GameStop can be a little defensive about competing efforts to sell games online, much in the same way record shops have few nice things to say about the iTunes Store. Yesterday, the company was caught opening copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution on the PC in order to remove a coupon code that would have given customers a free copy of the game via the OnLive streaming service, and then selling the opened copies as new.

This resulted in a wave of negative press, and GameStop responded in the most reasonable way possible: it simply removed all copies of the game from store shelves.

"The coupon... is for a competitive service"

The e-mail instructing employees to remove the game from the store shelves was sent to store managers, and a copy was forwarded to Wired.com. Take a look:

Square Enix is defending GameStop's right to control what is sold in their stores. "As part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution's boxed offering on PC, Square Enix included a third-party coupon," Square Enix said in a statement. "GameStop was not made aware of this inclusion and Square Enix respects the right of GameStop to have final say over the contents of products it sells and to adjust them where they see fit in accordance with their policies. Square Enix invites gamers who want to purchase the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution without additional coupons to buy the game at any one of over 4,000 GameStop stores in North America or purchase a digital download copy online from www.gamestop.com."

GameStop won't be selling the game until Square Enix provides boxed copies that do not include the code, although you will still be able to buy the game online. A retailer opening the products it sells and removing offers for competing services certainly sets an aggressive precedent.

GameStop has made some impressive moves in the digital space, including the counter-intuitive success the company has found selling digital content in the stores themselves. That said, GameStop is dependent on the high margins of used game sales to fuel growth, and that market is going away as digital distribution grows in popularity. The retailer's only option is to grow its digital service aggressively, and if it has to leverage the power of its physical sales presence to keep offers from competing services away from its customers... so be it.