Popular video game retailer GameStop has been accused of selling old PS4 discs of video games re-wrapped as “new” PS5 copies, according to a claim made by a customer on Reddit.
In a post dated Nov. 26, the customer shared a snap of the Star Ocean: The Divine Force copy they bought from GameStop during a “75 percent off sale,” claiming the disc box had a PS4 version of the game despite the label saying it’s a “new” copy for the PS5 platform.
“How does this even happen?” the customer wrote in their post, clearly frustrated. “I urge anyone who bought GameStop ‘New’ games to make sure they got their actual game inside the box.”
People in the comments weren’t supportive of GameStop either. Several customers claimed the platform has been selling used game copies as new since forever, both offline and online.
“For GameStop, ‘new’ means unowned (can still be a display copy or rented by employees) when they are selling it but unopened when someone is trying to return it,” one heavily liked comment read.
In fact, one of them claimed to be an old employee and narrated an incident where employees were allowed to borrow games from the store if they remembered to “delete the saves.” So despite being used and technically “pre-owned,” those discs would be sold as “new.”
A few former employees didn’t side with the above claim, however, stressing they never borrowed games and dismissing the allegations regarding repacking used games as new.
When I buy a video game copy that says “new,” I know for a fact that it should be untouched and definitely not a copy that was borrowed and wiped clean to mimic a new copy. Opening up a box claiming to contain a PS5 copy to discover a PS4 disc is definitely not an acceptable experience.
Dot Esports has reached out to GameStop for a comment on this matter.
Published: Nov 27, 2023 04:11 am