THQ Ships Company of Heroes Sans CD Keys

Certain retailers in Canada and the US have received copies of Tales of Valor, the new Company of Heroes expansion, that don't come with CD keys. Oops.

Here's a nightmare scenario that'll send shivers up any PC gamer's spine and give console champions more ammunition for PC mockery: you wait months for an expansion to your favorite World War II real-time strategy game, finally you hit up your local brick and mortar store to pick up a copy of the game, but when you get home and try to install it, you can't. Because there's no CD key there. Cruel, it is.

That might happen to you if you buy Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor from "certain retailers in the United States and Canada," according to THQ. Apparently there was some sort of slip-up in the process of printing out the manuals, which left them incomplete or misprinted in some way. The CD key, naturally, is in the manual, and it might just end up missing.

What to do? Well, THQ's supplying replacement keys. All you need to do is go over to their customer support, submit a complaint, and then provide THQ with a photo (THQ wants a .jpg specifically, what no love for .bmp?) of your defective manual and a receipt proving that you bought the game. THQ will then send you a replacement key via email. Unfortunately if you bought multiple copies for your upcoming LAN party or whatever, THQ won't be able to help - they're asking for only one request per person.

Has this happened to any of you Tales of Valor buyers? Guess it's just another justification for buying digital.

[Via Shacknews]