to be fair, this is pretty clearly labelled "stand alone" which makes me think, or hope, that size-wise, this would be closer to something like GTA IV's DLC packs. In which case, the fact that this wasn't included in-game makes sense.
In this context, it's hard to tell what's company policy and what's that store's manager's particular policy. I doubt it's company-wide policy to secretly swap a used copy of a game when a customer brings a new one to the counter.
It probably hurts more given how budgets have been skyrocketing when it comes to major, non-digital titles.
Myself personally, I never trade in my games. I like to take my time with them and get the most out of them, by which point Gamestop or wherever will give me like $1-5 for it. When it comes time to clean up my games, I donate them to underprivileged kids (Big Brothers, my old high school's charity drive, etc).
to be fair, Gamestop employees are really, really, really annoying. It's probably in their job description, but they really do their best to push stuff on you when you're just trying to check out.
THAT's what it is? I was sure it couldn't be it. No way would some random outfit or challenge map be enough to convince me to pre-order, or even shop, at Gamestop.
In that case, if devs really want to hit Gamestop where it hurts, stop giving them bonuses.
Great idea and I think it works even better in the DLC age. People gripe all the time about devs releasing "incomplete" games with DLC that could've been on disc? Well, what if those DLC packs were free if you bought the game new?
I still don't really get why people pre-order from Gamestop.
On Tuesday, I walk down to Future Shop from my office during lunch at noon. Grab the game I want. No problem. Showing up at Future Shop or Best Buy at 11:00 or 12:00 on Tuesday has basically NEVER failed. Got the Last of Us day one with no problem, for example.
Paladin_King's comments