Here’s an interesting situation. Apparently, Bethesda Software threatened to sue someone for reselling a “new” copy of the PS4 game The Evil Within 2. Here’s an excerpt of the message sent to the seller (all underlines added by me for emphasis):
“Unless you remove all Bethesda products, from your storefront, stop selling any and all Bethesda products immediately and identify all sources of Bethesda products you are selling, we intend to file a lawsuit against you,”
At first, I thought maybe the company was trying to track down leaked or stolen versions of it’s games and the seller accidentally got “caught in the net”. While that’s not a nice situation to be in, it’s not unreasonable and the bottom line is as long as the seller’s not selling a truckload of stolen or pirated games, they should have nothing to worry about.
That’s not the case though! Apparently, Bethesda blocks the sale of all new games that aren’t sold by authorized resellers. According to the Polygon article, Bethesda also had the following to say:
“Bethesda’s letter claims that (the) sale is not protected by the First Sale Doctrine, because he is not selling the game in its original form, which would include a warranty. The letter says this lack of warranty renders the game “materially different from genuine products” that are sold through official channels. In theory, this argument could be used against anyone who sells a game without specific permission from Bethesda.”
…and Bethesda’s own update to their response regarding the re-sale of games:
“Bethesda does not and will not block the sale of pre-owned games. The issue in this case is that the seller offered a pre-owned game as “new” on the Amazon Marketplace.”
While their policy won’t affect most of us, what about people that end up with two copies of the same game? Does that mean they have to sell a brand new, never-opened game as “used”???
In a time where physical media is struggling to stay afloat, it seems like a large company threatening legal action against one person for selling a “new” game is just working against the cause.
Here’s the original Polygon article for the full story: https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/11/17661254/bethesda-sell-used-games-amazon-block
Also, here’s Bethesda on Twitter, in case you feel like telling them your thoughts on the matter: https://twitter.com/BethesdaStudios
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#bethesda, #lawsuit, #BethesdaStudios
