UPC has been punched (punched and sealed at the factory,

[Franmotard | 79]

Hi! Seen some games that say “UPC has been punched (punched and sealed at the factory, ” also seen it on some Wata games but I don’t understand what it is, can someone explain or got pictures of an example? Thank you 

[RH | 4,924]

It varies from game to game, but it was a way to give away a game for promotional use and mark it as an NFR without a sticker or anything.  Some CD games, often from SONY, have a hole punch punched into the UPC of the insert.  Literally think of a hand hole puncher sized hole.  Other NFR have had something mechanical punch through the case over the UPC.  I'm not sure if I've seen this for games, but it was common for music CDs that were often sent out for review.  I've also seen some discs that have had a saw cut on the spine of the CD.  It usually cuts in about 1/8th of an inch.  These are all ways that media distributors have signaled games were NFRs, often for review copies for the media, before wider release.  Sealed copies with whole punches in the UPC might have greater value in some contexts, but in general it might depend on how common the NFR is.  If such an NFR is open, it might hurt the value because such a hole punch is easy to reproduce.

Sorry for the tiny image, but here's a sample.  This variant of this game is quite rare.  I think most known copies are the NFR variant, but the 9/11 cover of Syphon Filter 3 did have a public release, albeit for an extremely short period of time.  I think there are more NFRs than sealed copies.

[Franmotard | 79]

25 minutes ago, RH said:

It varies from game to game, but it was a way to give away a game for promotional use and mark it as an NFR without a sticker or anything.  Some CD games, often from SONY, have a hole punch punched into the UPC of the insert.  Literally think of a hand hole puncher sized hole.  Other NFR have had something mechanical punch through the case over the UPC.  I'm not sure if I've seen this for games, but it was common for music CDs that were often sent out for review.  I've also seen some discs that have had a saw cut on the spine of the CD.  It usually cuts in about 1/8th of an inch.  These are all ways that media distributors have signaled games were NFRs, often for review copies for the media, before wider release.  Sealed copies with whole punches in the UPC might have greater value in some contexts, but in general it might depend on how common the NFR is.  If such an NFR is open, it might hurt the value because such a hole punch is easy to reproduce.

Sorry for the tiny image, but here's a sample.  This variant of this game is quite rare.  I think most known copies are the NFR variant, but the 9/11 cover of Syphon Filter 3 did have a public release, albeit for an extremely short period of time.  I think there are more NFRs than sealed copies.

Thank you! So I understand in your particular game is that black dot right? And from what you say I understand that collecting wise it doesn’t make them less valuable. I’m looking at a copy but it doesn’t have any black dot, just a smile hole on the side of the seal. Thank you! 

[RH | 4,924]

11 minutes ago, iLikePssys said:

Thank you! So I understand in your particular game is that black dot right? And from what you say I understand that collecting wise it doesn’t make them less valuable. I’m looking at a copy but it doesn’t have any black dot, just a smile hole on the side of the seal. Thank you! 

I think it depends on the game and, again, whether it's sealed or not.  And yes, that black dot is black because it's a hole and you're seeing the black case on the inside (since that's a double-disc title.)

Like I said, consider this an NFR.  Not all NFRs are created equal, though. Some are cheaper, some are more expensive and some are equal.  Completely depends on the system and the title.  It is a bit unsightly though.  I think of the NFR category of games, these types of NFRs are shunned a bit more, but if it's truly rare and special, it might be worth more. It just all depends.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

It’s not always a media review copy.  About 10 years ago I bought 200+ sealed ps1, ps2 games from a former Sony employee (One of the main Sony campuses was in the city that I lived in). 
 

about half of them had a hole punched in the insert within the plastic (the plastic had no hole) And they were all purchased at the company store for a discount, and that’s how it would make it so it could not be resold at a profit. I think they only charged them half of the value. 
 

I had also done play testing for quite a while at EA in Redwood City, and their company store was the same, where you could buy at a discount but they had a hole punched in the UPC so you could not resell for profit.

 

as i slowly sold them off over time, I didn’t find that much of a difference in pricing between one with a hole punched or one without a hole punched. some people would tell me that they were worthless and try and get a discount I stuck by my guns and ended up making close to retail awesome anyways. 

[RH | 4,924]

What @MrWunderful is completely true too.  In general, NFRs fall in the following categories. I suppose if any of these types were shipped in cases, they could have hole punches or other intentional damage to mark them as such.

• Media review copies
• Employee store copies (often sold at discounts, damaged to discourage reselling.)
• Store review copies 
• System Pack-Ins
• Promotional games, maybe, although I can't think of any promo/giveaway that might have given away complete copies of games they took the time to make "NFRs", but it is possible.

This is why not all NFRs are priced the same compared to their retail counterparts.  A pack-in NFR (common with the Genesis, for instance) is usually worth less than a standard copy.  A Nintendo NFR that was in a kiosk is often worth far more than its retail counterpart.  Sony had hole punched NFRs and I'm not sure about that market.  Again, I assume it's how common those titles are vs. retail variants plus people just don't like damaged items, which is what this is--controlled damage.

[Franmotard | 79]

Thank you very much both!

[Tabonga | 2,324]

The other use putting those holes in would be if items were being sold at a reduced price - it would prevent them being brought back with a receipt from a full priced game.  This was done with books, records, cds, dvds what not. Records would sometimes have the corners cut off. Items so marked were usually called cut-outs or overstocks.   Back in the good old days it was not uncommon to see records for $1 or $.50in the cut out bins  when regular items would cost $8 or so.  For people who were into music those bins were a bonanza since a lot of good (and obscure) stuff wound up in those bins.

This was done to help retailers since they usually provided receipts that didn't specify each purchase by title -just what category it feil in.

*This is still done with books - usually they mark the page sides of the book with a magic marker.

[TDIRunner | 2,744]

Somewhat related.  If I remember this correctly, I was once told that bookstores that had unsold books that would eventually get sent back to the publisher would be required to rip the cover off the book before sending it back in order to get a refund.  Books during this time usually had a page at the beginning indicating that if the cover of the book was missing, the book was stolen.  That always confused me as a kid until it was explained to me.  

[Tyree_Cooper | 757]

Is the hole punched through the insert only, or through the case too?

It's an effective way to avoid barcode scanning for sure , but boy is it ugly, looks like it took a bullet. Japanese and Asian Sony games have a much nicer way of handling it. They have an orange sticker covering the whole barcode, and the disc has an additional marking that says "SAMPLE", "NOT FOR SALE" or something similar.

Although the sticker can be removed, it usually messes up the insert, so the whole point is finding a clean copy with the sticker and matching disc.

Sticker explains what you can and cannot do with the game, pretty neat.

SAMPLE / Loaned by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
Please return after use. (lol)
This sample is not for sale and loaned for promotional purpose only. Use for any other purposes (such as lending or assignment to any third party) is prohibited.

 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Tyree_Cooper

[Franmotard | 79]

11 hours ago, Tyree_Cooper said:

Is the hole punched through the insert only, or through the case too?

It's an effective way to avoid barcode scanning for sure , but boy is it ugly, looks like it took a bullet. Japanese and Asian Sony games have a much nicer way of handling it. They have an orange sticker covering the whole barcode, and the disc has an additional marking that says "SAMPLE", "NOT FOR SALE" or something similar.

Although the sticker can be removed, it usually messes up the insert, so the whole point is finding a clean copy with the sticker and matching disc.

Sticker explains what you can and cannot do with the game, pretty neat.

SAMPLE / Loaned by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
Please return after use. (lol)
This sample is not for sale and loaned for promotional purpose only. Use for any other purposes (such as lending or assignment to any third party) is prohibited.

 

Yes I got a Japanese dark cloud that has something similar 

[Tabonga | 2,324]

22 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

Somewhat related.  If I remember this correctly, I was once told that bookstores that had unsold books that would eventually get sent back to the publisher would be required to rip the cover off the book before sending it back in order to get a refund.  Books during this time usually had a page at the beginning indicating that if the cover of the book was missing, the book was stolen.  That always confused me as a kid until it was explained to me.  

IIRC they were required to just send the covers back (lot less expensive that way) and they were supposed to throw out the books themselves.   I would see them at the flea market way back  when fairly often (in large lots)  so the bookstore employees were nabbing them.

[TDIRunner | 2,744]

58 minutes ago, Tabonga said:

IIRC they were required to just send the covers back (lot less expensive that way) and they were supposed to throw out the books themselves.   I would see them at the flea market way back  when fairly often (in large lots)  so the bookstore employees were nabbing them.

Yeah, that sounds right.  I hadn't thought about it in so many years I wasn't sure if I was remembering right.  I went and found some old paperback and sure enough it mentions that if the cover is missing, the author probably didn't receive compensation for it.  No idea if it's still common practice or not.  

[Tabonga | 2,324]

16 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

Yeah, that sounds right.  I hadn't thought about it in so many years I wasn't sure if I was remembering right.  I went and found some old paperback and sure enough it mentions that if the cover is missing, the author probably didn't receive compensation for it.  No idea if it's still common practice or not.  

Such books are/were referred to as "stripped books".