Bethesda threatens lawsuit over sale of secondhand games

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Utnayan

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Sounds like I am done buying all new Bethesda games.

I'll buy them all used so they don't see a damn dime :)
 
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Randin

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From other articles, it sounds like Bethesda’s entire complaint was that the guy reselling the game marked it as ‘new,’ which implies that the game is still under warranty. Seems a bit nitpicky, but I guess I see their point.

If you want to resell a game, just list it as ‘like new;’ problem solved.
 

Utnayan

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Meh. He never opened it and just sold it after the fact. So technically, it's new. The fact Bethesda is chasing after this pisses me off, so from now on, they get no money from me via digital sales - I will buy all their games used.

If I buy something and do not use it, it's still in the packaging, untouched, and not used, it's new. Bethesda is pissed someone sold a new copy of their game and they didn't get credit for the 2nd sale of it. Screw these assholes.
 
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Borzak

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Maybe I read it wrong. Sounded like it was one game. That seems like a lot of trouble for one game. I might could see if guy had a whole store front selling grey market games as new. Sounds like there might be more to the story, like he had done this before. I don't know. They went to the car industry way of thinking I see. Once it's been sold, even it has zero miles and you had it trailered and a transferable full warranty you can't sell it as new.
 
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Mick

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Meh. He never opened it and just sold it after the fact. So technically, it's new. The fact Bethesda is chasing after this pisses me off, so from now on, they get no money from me via digital sales - I will buy all their games used.

If I buy something and do not use it, it's still in the packaging, untouched, and not used, it's new. Bethesda is pissed someone sold a new copy of their game and they didn't get credit for the 2nd sale of it. Screw these assholes.
So mint in box = new?
 

Borzak

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He left out the phrase "like new" which you see a lot to cover bases, or "mint" but not new. Guess there's some legal definition of new has to be from the original seller/authoriazed seller.
 

spronk

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the funny thing is gamestop is fully covered selling their "new" games when they rip open the box and repackage it ("its new! trust us!") because they are an authorized reseller and will give a 30 day warranty if it doesn't work

this is a dumb issue anyways and wouldn't affect any of us 99.99% of the time, who the fuck buys games from random strangers on the internet. either you buy it digitally now or you pirate it or a few people still buy new/used at gamestop/best buy/amazon

a better reason to be pissed off at bethesda is how shitty fallout 76 is probably gonna be, how much microtransactions / loot boxes / etc is probably gonna riddle that game, how it won't be sold on steam but on bethesda's own launcher, how the beta is only happening a month before release, how you'll probably have to be online to play it, how slow they will be with updates, how the online mode is probably gonna be buggy and hacker infested, etc...
 
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a_skeleton_05

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They've shown themselves to be consistently anti-consumer with their heavy handedness for a few years now. It's just another issue on top of the pile. Much of their success was due to the community carrying their broken ass games into the realm of awesomeness. They simply don't deserve the amount of fanboyism they receive, and should warrant serious wallet-voting decision making before buying something from them (it's going to get worse with their launcher exclusivity)
 
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a_skeleton_03

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This is a non story and all of you have pitchforks.

In a statement to Polygon, Bethesda said it went after Hupp because he was attempting to sell The Evil Within 2 as a "new" game. "We do not allow non-authorized resellers to represent what they sell as 'new' because we can't verify that the game hasn't been opened and repackaged," Bethesda said. "This is how we help protect buyers from fraud and ensure our customers always receive authentic new product, with all enclosed materials and warranty intact."


He could have sold it still, he could have sold it for full retail. He could have explained that it's brand new in every way that really matters. He can't call it new though.

Bethesda is literally trying to protect gamers here and people are saying they will never buy again ...
 
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Utnayan

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the funny thing is gamestop is fully covered selling their "new" games when they rip open the box and repackage it ("its new! trust us!") because the publisher gets their cut regardless so they don't care.
.

FTFY.
 

Utnayan

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Bethesda is literally trying to protect gamers here and people are saying they will never buy again ...

Heavily disagree. Especially if you think Bethesda is trying to protect gamers. (Especially after their BS DLC fiasco with Creation and monetizing that)

They are trying to protect their pocket book and may have had an influx in grey market sales which are cutting into their royalties. If I buy a product from Gamestop, and I do not open it, or use it, it's still a new product. If I sell it, it's still new.

This isn't any different. From what I understand the guy never opened the product correct? Was still in it's original wrap, and it was still new - hence never used. The reason why Bethesda is pissed? The guy sold it as new (Which it is by definition of the word) and they didn't get a royalty - or, also got upset the new product was selling at a lower price than they authorize currently.

Regardless, the fact Bethesda even went after this is a joke and a half.

The sadder thing here is this guy was probably just an honest Joe who said to himself, "Well, I never opened this or played it, It's new" and just marked it that way because it's the truth, and next thing you know, you have these assholes coming at him scaring him half to death.
 
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Ambiturner

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This is a non story and all of you have pitchforks.




He could have sold it still, he could have sold it for full retail. He could have explained that it's brand new in every way that really matters. He can't call it new though.

Bethesda is literally trying to protect gamers here and people are saying they will never buy again ...

No, it's still a bullshit excuse. It fits Amazon's definition of new if it's been un-used, un-opened, and still in its original packaging. They don't need to go over to the guy's house and inspect the game to make sure it hasn't been opened and re-sealed.

Bethesda is no longer involved and any issues are between the seller and buyer.
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Heavily disagree. Especially if you think Bethesda is trying to protect gamers. (Especially after their BS DLC fiasco with Creation and monetizing that)

They are trying to protect their pocket book and may have had an influx in grey market sales which are cutting into their royalties. If I buy a product from Gamestop, and I do not open it, or use it, it's still a new product. If I sell it, it's still new.

This isn't any different. From what I understand the guy never opened the product correct? Was still in it's original wrap, and it was still new - hence never used. The reason why Bethesda is pissed? The guy sold it as new (Which it is by definition of the word) and they didn't get a royalty - or, also got upset the new product was selling at a lower price than they authorize currently.

Regardless, the fact Bethesda even went after this is a joke and a half.

The sadder thing here is this guy was probably just an honest Joe who said to himself, "Well, I never opened this or played it, It's new" and just marked it that way because it's the truth, and next thing you know, you have these assholes coming at him scaring him half to death.
They didn't prevent him from selling at all. They prevented him from listing it as new. That's it. He can sell a billion copies on the grey market all he wants.

The lawyers involved definitely put some heavy legal speak into it. The responses from Bethesda though were much more measured.
 

Utnayan

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Maybe I should contact Pete Hines and get a warranty on the Plethora of bugs Skyrim shipped with since he seems oh so concerned.
 

a_skeleton_03

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No, it's still a bullshit excuse. It fits Amazon's definition of new if it's been un-used, un-opened, and still in its original packaging. They don't need to go over to the guy's house and inspect the game to make sure it hasn't been opened and re-sealed.

Bethesda is no longer involved and any issues are between the seller and buyer.
Except when they get the customer support phone calls of "why doesn't the DLC code in this product work, I bought it NEW". That is what this is entirely about.
 
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Utnayan

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They didn't prevent him from selling at all. They prevented him from listing it as new. That's it. He can sell a billion copies on the grey market all he wants.

The lawyers involved definitely put some heavy legal speak into it. The responses from Bethesda though were much more measured.

In the end, they must be losing money due to grey market new sales then and this is the start of them cracking down. I can understand it they are losing money by the boatload on new games being sold through weird channels. But the fact they took the resources to go after this one guy, selling one game, astounds me.