If you play it, enjoy it, and ESPECIALLY if you have it long enough to complete it, you ought to pay for it. That said, Square itself isn't necessarily obliged to get money out of you, but if not them than whoever is selling the game used.

This one incident won't bring down the industry or anything, but it would if it were possible to do on a wide scale. So in the grand scheme of things this is a non-issue, but it's certainly unethical all the same.

I hope your friend doesn't buy games like Street Fighter down the line on PS4. He probably also doesn't know Sony signed an even "worse" deal for gamers in the late 90's involving the Tomb Raider franchise.

But isn't the TR bundle a digital download? If so, it doesn't hurt MS or Square, the unit is already sold on their end. And if the retailer he bought it from allows a redeemed digital code to be returned, that's on them.

Some people use Gamestop as a rental service (just gotta beat the game quick enough to hit the full refund window). Apparently 'buying' nice clothes for social events and then returning them the next day is a common occurrence. I don't think exploiting easy return policies is ethical on the part of the customer in this regard, but they're well within their rights as per the rules set forth by the companies they're dealing with.

LOL who really cares? What is the difference between this or renting? Its pretty funny actually and saves money.I would not waste the time doing it and TR of all games is not worth it so he is not missing anything special.More power to him if that's how he roll.

It is unethical.

Here is the problem: once too many people starting exploiting this loophole, companies will possibly react by limiting it. They may shorten the full refund window or just limit it to certain cases.

I know everyone wants revenge against big companies these days, but the result of this kind of behavior will be lost benefits for the consumer.

Where is your proof of this? Sony is paying for SF4 development so no where near the same deal.SF is bigger on PS either way and this thread is about his friend.not who did what deal.

I liked this bit of your comment a lot. I agree 100%.

By the time he finishes, the game and hardware will win him over.

And I mentioned his friend, right there the 4th word you quoted? I don't care about your loopholes regarding Street Fighter, either. Hope that helps.

OP, where did he buy it from? I still think if the retailer is dumb enough to take a console back with a used digital code then it's their own fault.

I think retailers are stupid for taking back opened used products. Now, as for your friend, the game must've been important enough for him to go through the trouble of going to the store to buy it, then download it, play it and obviously enjoy it, all for free after he returns it. Seems like stealing almost. If a game is that important, why not just wait for it then? This type of thinking makes no sense to me at all. Companies make deals all the time, why cry about this one?