATED]

Retailer's response to today's backlash seems to be sending everything back.

An internal GameStop email with corporate instructions forwarded by an employee this afternoon.
An internal GameStop email with corporate instructions forwarded by an employee this afternoon.

UPDATE: Square Enix has issued an official statement regarding today's events, basically apologizing to GameStop for not informing the retailer about the coupon in advance of the game's release.

“As part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s boxed offering on PC, Square Enix included a third party coupon," said the company in a statement. "GameStop was not made aware of this inclusion and Square Enix respects the right of GameStop to have final say over the contents of products it sells and to adjust them where they see fit in accordance with their policies."

"Square Enix invites gamers who want to purchase the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution without additional coupons to buy the game at any one of over 4000 GameStop stores in North America," continued the statement, "or purchase a digital download copy online from www.gamestop.com. “

ORIGINAL STORY: GameStop dominated the conversation today, based on reports the retailer was opening copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution on PC, removing the coupon for a copy of the game through OnLive, sealing the games back up and selling them as "new."

Perhaps for a variety of reasons, possibly ranging from conversations between GameStop and Square Enix to backlash from basically the entire Internet, the company is now pulling all copies off store shelves.

A GameStop employee forwarded me an email (as seen above) sent to every store, announcing the move.

"At this time please pull all Regular PC editions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and place them in your backroom. These will be recalled at a later date.
As GameStop is developing a streaming service in our Spawn Labs Cloud Computing Division, the coupon that was included is for a competing service. We are returning all copies of the PC regular edition to the vendor in agreement with Square Enix.
Any unfulfilled reserves of the Regular PC Edition should be taken care of with the inventory set aside in your backroom.
Please honor any returns with a receipt."

GameStop issued a similar public comment about its original reasoning for opening the games.

"We pulled the coupons because, like all retailers, we prefer not to promote our competitors and their competing offerings and services in our stores," said a company spokesperson. "Unfortunately, the coupon was packed without our prior knowledge."

Both Square Enix and OnLive declined to comment on the matter.

Patrick Klepek on Google+

337 Comments

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Skywarpgold

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Edited By Skywarpgold

@DrEmettBrown: Yeah, that makes sense.

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TorMasturba

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Edited By TorMasturba

I'm glad that UK fairtrade law is considerably strict enough that this sort of thing generally just doesn't happen over here.

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Tumbler

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Edited By Tumbler

@MuttersomeTaxicab said:

Man. I hope that Tracer Tong mission is at all worthwhile.

I'm assuming this is Bonus DLC you get for pre-ordering from Gamestop? I went looking but can't find a lot of info about Pre-order dlc for this game.

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MuttersomeTaxicab

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@Tumbler: Yeah, Gamestop had the Explosive Mission pack. Grenade launcher, remote detonation explosives and a mission to rescue Tracer Tong (a character that features in the original DX.) Either way, I pre-ordered from Gamestop's website. Thankfully got an On Live pass, too. Still, after this bullshit? Fuck Gamestop, and their horse.

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CaptainDickface

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Edited By CaptainDickface

Why is Square just sucking GameStop's dick on this one? GS physically violated new product and altered its contents before selling it to the consumer. I can't believe any publisher would be okay with this, let alone apologize for it afterwards!

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KingLouis51

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Edited By KingLouis51

The best retailer for video games is, by a mile, Amazon (and, by extention, Amazon Prime).
 
GameStop are aptly named. Fuck em. I understand they are a business and want to make money... but fuck em.

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joeq1159

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Edited By joeq1159

Wow. Game Stop seems to be having the worst week ever. Not only have they pissed off basically the entire internet, their new project is going to be that much more of a sell.

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king_wil

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Edited By king_wil

I'm glad we don't have Gamestops in England, they seem to be a bunch of mardy rip-off merchants and complete cunts. Mind you GAME aren't much better.

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Tumbler

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Edited By Tumbler

@CaptainDickface said:

Why is Square just sucking GameStop's dick on this one? GS physically violated new product and altered its contents before selling it to the consumer. I can't believe any publisher would be okay with this, let alone apologize for it afterwards!

It may look like this but Square is really just handing Gamestop the rope and letting them hang themselves. Gamers will be appalled by this fact and to keep repeating it is more effective than attacking them. Gamestop has every right to remove content from our game before selling it you. Gamestop is absolutely able to take things out of the game before selling it to you. Gamestop can sell you an opened game with stuff missing if they want. Gamestop can absolutely rip off their own customers. Say it enough and people realize Gamestop IS ripping off it's own customers.

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poisonjam7

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Edited By poisonjam7

What is happening in America? It seems like everyone is afraid of competition, so they just monopolize. Which, by the way, is illegal; not that THAT matters. First EA, now Gamestop.
 
Honestly, I don't see how those coupons could hurt them anyone more then all this bad press has. I mean, OnLive is a complete failure and so is Gamestop's streaming service. It's not like anyone would have used those coupons anyways....

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Lukas

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Edited By Lukas

@PoisonJam7 said:

What is happening in America? It seems like everyone is afraid of competition, so they just monopolize. Which, by the way, is illegal; not that THAT matters. First EA, now Gamestop. Honestly, I don't see how those coupons could hurt them anyone more then all this bad press has. I mean, OnLive is a complete failure and so is Gamestop's streaming service. It's not like anyone would have used those coupons anyways....

this!

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musubi

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Edited By musubi
@noibn: Well, there are a number of games like Shogun, Civ 5 , Duke Nukem  etc that all require steam to activate anyways.   I  only ever really like to buy disc versions if I know they have a steam  with steam support.   I can feel you on the steam thing.  The only non steam game I own is The Witcher.    I'm pretty anal about keeping all my stuff in one place myself.
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TheFianlFrontier21

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smooth square

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Dunkelheit

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Edited By Dunkelheit

Just another reason to shop @ amazon for me! Bye GameStop!

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vonFlampanker

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Edited By vonFlampanker

@mosdl: I think the Amazon card is worth it. Just recently they implemented a system that lets you use points directly instead of having to cash them in for a gift card. Nice ordering something in the middle of the month and finding you have $14 of random credit waiting on you. I make sure to always pay it off and never, ever carry a balance. One month of interest on almost any card would pretty well nullify the benefit of Amazon points.

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Lind_L_Taylor

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Edited By Lind_L_Taylor
@Claude said:

I'm surprised you people play any video games at all. All I read is Gamestop sucks, Activision sucks, EA sucks, Ubisoft sucks. When you stop and think about it, the whole video game industry is ever changing and everyone is just trying to find that competitive edge and make a buck before the market changes. Even Valve and EA are having their issues because of competitive business practices.

Nobody is saying Steam sucks.
 
And anyway, it's petty when you think about it.  Gamestop can
just sell the fucking game & be done with it.  Then in future, 
mention to Square they won't distribute games that promote
competitors.  Sending it all back is stupid & probably fucks 
them out of whatever profit margin they might have had, if
they were selling it.  Maybe the Xbox game will be discounted
early??
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dprabon

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Edited By dprabon

@HawkxSx said:

STEAM

STEAM!!!

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The_Laughing_Man

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Edited By The_Laughing_Man
@thirteenyahs said:

gg gamestop

So turns out its not gamestops fault. Square did not inform people ahead of time. It was squares fault. Lets stop the fun "I hate gamestop" stuff now? 
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Redeye

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Edited By Redeye
@VinceNotVance: You are right though, they should have just pulled the product from the shelf while they worked out the issue with the publisher. Just politely (can GS employees be that?) tell the customers that they don't have any in stock and that you  hope to get it soon. Is it entirely true? No, but don't be a bunch of jerks and remove things intended for the consumer. That is just flat out ripping me off and guarantees I won't return. 
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Battsey

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Edited By Battsey

@The_Laughing_Man: I'm glad I'm not the only one here seeing this.

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Rekt_Hed

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Edited By Rekt_Hed

Sigh ....just when you think gamestop might have stopped being assholes you read a article like this.

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ssjviviano

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Edited By ssjviviano

What a dick thing for Gamestop to do.  Words cannot describe how much of a viscous douche Gamestop is as a company.  I am officially continuing my boycott of that store.  Games are cheaper on Amazon anyway. 

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damnboyadvance

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Edited By damnboyadvance

I don't think people realize that Gamestop is a business. Businesses don't like giving away products with competitor coupons. 
 
Yeah, Gamestop is arguably a morally bad business, but any business would do this, not just the dicks at Gamestop.

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The_Laughing_Man

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Edited By The_Laughing_Man
@damnboyadvance said:
I don't think people realize that Gamestop is a business. Businesses don't like giving away products with competitor coupons.  Yeah, Gamestop is arguably a morally bad business, but any business would do this, not just the dicks at Gamestop.
This time it was Squares fault 
 
Lets say you own a Gas company. And Pepsi started to have cupons for another gas station in their bottles. Would you still sell pepsi? 
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Solh0und

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Edited By Solh0und

Why is it when Gamestop is in the news,people flip out about how much they hate Gamestop? If anyone is at fault here, It's Squeenix.

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damnboyadvance

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Edited By damnboyadvance
@The_Laughing_Man said:
@damnboyadvance said:
I don't think people realize that Gamestop is a business. Businesses don't like giving away products with competitor coupons.  Yeah, Gamestop is arguably a morally bad business, but any business would do this, not just the dicks at Gamestop.
This time it was Squares fault  Lets say you own a Gas company. And Pepsi started to have cupons for another gas station in their bottles. Would you still sell pepsi? 
Pepsi is a pretty popular beverage. I would be kinda pissed at PepsiCo, but I would continue to sell Pepsi without the coupons on them. 
 
And yes, Square Enix should be blamed for not telling Gamestop about this. It is kind of a big deal.
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LLamaPie

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Edited By LLamaPie

Ok well since Gamestop didn't like the media backlash this caused and the horrible PR, well I bought the retail partially because I work at gamestop so I have my discount and I use cash. Anyways Gamestop is obsessive with customer ratings. For instance even though my sales were top in store I didn't get hours for 2 weeks because I had a couple really bad reviews from grumpy customers. Anyways here is the email I got: 
 
" Dear GameStop customer,

Earlier this week, GameStop removed a competitor's coupon from standard edition PC versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a recent release by Square Enix. We were not aware that the product box would contain this competitor's offer. We regret the events surrounding this title release and that our customers were put in the middle of this issue between GameStop and Square Enix, the publisher of this game. And for this, we are truly sorry.

For your inconvenience, we would like to offer you a free $50 GameStop gift card and a Buy 2 Get 1 Free pre-owned purchase. We want to earn back your trust and confidence in the GameStop experience. Please bring in this email and your store receipt or order confirmation from GameStop.com and present it to a Game Advisor.

Sincerely,
Paul Raines
CEO, GameStop  " 
 
Pretty damn generous if you ask me. The game costs 50$ for PC and he's giving everyone who bought it a $50 gift card and they can keep the game. + the buy 2 get 1 isn't bad either.

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ChaosDent

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Edited By ChaosDent

@HadesTimes said:

How about this, DON"T BUYPCGAMES from Gamestop!

I stopped buying from Gamestop when I purchased a "new" game and the clerk took an empty box off the shelf and pulled the game disc from an envelope behind the counter. He claimed it was "gutted" but was still new because it had not been sold to anyone. Nothing was wrong with the game, but I disapprove of this policy.

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yukoasho

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Edited By yukoasho
@solh0und said:
Why is it when Gamestop is in the news,people flip out about how much they hate Gamestop? If anyone is at fault here, It's Squeenix.
Shhhh, don't go using logic!  It hurts the fanboys' heads!
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yukoasho

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Edited By yukoasho
@Scodiac said:

The Gamestop in my little town is the best place to buy games. This won't stop me from going there. It has a comic shop type feel to it and the people are great. I bought Deus Ex there and I'll buy a bunch more fall titles there. I'd rather support that store than the Futureshop in my town where the service blows. I'd rather support a local store that a giant website.

I'm not defending what the higher management chose to do here but I care way more about the direct service I get.

You and are are in agreement.  Yeah, the upper management at GS is prone to fuckups, there's an atmosphere that you can't get at a big box of a faceless webpage.  You can't walk into Amazon and fuck around with the management there, talking about games and telling jokes, or getting a giggle when you point out how the DSi is now only $10 less than the 3DS. 
 
In short, so long as Gamestop treats me well, which they tend to, I'll keep going there.  The people who wanna tell me I'm evil for it?  Well, I've one message for them... 
 
No Caption Provided
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SeriouslyNow

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Edited By SeriouslyNow

@YukoAsho: I just think you're shortsighted and immature.

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SeriouslyNow

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Edited By SeriouslyNow

@Claude said:

I'm surprised you people play any video games at all. All I read is Gamestop sucks, Activision sucks, EA sucks, Ubisoft sucks. When you stop and think about it, the whole video game industry is ever changing and everyone is just trying to find that competitive edge and make a buck before the market changes. Even Valve and EA are having their issues because of competitive business practices.

None of what you've said justifies theft Claude.

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citizenkane

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Edited By citizenkane

*story about GameStop appears on Internet* 
 
*entire Internet freaks out in an argle bargle inquisition against all things GameStop*
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bransonhuggins

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Edited By bransonhuggins

I am a previous gamestop employee from here in the US, I worked at one of the top 20 stores in the country, and let me tell you some things.  First things first, they know that they piss you off.  They know that they are selling "new" games, that have been opened.  They don't care.  Hell, when we got used games in, that still had the dlc or the free month of live cards, etc, we would have those handed out in store to employees, and then put the game back on the shelf.  Did this ever happen with new games?  no.  it's not that bad.  
 
This though is not something that should surprise anyone.  They have always opened up new games and then sold them as is.  Lately they have been trying to move away from that to be honest, hence most of the titles you will see on the floor are just cases, that's it.
 
Another thing that I don't know if many of you know about is this.  Pre-orders.  The employees get NO, not one cent, of compensation for making a pre-order.  Yet it is an essential part of there job.  No one wants to ask you a hundred times if there are any games you want to pre-order, but they have to.  Because if they don't, they will get fired.  We regularly had to get pre-orders, and a certain percentage of them to boot.  We would often time pad are own numbers, by pre-ordering something from a friend, and then having them pre-order something from you.  They also love to promise things that you will never get.  As soon as a new game is announced, gamestop employees will start in like mad making promises of what you will get to pre-order a game.  Unless you have seen it online for yourself, don't believe it.  Chances are, the pre-order will change.  Hell, I remember MW2, we guaranteed an exclusive weapon and xp bonus for pre-orders.  This never happened.  
 
Gamestop is concerned with there bottom line, like all companies, but it cannot be denied that they do some shady things.  The thing is, don't hate all the employees.  Most of the people working there, are there because they love games, and thought it would be cool to work in a game store, and it is pretty fun (when corporate wasn't breathing down are necks).  

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bransonhuggins

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Edited By bransonhuggins

Okay, let me make something clear to you guys.  I worked at gamestop, for a quiet some time, and I have to tell you guys something.  When I worked there, and I happen to know this DOES GO ON AT OTHER STORES TOO, employees will "rent" new games, brand new, non used copies of the games, take them home, play them, bring them back, then re-package them and sell them as new.  That's right, they are selling you new games, that have been played.  Now, did this happen all the time?  no.  we didn't do it regularity, but it did happen, especially with the bigger titles.  The ones we knew we would have to wait for some used ones to come in on.  Gamestop does some shady shit.  A lot more shady then I think you guys know.  They expect a lot out of there employees for very little pay as well, but that's another story. 

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kmg90

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Edited By kmg90

Game Stop indeed.....

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Ugames

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Edited By Ugames

An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you should write more on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but generally people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers

http://www.usedvideogamesearch.com/original-mario/