GameStop sued over DLC issue

EA's anti-trade-in scheme Project Ten Dollar has landed US mega-retailer GameStop in trouble.

James Collins, a GameStop customer, is suing the store for being "deceptively misleading". He claims he bought a second-hand copy of Dragon Age: Origins because the box promised him free DLC.

But, as we know, those one-use DLC codes are only for first-hand buyers. Or, rather, they get first refusal.

Collins, who paid $54.99 plus tax (roughly only $5 less than for a retail copy) for his game, soon found that he would have to pay an additional $15 online if he wanted the downloadable content. That would be $10 more than if he'd bought the game first-hand.

He tried for a refund but the GameStop manager told him his seven day exchange window had expired.

"GameStop, who makes more than 20 per cent of its revenue and nearly $2 billion from the sale of used videogames, is aware of this issue, and continues to fail to alert customers that this content is not available on used games. As a result, GameStop tricks consumers into paying more for a used game than they would if they purchased the same game and content new," stated the lawsuit (spotted by IGN).

Earlier this month, GameStop told investors that schemes like Project Ten Dollar weren't compelling enough to consumers to present a real problem.