OnLive and Square Enix made a surprise announcement yesterday, saying that new, retail copies of "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" on PC would include a voucher which would allow players to enjoy the game through the OnLive service without having to pay for another copy. Basically, you could buy one copy and choose to install it normally, or, if your PC doesn't have enough gaming muscle, you could choose to stream it through OnLive at no extra cost. Pretty nice, huh? GameStop doesn't think so. Multiple reports are now saying that Gamestop executives are asking that employees open new copies of "Deus Ex" on PC and remove the OnLive voucher.
First spotted on Gamespy, a letter sent out to GameStop employees from Field Operations Manager, Josh Ivanoff, includes the following statement:
"Please immediately remove and discard the On Live coupon from all the Regular PC versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Our desire is to not have this coupon go to any customers after this announcement."
Gamestop PR reps have since confirmed the story, saying "Square Enix packed the competitor's coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons."
The statement is basically saying that OnLive is a competitor to GameStop's digital distribution store, Impulse, and that they have the right to not promote a competitor in their stores.
That may be so, but it's important to note that, if you're looking to get the two-for-one OnLive deal with your copy of "Deus Ex" on PC, you're better off picking it up at somewhere other than GameStop.