GameStop Selling Games Played By Employees As New

Kotaku reports on a practice by GameStop which allows employees to "check out" new copies of video games, play them, then return them to be sold as new. Quoting: "When a shipment of video games initially arrives at a store, managers are told to 'gut' several copies of the game, removing the disc or cartridge from the packaging so it can be displayed on the shelf without concern of theft, according to our sources. The games are then placed in protective sleeves or cases under the counter. If a customer asks why the game is not sealed they are typically told the the game is a display copy. The game is still sold as new. When check-out games are returned, we were told, they are placed with the gutted display copies. If a customer asks about these, they are typically told they are display copies, not that they have been played before. Since the copies are often placed with display copies, even managers and employees typically don't know which of these games have been played and which haven't."

How about DRM?

[mcvos]

The site seems slasdotted, so I can't RTFA, but my first thought is: what about games with draconian DRM that allows you to install it only a limited number of times? Employees playing those games may destroy the usefulness of those games.

Does it matter???

[Anonymous Coward]

Why should I care if a game has been played before?

This is just now news?

[the_nightwulf]

I cannot believe this is just now becoming a "scandal."

I was a Gamestop assistant store manager in the early 2000's. This was policy way back then, and we abused the shit out of it. Yes, policy said you could only check out one thing at a time for a certain period of time (I remember it being six days, maybe things have changed ...) and you could only check out any given product once, and no products like OSes or consoles. In practice, we took whatever we wanted whenever we wanted for however long we wanted. All the managers covered for each other and the other employees when the district bigwigs came by. On inventory days everyone brought in a list of things to add to inventory. This was SOP for all the stores in my district, and pretty much every store nationwide if you believe the chit chat at the annual store manager meetings.

"Gutting" has been policy for at least that long too. Per policy, you'd "gut" one copy of a game and when it came time to sell, you'd repackage and re-shrink wrap it. We were supposed to shrink wrap the shit out of everything (Dreamcast software for example: pull the entire CD tray out of the jewel case, shrink the case and put it on the sales floor, shrink the CD tray and secure it behind the counter), but in practice that was too much work once there were 500+ PSX titles, 200+ DC titles, etc. I made sure there wasn't anything obvious left over (stickers with SKU numbers on CDs, for example), but many people didn't. We were also instructed when selling the gutted copy to just walk it to the back and shrink wrap it without offering any explanation. The old pre-EB POS system (which was written in QuickBASIC Professional, and I swear I am not making that up) used to say "Gut checks save lives!" as a part of the screen saver.

This is been going on for well over 10 years. CD-based software borrowed out and scratched. Cartridge-based software borrowed and sold as "new" with saved data on it. Ask any Gamestop employee if they pay for magazines or tax software. Ever wonder why every Gamestop has a shrink wrapper in back? Do you not know how to tell the difference between factory shrink wrap and re-wrap? Factory wrap is "crinklier" ... and there's always a seam somewhere where a small machine with a glorified hair dryer can't produce one (usually down the middle of the back of the package).

Oh, and my apologies to whoever ended up buying that one copy of XP Home we had. I didn't realize at the time that the product key couldn't be reused.

Re:How about DRM?

[Hadlock]

Optical media almost never gets scratched unless you're eight years old and still can't care for your toys. I lent my beloved copy of Parappa the Rapper to my 8 year old cousins and it came back unplayable, I'm still angry about that 8 years later. All of my optical media from high school is still in great shape, mostly sitting in old CD-R spindles (the best way to store media IMO)

Happens all the time

[UnrefinedLayman]

The same thing happened to me when Assassin's Creed was released for 360. On release day I did not pre-order and called ahead to make sure they had copies in the store. They assured me they did.

When I got there and asked for it they said they didn't have it. I said I had just called and been told there were copies. The guy behind the counter turned to the guy next to him and said "Hey [co-worker], were you, uhhh..." and trailed off. He replied Lumberg-style with a "Yeeeahhhh, I was going to take it home... Naw, that's ok, sell it."

I was all like what the fuck man, and asked them if it was an open box copy that had been taken home by employees and played. He said yeah. I asked if I would be charged full price. The guy said of course and looked at me like he was the confused one. The three other employees nearby were similarly non-plussed. "If there's anything wrong with it you can return it." ...just like I can with a new copy?

I took the cash in my hand and put it away, said no thanks. There was another Gamestop on the way home that had it, nevermind the two Best Buys with obscene pallets of copies.

It was a braindead move on the employees' parts and I'd hate to think the manager would approve of that going down in front of a customer. But that's what happens when you have a bunch of kids running the front of house, unsupervised and with a shrink wrapper, and it's no surprise it's happening everywhere.

I treat the Gamestop sales counter like a casino chip-exchange. I watch every hand at every time, especially when they ask a co-worker to pull out a game. The kids back there do stupid, careless shit with your credit card/license/games/money, and they spend most of their free time dreaming up scams to get more money and more games. That's the business!

No offense to any upstanding Slashdotters working at Gamestop. I'm clearly talking about your slovenly coworkers.

Seal that breaks ...

[gullevek]

Every xbox 360 game I bought has a special sticker on top that is broken once it is opened. I doubt you could easily replace that. I have seen this on US versions, Asian (HK) Versions and Japanese Versions.

So how can you fake that?

Re:How about DRM?

[tepples]

Gamestop has pretty much abandoned PC gaming in favor of console games.

Even console games have install limits nowadays. One component of the Animal Crossing 3 bundle is a voucher for Wii Speak Channel that can be installed only on one Wii console.

Re:Does it matter???

[ndege]

In some ways, it's probably better to be played.

When I buy a car, I don't get a code that could have already been activated/banned etc that completely renders the car disabled; even though, the car looks new without even a scratch. A car can be test driven, a car is repairable, and, the buyer is covered by lemon laws. Lemon laws for games anyone? ;)

Automobiles are automobiles and CDs are CDs.

Re:Does it matter???

[internerdj]

That has always bothered me. In fact, I was thinking about it on the way to work this morning. From my experience, I have about 100-150 thousand miles before I have to dump major money into a car for a major repair. I've done the following exercise several times: Take the total price of a car new and divide it by the expected remaining lifespan prior to major repairs, do the same with a late model used car doesn't matter if it is in the paper or sold by a dealership(although the price will be higher for a dealership). I've found in general a used car will already have used up a third to half of its lifespan before being sold as used, but the price will in no way be near 2/3 to a half of what the original price was even taking into account resale value when you get near the end of that lifespan. Maybe it works different for more pricey vehicles than I've ever been able to buy, but the whole drive it off the lot price drop only seems to matter if you rotate cars every few years.

Re:Does it matter???

[flitty]

I worked at a local cd/game shop a few years back, and we had console demo stations where we would put in the most current release for folks to try out. When we switched out the games and sold the opened copy, we would inform the buyer that because the game was already opened, they couldn't return the game for anything except the same game (if there were scratches or anything), which we had to do by law, opened copies cannot be returned for cash (thanks DMCA!) So if they were buying it for a gift or something, we would give them an un-opened copy. If they raised a fit and we only had the opened copy, we'd give them the "local" discount which was like $2. And, if they were still reticent about buying a used copy, we'd mark their receipt to note that they had bought an opened copy so there wouldn't be ANY problem with a return. As long as people know what they are buying, there isn't a problem with such a practice. If Gamestop isn't telling people these opened games are non-refundable, then there's a problem, but otherwise, this is a non issue.

Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

I work at Gamestop NOW. I've never heard of this. At least not as a store policy. It's entirely possible a few stores do this, but those of us who follow the rules(which is most of us) just wait until a used copy is traded in and then we try it out. We have a rental policy with used crap, but new stuff we do not take out of the sleeve. We DO NOT take out PC games. They are only sold as new and thus we cannot use them.

My guess is they interviewed a few bad employees. Not "bad" as in liars or people who hate Gamestop, but "bad" as in the kind of people who generally ignore the rules themselves and then get the fortune of being saddled with a boss who doesn't really care. I know(at least in Westchester, NY) that we can only rent out the used, and anyone caught doing that to new games gets fired.

What sucks about this is the games ARE new, and we still get the hours of demands from customers that we shouldn't charge as much for the unsealed copies. And now stuff like this comes along, the three or four who read Kotaku and don't already buy used are gonna let this stupid rumor spread. Which is going to, in turn, lead to more motherly figures giving me the business about how they heard from their computer nerd children that Gamestop is lying to them. After all(in the public eye), if one store lies, all of them do.

This probably won't change things much, but odds are the company is going to pull some very unhelpful shit now to ensure the appearance of compliance. After all, if you read that handbook through, Gamestop does not come off as fond of it's employees. Seriously, they all but write glowering emotes in the book.

Which also reminds me, the reason I'm posting this anonymously is because if you publicly speak for Gamestop(positively or negatively), and are under the employ of Gamestop, then you will be fired. No questions, just the axe.

Discount on the Gutted game

[SpartacusJones]

When I bought Metal Gear 4 for the PS3 from a Gamestop in Austin all they had left was the gutted copy. I asked if there was a discount since it was opened and they gave me 10%. I thought that was reasonable.