Gamestop having a version without Online could drastically shift sales to other retailers regardless of whether or not someone is likely to ever use the Onlive coupon.

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_…decisions.html (relevant part is 11 minutes in)

Offering a clearly inferior option has pretty dramatic effects on decision making - regardless of whether or not the inferiority is significant.

^ Gamestop is the one refusing to sell copies with the coupon. They don't offer a streaming service yet, though they do offer a download service. Still, they aren't making Steamworks an issue but were willing to further damage their reputation over a coupon for a company that competes with a product they intend to offer well into the future but not currently. If anyone threw a tantrum over this it would be Gamestop.