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- The sign of daredevilism: GTA VI will be released in Russia bypassing sanctions — with labeling
The sign of daredevilism: GTA VI will be released in Russia bypassing sanctions — with labeling
Russian retailers are preparing to change the rules for selling foreign video games. One of the first projects to go on sale under the new scheme will be Grand Theft Auto VI. Due to the lack of official distribution in Russia and Rockstar Games' refusal to release the game on physical media, sellers decided to use labeling to warn buyers that a foreign PlayStation Network account would be required for activation. The extent to which the idea meets the requirements of the law and what risks buyers cannot avoid is described in the Izvestia article.
They will warn you in advance
Russian retail chains are introducing additional labeling for GTA VI. In fact, we are talking about updating the format of selling digital games. If earlier a person purchased a disk or a code and could immediately use the purchase, now the seller is obliged to inform in advance about all restrictions on the use of the product.
These restrictions are related to the fact that the publisher Rockstar Games has included the Russian Federation in the list of countries where the game is officially unavailable for purchase. Activation of digital keys on Russian accounts is also blocked. Thus, without a foreign account, the buyer will become the owner of a dummy.
— The games of the Grand Theft Auto series are traditionally incredibly popular with fans of video games, for 10 years we have sold more than 500 thousand copies of GTA V discs. There is a huge interest in the new game, but we were forced to postpone the start of pre—orders due to Rockstar's rejection of the disc version of the project," said the head of the Game Development and Gaming Community department at M.The video" Sergey Mezin.
According to him, the company decided to put a special sticker on the boxed version with a warning that the digital code is suitable for activation only in PlayStation Network accounts in the European region. After such labeling appears, the retailer expects to open sales of the boxed version with a digital key inside. In addition, customers will be offered services for creating an account, activating the game on the console, and upgrading to the premium edition of Ultimate.
Despite the restrictions, sellers are recording record interest in the new part of Grand Theft Auto. Restore: Izvestia was informed that in the first week after the opening of pre-orders, their volume reached 60% of the total sales of GTA V on the network in three years.
Such excitement is understandable from the point of view of users. The Grand Theft Auto series has long ceased to be just a video game and has become one of the main cultural phenomena of the 21st century — a kind of interactive encyclopedia of modern popular culture, where a criminal plot is combined with sharp satire on politics, television, show business, social networks and consumer society. Her characters have become as recognizable as the characters in cult films: they are quoted, cosplayed, and turned into memes.
More than 410 million copies have been sold worldwide, and GTA VI set a new historical record even before its full release, collecting more than 39 million pre-orders and bringing Rockstar Games over $3 billion in revenue in just the first day. For comparison, the budget for the development itself was about $2 billion.
The restore company also plans to warn fans of the game about the difficulties of using the sixth series.
— Since the box will contain not a disk, but an electronic activation key, such an item is legally non-refundable after the code has been handed over to the buyer. We will inform customers about this in advance — all regional restrictions and conditions of use will be marked by our partners who import products, in accordance with the legislation, they explained.
Representatives of the network noted that they understand the possible difficulties with regional restrictions, so store staff will help customers set up an additional foreign account to launch the game.
The MTS press service said that the company opened a pre-order at the same time as the global sales launch. After placing an order, the user receives detailed instructions on how to activate the game, and will also be able to download it to the console in advance a week before the official release. In addition, the service allows you to create a PlayStation account in the required region. Information about which region is used for the purchase and what actions will need to be performed is posted on the order page and additionally sent to the buyer after pre-ordering.
Purchase at your own risk
The introduction of labeling is not so much an initiative of sellers as a consequence of the requirements of consumer protection legislation, experts say.
— The seller is obliged to provide the consumer with the necessary and reliable information about the product in a timely manner so that he can make an informed choice. If it is stated in advance that the game is intended only for a foreign account, and the seller does not provide registration or verification services, he performs his duties. If the buyer has not been warned about such restrictions, and it is impossible to use the game, the consumer has the right to cancel the contract and demand a refund," explained Tamara Bogdanova, PhD in Law, Senior associate at Semenov & Pevzner law firm.
According to her, at the same time, legal uncertainty remains. The law "On Consumer Rights Protection" has not been applied to the results of intellectual activity for a long time. However, since the end of 2024, the Uniform Rules for Consumer Protection of the Union State have entered into force, which make it possible to extend these rules to digital products. Judicial practice on video games is still practically non-existent.
It is also worth considering the features of the digital game distribution model itself. You can lose the new GTA at any time.
— By purchasing GTA VI, the buyer does not actually receive the game as a product, but a license to use the result of intellectual activity, the scope of which is determined by the copyright holder. If the account is blocked or the copyright holder stops providing access, the user will lose the game without being able to refund the money. Additional risks arise when using accounts registered with unreliable regional data, since their blocking may be provided for by the rules of the platform itself,— explained senior associate at MWS AI (part of MTS Web Services) Kirill Dyakov.
Buying foreign accounts, experts say, violates the PlayStation Network, Steam, and Xbox user agreements. In addition, fraudulent schemes are common in the gray market, when a seller restores a sold account after some time through the platform's support service or sells the same account to several buyers at once.
With the "Refund through support" scheme, the seller creates an account, buys a game with it, transfers access to the buyer, and then contacts the support service with a hacking complaint and regains control of the account. In another common scheme, the same account is sold to several users at once, after which the platform blocks it due to suspicious activity.
But, according to market participants, if the GTA VI sales scheme with mandatory warning to buyers proves successful, a similar practice may spread to other major foreign game releases that are officially unavailable in the Russian Federation.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
