Bethesda Blocked a Re-Sell Of The Game ‘The Evil Within 2,’ And Here’s Why

The Evil Within 2 is the much anticipated and well-received sequel to The Evil Within, a survival horror game made by the same developer and director as the critically acclaimed Resident Evil series. Much like its predecessor, the game was packed with atmospheric scares, fluid combat mechanics, and terrifying monsters.

Gamers looking to enjoy the full game without having to pay full price might go onto sites like Amazon to find pre-owned or pre-used copies. However, Bethesda, the game company that produced the game, shut down such a sale.

Ryan Hupp tried to put an unopened and unplayed copy of The Evil Within 2 for sale on his Amazon account. Before he was able to sell it, he received a legal letter from Bethesda’s lawyer. The letter told him it was unlawful for him to try and sell the game, and threatened legal action if he refused to take it down.

Not only that, but they also ordered him to take down all the other Bethesda titles he had for sale on his Amazon account.

While this sounds aggressive on Bethesda’s part, it’s not entirely what it seems. They came on a bit strong, but they do have reasoning behind their actions. Turns out, the issue Bethesda had with Hupp is not him selling the games, but the fact that he referred to them as “new” in the item description.

Even though it is technically true — Hupp hadn’t opened or played the games — they still can’t allow an independent seller to advertise a “new” game. Because Hupp bought the game and is attempting to sell it, it is now “used” according to the original seller.

This is an important distinction for the company. To them, there is a possibility that he could have taken the game out of the packaging and tampered with it before placing it back into its original packaging. Pete Hines, Bethesda’s vice president, explained the concept to Eurogamer in an interview.

“All we’re saying is if it’s a previously owned product, you have to sell it as a previously owned product,” he said. “You owned it, you bought it, so just list it as a used title. That’s it, that’s the end of the argument.”

According to PCGamer, Bethesda isn’t trying to block sales of pre-used games, they’re just trying to play it safe.

“You can’t say that it’s new because I have no way to verify that,” Pete said. “Ultimately, that person is our customer we have to deal with. If there’s stuff missing or things that have happened, we’re the ones that are going to have to make it right.”