GameStop Apologies for Deus Ex / OnLive Issue with Free Gift Card

Last week, it became public that GameStop had been removing OnLive coupons from the boxes of the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and given the company’s admission to this on its Facebook page, it seemed as though the initial public backlash did nothing to clue the company into its wrong-doings. As time went on though, the company’s opinions did seem to change.

Late last week, the company began sending out apology e-mails to customers who purchased the PC version of the game, and at the same time gave them a $50 gift card along with a ‘buy two get one free’ deal on used games. Quite the lofty “gift”, but does it make up for the scummy nature in which the entire situation has transpired?

With the company’s Facebook admission, it was clear that the execs there didn’t think anything of removing coupons from the game boxes without being open to its customers about it – until it came to light via a leaked e-mail. Then to make things worse, the company’s first reaction was to pull the games from the shelf.

The OnLive coupon that was included in the box was valued at $50, so GameStop’s gift card is almost of an equal value. Though if you consider the fact that most gamers will be able to score a completely new game instead of an OnLive copy of the same game, this resolution might even be preferred.

Where does OnLive fall into all of this, though? The company worked with Square Enix to include coupons with the game, and GameStop took it upon itself to remove them. Further, Square Enix came out and stated that GameStop was fine to do this, as it has the final say in the product it sells. Ugh.

What do you guys think about this? Has GameStop properly righted its wrongs?