The publisher doesn’t allow reselling its game under a condition.

On Amazon, Ryan Hupp tried to sell a physical copy of The Evil Within 2 on PlayStation 4 after deciding to spend his money on upgrading his PC instead of buying a PS4. However, Bethesda’s legal firm, Vorys, sent him a letter, asking to remove the listing or face legal consequences, as he is not an „authorised reseller,” and they believe selling the game as „new” is „false advertising.”

Hupp claims that this sale should be protected by the First Sale Doctrine under United States law, as he didn’t even unseal The Evil Within 2 – Vorys responded by saying his copy of the game doesn’t fall under the doctrine as he did not provide a guarantee.

So far, it sounds extreme, so Eurogamer contacted Pete Hines, Bethesda’s head of marketing, to figure out why they decided to remove the listing of an otherwise brand new copy of The Evil Within 2. The main issue is that he listed the game as NEW: „All we’re saying is if it’s a previously owned product, you have to sell it as a previously owned product. You could have opened it up, played it for five hours, taken whatever inserts or stuff was in there, put it back in shrink wrap and said, ‘Hey this is new.’ It’s not new – you owned it, you bought it, so list it as a used title. That’s it, that’s the end of the argument.

If you want to sell your copy of the game, it’s ‘pre-owned’. You can’t say that it’s new because I have no way to verify that, and ultimately that person is our customer we have to deal with and if there’s stuff missing or things that have happened we’re the ones that are going to have to make it right,” Hines said.

We have one question to ask: how can THEY prove that the game is USED? Anyone could be in a situation similar to Hupp’s. Oh well, you can sell the game elsewhere, like Facebook… or does Bethesda track that site, too?

Source: PCGamer,