Fan site OnLiveFans.com touted the free online version offered with Deus Ex: Human Revolution -- but GameStop stripped the coupons out of copies sold in its stores.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Video game retailer GameStop issued an apology Friday for opening up copies of the just-released PC game Deus Ex: Human Revolution to remove a coupon that would have led customers to one of its competitors.

GameStop (GME, Fortune 500) said it would provide a $50 gift certificate as well as a "buy two, get one free" deal on used games to any customers who purchased a copy of Deus Ex that GameStop had opened.







"We regret the events surrounding this title release and that our customers were put in the middle of this issue between GameStop and Square Enix, the publisher of this game. And for this, we are truly sorry," Paul Raines, CEO of GameStop, said in an e-mail.

GameStop took a lot of heat from the gaming community earlier this week after GameStop directed its employees to open up copies of Deus Ex to remove a coupon that was meant to give all physical copy buyers free access to the game on an online gaming service called OnLive.

OnLive is a streaming service that brings cloud-based games onto on TVs, computers and, soon, tablets. The service had priced its own version of the game at $49.99, the same price as a physical copy -- which meant customers were effectively getting a $50 game for free.

But GameStop also sells a digital edition of Deus Ex, and its views OnLive as a direct competitor. The company's position had been that the game's publisher, Japan-based Square Enix, should not have packaged the coupon with the game without informing GameStop.

"GameStop's policy is that we do not promote competitive services without a formal partnership," a GameStop spokesman told CNNMoney earlier this week.

Square Enix later said it felt that felt GameStop was within its rights to remove the coupon. Fans of Deus Ex, however, felt that GameStop had crossed the line by opening up software package and altering it before selling it to consumers.