Borderlands was a highly anticipated release on the PC, but a one-week delay of the PC launch meant that console gamers were able to enjoy the gun-collecting goodness ahead of their PC gaming brethren. A few gamers were lucky enough to find stores that were willing to sell the boxed PC copy of the game before the street date, however, but when they installed the game and tried to play, they found that without the title being authenticated online, the disc and key were worthless.

The problem? They forgot that buying a PC game doesn't involve a product, but a license.

Gearbox head Randy Pitchford was sympathetic to the complaints of fans who scored early copies. "I don't know if something can be done to unlock copies for people that somehow get a copy before the street date... I certainly can't do anything about it, but I understand and am sympathetic to the frustration," he told Big Download. He remembers a time when he had an early copy of Half Life 2 and was likewise locked out of the game due to authentication. "I know how that feels. I'm sorry it's happening to customers of Borderlands and I wish there was something I could do about it."

So what happened?

Once the game leaves the hands of the developer and goes to the publisher, there isn't much they can do about issues like this. The publisher decides when the game gets sold, and when it can be played. The reasoning behind these dates? Piracy, promotion, linking the launch up with other markets... it can be a complex thing to decide when to sell a game. The difference now is that there is technology in place to lock players out even when they are able to talk a store into selling it early.

We reached out to Hal Halpin, the President of the Entertainment Consumers Association, to see if he could explain the situation. "Probably the most important thing for consumers to understand when discussing this subject is that they're not buying a product to own, but rather purchasing a licensed copy—restricting use to the Terms of Service or End User License Agreement," he explains.

"Unlike a console game, which you purchase and own outright, PC games have severely restricted ownership issues due to the nature of the transaction. If merchants choose to break street date and sell the product early, consumers are still agreeing to the licensing terms that the publisher includes in the click-wrap." So if the terms are that the game requires activation, and that will only be made available on a specific date, there is really nothing anyone can do.

Halpin and the ECA have long argued for more open end-user licensing agreements. "All of this of course, really goes to the point that we need to drive toward a standardized EULA and more general openness about what publishers are selling and consumers are buying. This Borderlands example lends even more credence to that position," he told Ars.

The takeaway?

These days, even if you have the box and disc in your hand, if the publisher doesn't want you to play the game, you won't be able to. The physical product you purchased was basically a means of transporting the data and license to you, not a product in and of itself. That's bad news for gamers who want to play a game before everyone else, but good news for publishers looking for more control of how and when their games are played.