Class Action Lawsuit Accuses GameStop of Selling, Pricing Games It Already Opened as ‘New’

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges GameStop wrongfully charges customers a premium price for purportedly “new” games that the video game retailer has already opened itself. 

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The 10-page GameStop lawsuit contends that although the retailer will open a particular game’s packaging, it will nevertheless market the game as new. 

For instance, the plaintiff, a St. Clair County, Illinois resident, says that the packaging he selected off store shelves for games he wished to buy in 2021 and 2022 did not contain the actual disc housing the game software, though the sales associate informed him that the games were in fact new, the filing shares. 

The suit argues that video games whose packaging has already been opened by GameStop are “not worth the premium price” consumers pay, as an already opened game comes with fewer return options and is generally worth less on the resale market. 

“It is a well-known fact in the video game industry and resale market that a game in its ‘original’ manufactures [sic] packaging that is still sealed is worth more than a game that has been opened,” the filing explains. “For these reasons, purchasers of ‘new’ games are willing to pay a premium in price for a ‘new’ games [sic] versus a ‘used’ or ‘opened’ or ‘pre-owned’ game.” 

As the complaint tells it, GameStop is well aware of the foregoing and thus prices “new” games differently than those that are used or pre-owned, even baking into its return policy “a specific difference” between a return of an unopened product and one that has been opened. Further, the retailer has a policy that limits or bans placing unopened games on the floor of stores due to the risk of theft, the case adds. 

To combat the apparent theft risk, GameStop keeps video game discs behind the counter and, as a result, “almost every ‘new’ game that GameStop sells has actually been opened,” the lawsuit says. 

“GameStop effectuates this policy despite the fact that GameStop’s return policy draws a distinction between opened and unopened games,” the suit relays, charging that the retailer knows that unopened games in the manufacturer’s original sealed package are worth more on the market. 

The case accuses GameStop of violating the Illinois Deceptive Trade Practices Act and looks to cover all individuals in the state who, at any time since September 9, 2018, bought a video game labeled as “new” by GameStop where the video game had already been opened or removed by GameStop or an employee.

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