Bethesda threaten to sue a gamer for reselling 1 unopened game as new!

AWPC

AWPC

AWPC

Soldato
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This is outrageous and shows just what a money grabbing (insert your favourite phrase here!) entity they truly are. The Evil Within 2 is actually an excellent game as well the reseller decided to build a gaming PC instead (presumably he bough the game on Steam) so went to sell his PS4 unopened new game.
https://www.pcgamer.com/bethesda-blocks-resale-of-second-hand-still-sealed-the-evil-within-2-copy/
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...egal-threat-on-amazon-marketplace-game-seller

With the shoddy treatment of Fallout 76 as well (Fallout 4 generated over $750M) in its first day on sale how much money do Bethesda actually want to rake in from these games anyway! This shows how greedy the publisher is & they even try to defend their position!
 
Yeah so if he sells it as pre-owned they won't care right?

"We are not trying to stop anybody selling a used game, we would never try and stop anybody from selling a used game," he reiterated. "We do have an issue with people representing they are selling a new copy of the game when we have no ability to tell it is actually new, so we aren't going to allow somebody to say 'this is new'.

"If you want to sell your copy of the game, it's 'pre-owned'. You can't say that it's new because I have no way to verify that, and ultimately that person is our customer we have to deal with and if there's stuff missing or things that have happened we're the ones that are going to have to make it right.
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Being wrapped is zero guarantee incidentally. You can rewrap stuff yourself.
 
That’s kind of complicated but i see, understand and appreciate their point. But it is a pain in the neck. At the end of the day I’ve never considered selling a new sealed game online, I’d just take it back to where it came from.
 
Nonsense. controlling the supply chain like that is anti-competitive. Why can't a retailer, of whatever magnitude, sell an item as new if it is new without being sued?

Bethesda's reasons for doing it may be 'understandable' from their perspective, but they shouldn't be allowed from a consumer perspective.
 
cheesyboy said:
Nonsense. controlling the supply chain like that is anti-competitive. Why can't a retailer, of whatever magnitude, sell an item as new if it is new without being sued?

Bethesda's reasons for doing it may be 'understandable' from their perspective, but they shouldn't be allowed from a consumer perspective.
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Okay that’s fine but let’s do some role play you can be Bethesda.

Me : hi do you want to buy this game it’s new and sealed.
Guy: yeah sure here’s £30
Guy: *opens case to find its empty*
Guy: hi Bethesda i have a new sealed copy of your game and it’s empty i need a replacement.
Bethesda: ......
 
harry5522 said:
Okay that’s fine but let’s do some role play you can be Bethesda.

Me : hi do you want to buy this game it’s new and sealed.
Guy: yeah sure here’s £30
Guy: *opens case to find its empty*
Guy: hi Bethesda i have a new sealed copy of your game and it’s empty i need a replacement.
Bethesda: ......
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Pretty sure anyone, regardless of where or when it was bought, would tell you to contact the seller. Genuine question, has anyone ever bought a game and gone directly to the manufacturer rather than the seller if there was an issue? I know I haven't and honestly would have never thought to.
 
Could be as he is selling the game "new", impressions it was sourced from the developers? Things which shops actually are.
 
Moothead2 said:
Pretty sure anyone, regardless of where or when it was bought, would tell you to contact the seller. Genuine question, has anyone ever bought a game and gone directly to the manufacturer rather than the seller if there was an issue? I know I haven't and honestly would have never thought to.
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I doubt it but that goes back to my original point. If you bought a game and didn’t want to play it for whatever reason and it was sealed. Why would you sell it to someone else online rather than sending it back for a full refund?
 
harry5522 said:
I doubt it but that goes back to my original point. If you bought a game and didn’t want to play it for whatever reason and it was sealed. Why would you sell it to someone else online rather than sending it back for a full refund?
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He probably bought it on release with the intention of playing it, never got around to it and decided to sell it on instead. Don't think any seller would accept a refund after the first 30 or so days.
 
harry5522 said:
Okay that’s fine but let’s do some role play you can be Bethesda.

Me : hi do you want to buy this game it’s new and sealed.
Guy: yeah sure here’s £30
Guy: *opens case to find its empty*
Guy: hi Bethesda i have a new sealed copy of your game and it’s empty i need a replacement.
Bethesda: ......
Click to expand...
And according to consumer law (at least in the EU) that's not actually Bethesda's problem.
 
I'm not sure Bethesda have the authority to define what new means. If your selling on eBay, there's a short description of what new means, if it meets those requirements then it's new for the purposes of selling it on eBay.
 
I think one aspect people are missing - Bethesda are trying to define who is authorised to sell their games as new i.e. they want them distributed through their own software client and/or authorised resellers and while it is a silly situation they can't clamp down on "unauthorised" resellers if just anyone can sell their product as "new" - all he needs to do is sell it as "unused" not "new".

It is pretty stupid but I can kind of see their point.
 
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