14 DAY TRIAL // James Collins, a player in Hayward, California, has filed a lawsuit against retail chain GameStop claiming that the company is “deceptively misleading” all its customers by making it seem like buying a used game will grant access to all the DLC released for the game, when this is not always the case.
Collins picked up Dragon Age: Origins, the first title on which Electronic Arts tried out its 10 Dollar Project. The gamer paid GameStop 54.99 dollars for his copy of the game and found out that he needed to pay another 15 dollars with Electronic Arts in order to get all the content.
The entire experience would have cost 60 dollars if he had bought the game new as the retail package contains codes, which can only be introduced once to grant access to extra stuff. When Collins found out about the DLC situation and tried to return it, GameStop refuses to accept the copy as the seven-day return window had passed.
The documents submitted to the court as part of the law suit claim that “GameStop, who makes more than 20% of its revenue and nearly $2 billion from the sale of used video games, is aware of this issue, and continues to fail to alert customers that this content is not available on used games. As a result, GameStop tricks consumers into paying more for a used game than they would if they purchased the same game and content new.”
GameStop has not commented on the lawsuit but the verdict, which could award damages and other compensations to Collins, will likely hinge on whether GameStop alerted the buyer of the fact that he needed to pay extra to get content advertised on the box. Regardless of how the suit turns out, the publicity around it will probably help some pick up more new games.