What Is An "unauthorized" Sale Of A Physical Copy Of A Game That Doesn't Have An "agreement" With The Video Game Company?

For context, I played video games until the early 2000s, back then they only required a purchase of physical copies of the game.

I got back into video gaming, and until I purchased the Ghost Recon games from Ubisoft, the only other video game that required online connectivity was Hitman by IO Interactive.

I had some questions about the required online connection, and was met with unhelpful and dismissive responses and downvotes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HiTMAN/comments/17zbkfi/does_io_interactive_really_sell_players_data/

literally every company does this this isnt new

u/mrtriggrd

That wasn't a helpful, because I am out of the loop, so when I asked further for clarification the following comment was downvoted 25 times.

Every video game company? I don't play games online, I'm only forced to play online on Hitman. So this is new to me.

I didn't get a lot of helpful answers, so I just shrugged my shoulders and left it at that.

Just recently I bought a preowned Ultimate Collection Ghost Recon Breakpoint game in a steelbook, and that I could only play the base game, as the code that come with it was either expired or already used. I was surprised to see this as I viewed deluxe versions of video games as collectibles, and indeed some retro video games are being sold at auctions for thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars:

https://comics.ha.com/video-games/?type=google_retro%20games%20auction_nid-g-cid-691570431016-mt-p-device-c-ap--dm--clksrc-ad-cmpnid-21024566626-adgpid-157540368406-fditm--locphys-9003905&gad_source=1

I voiced my complaint about it to Ubisoft and they tell me this.

Hello!

Thank you for replying back to Ubisoft Support regarding your Ultimate Collection copy of Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

As previously mentioned as this product was purchased from a unauthorized seller than our Ubisoft Store, If you choose to purchase a Ubisoft game or content from an online retailer that does not have this agreement with Ubisoft, you may receive an invalid or illegally-obtained key, which could end up being revoked.

Since your request has been completed, we will proceed to close the case. Remember that you can reopen it at any time, or you can contact us again if you need anything else.

Have a great day further!

Sincerely,
Ubi-Abi
Ubisoft Support

I am shocked that he is speaking about this supposed "agreement" between Ubisoft and online retailers about a physical copy of a game I bought. I bought the actual hardware, it belongs to me.

It sounds lawsuit worthy, but these games have been out for years, and haven't been sued for it as long as I know. What legal framework protects Ubisoft from these lawsuits?

Explain it like I am 5, because I am clearly out of my depth here.