Bethesda Responds to Evil Within 2 Sale Listing Controversy

Bethesda’s Pete Hines has spoken out in defense of the company’s legal firm that came under fire for sending a threatening legal notice to a customer last week. In case you didn’t follow the news, Philadelphia resident Ryan Hupp was attempting to sell his unopened copy of The Evil Within 2 on Amazon’s marketplace when he was asked by Bethesda’s legal firm, Vorys, to take down the listing or face serious consequences.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Hines explained:

He’s not trying to sell a second-hand game, he’s trying to sell a new game. He was listing the product as if it was new. All we’re saying is if it’s a previously owned product, you have to sell it as a previously owned product – you cannot represent it as new because we have no way to verify what you’re selling actually is new.

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 just list it as a used title. That’s it, that’s the end of the argument.

We’re not trying to stop anybody from selling used games. People sell used games all the time – we understand that, we’re not trying to stop that.

What Hines didn’t explain, however, was why Vorys chose to threaten Hupp instead of simply asking him to amend the listing.

“Unless you remove all Bethesda products from your storefront, stop selling any and all Bethesda products immediately, and identify all sources of Bethesda products you are selling, we intend to file a lawsuit against you,” Vorys’ letter to Hupp reads. The customer was also told that Bethesda would seek “disgorgement of profits, compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees, and investigative and other costs.”

[Source: Eurogamer]