Lawsuit Against GameStop for Deceiving (Dumb) Customers - The UpStream

Lawsuit Against GameStop for Deceiving (Dumb) Customers

posted Friday Mar 26, 2010 by Nicholas DiMeo

Lawsuit Against GameStop for Deceiving (Dumb) Customers

There are two worlds in the gaming industry: the gaming developers who work themselves to the bone (most of the time) to put out great games for consumers to purchase... and GameStop. The former works to make a paycheck and the latter makes a paycheck off of the work of the developers by selling used games at outrageous prices and profit margins. So of course another lawsuit has been filed against GameStop, stating that game boxes read that content is included, when more than likely the code was used or simply not included when the game was traded in. Shocking.

Gamestop's return policy is for seven days, but apparently the plaintiffs feel this is not enough time to realize that something doesn't come with a game, and that employees of GameStop should inform their customers of these circumstances. Do we really think a company who relies on used game revenue as their bread-maker is going to disclose these things?

Here's what the suit says:

The availability of this additional content is prominently advertised on the packaging of these games... Despite the representations on the packaging that the game comes with a free use code, unbeknownst to consumers who purchase a used copy of one of these games, upon attempting to download the content identified on the game's packaging, consumers are unable to do so unless they pay an additional fee.

In short, as a result of GameStop's deceptive and misleading practices, consumers who purchase used games from GameStop unknowingly find that they must pay an additional fee to access the full game they though they purchased.

The funny thing is that we've talked about this months back. Developers are using these practices to try to regain some market share from GameStop. And while I am all for GameStop facing legal action for another countless time, I can't help but stand in disbelief at the consumers complaining about this.

For example, the game Dragon Age Origins reads that the code is available with "full retail purchase," followed by text that reads "download card included." Shouldn't the first text validate the second part and not the other way around? I think it's more of a case of the consumer being mad they have to pay up to $15 for the content when they just paid $54.99 - five bucks less than new - for a used copy of the game.

Maybe this will force GameStop to be more pro-active to yet again protect the all-mighty consumer from their own stupidity and inability to think. Who knows at this point, but we do know that this will keep continuing until GameStop ceases to make boatloads of cash from used games, or developers stop including content via download cards or codes. Both of those aren't happing any time soon.

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