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Game4u has violated retail guidelines set by its parent company and distributor Milestone Interactive by offering console hardware as well as new and upcoming games at discounted prices.
In 2011, Milestone Interactive directed online retailers not to sell games distributed by it below MRP (maximum retail price) for a period of 60 days from release. The company had threatened to withhold stock of games to retailers who broke this rule, and reassured them that the same guidelines applied to Game4u.
While Game4u, the retail arm of Milestone, hasn’t been discounting new games on its website, it has been selling games and consoles on eBay under a different name – jrs-game-store. While these listings make no mention of Game4u, the invoices sent to eBay customers are from Game4u and bear the discounted rates listed on eBay.
Milestone Interactive’s game distribution portfolio includes Sony, EA and Capcom, and one of EA’s high-profile upcoming releases – Crysis 3, was being sold at lower than its Rs 2,999 MRP by Game4u via eBay (screenshot below). The price has been revised after the above informationwent public on the IVG forums.
At the time of writing, the eBay store is also selling DmC: Devil May Cry, which released last month, lower than MRP.
The eBay store has also been regularly selling PlayStation consoles well below market price, going against Sony’s guidelines. At the time of writing, the eBay store is offering the 500 GB three-game PS3 bundle at a discounted price. It is also stripping the bundle down and selling the console as a standalone at a lower price, once again against retail guidelines.
Repeated attempts to contact Milestone and Game4u for comment on these revelations have gone unanswered.
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