Batman: Arkham City’s Catwoman code comes free with pre-owned copies at GameStop
One of the largest video game retailers in the United States, GameStop, have announced that they will offer gamers codes for Catwoman for free on Pre-Owned copies of the game.
For those readers who have not been following the recent happenings in the video game industry this may not seem like a newsworthy story, yet in more ways than one it is.
Before we delve into that however, a bit of background and context would be beneficial for everyone. Earlier this year, a number of publishers announced that they would be introducing ‘Online Pass’ systems for their upcoming games, which would require gamers who purchased pre-owned copies of the game to purchase an extra code as well.
This code would form the ‘Online Pass’ and would give them access to the game’s online features, which include multiplayer. The reason for his was because publishers and developers were not making any revenue from pre-owned game sales.
In Batman: Arkham City’s case the game’s developer, Rocksteady, announced that the Catwoman code, which would unlock the character for the players to play as in the game, would follow a similar design.
By that they meant that it would be a one-time use code after which any gamer who purchased the same copy of the game would not be able to access the feline character without having to fork over some extra cash.
That would have been the case had it not been for a deal struck between Warner Bros., the game’s publisher, and GameStop. A result of which is that gamers who purchase pre-owned copies of the game will get the Catwoman unlock code absolutely free of cost.
The content itself was set to cost gamers an extra $10 had it not been for the deal, instead pre-owned copies of the game will sell at their standard price and the code will be printed on the receipts.
What the specifics of the deal are is unclear at this point, however, GameStop will be sure to attract a huge share of the market with the move and Warner Bros. will surely have something to gain from the move as well, though what this is exactly is unclear.
Batman: Arkham City on the other hand is set to release on the 18th of October in the United States and three days later on the 21st of October in Europe. So the deal will not come into play just yet, with a large number of copies of the game expected to do the round of first hand sales before they reappear on shelves as ‘pre-owned’.
However, seeing that the game does not have a huge element of multiplayer this is one game that may very well earn a fair amount of revenue in the long run as a pre-owned title.
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