G2A Steam Key Reseller Drama Thread

[FeelTheRads]

This is what they're saying is happening:

1) Buy key directly from developer.

2) Cancel credit card transaction. You still have the key, developer gets no money.

3) Sell key to G2A.

4) G2A gets money by reselling key.

Can you buy a key directly? Doesn't that activate it?

And if you can do that, how many times do they allow it before blocking that credit card? I mean, if somebody keeps buying and cancelling you should probably block that card.

My suspicion is that most of of those keys are from people who get them on bundles for like a couple of cents per key. Seems like a lot more keys can be obtained that way than through stealing.
So maybe they should think about that first and stop selling their games for pocket change.

 

[Morkar Left]

However, with keys... what the fuck. It it's activated you can't sell it anymore.

Yep. What I utterly can't into understanding is why are devs claiming they earn ZERO money for keys bought on G2A. Unless the wily Poles run an illicit key generator in their basement this shouldn't be possible. Afaik G2A can't sell a key that wasn't generated and sold by the devs first.

But they do seem to be very butthurt about it so there must be something to it.

Only thing I can imagine is indeed stolen credit card purchases and free keys they gave out. The stolen credit card purchases tey won't see money i guess because the transaction gets cancelled but the thiefs have the keys already.

 

[Modron]

This is what they're saying is happening:

1) Buy key directly from developer.

2) Cancel credit card transaction. You still have the key, developer gets no money.

3) Sell key to G2A.

4) G2A gets money by reselling key.

Can't developers revoke specific keys on steam?

 

[FeelTheRads]

Good point. Transaction cancelled? Revoke the key.
What's the problem?

 

[the_shadow]

Maybe I'm naive and uninformed, but my mind is blown by the big stink that is kicked up by G2A and other key reselling sites. So people buy game keys when they are on sale, or as part of a bundle, and then resell them, sometimes making a profit. Why does the developer care? They still make the same amount of money whether the key is resold or not. The whole issue about people purchasing keys with fraudulent credit cards confuses me, can't developers just invalidate the key if it was fraudulently purchased? And isn't the real issue that it's being purchased fraudulently in the first place, rather than it being resold? Sure, the on-selling is the motivation, but the actual theft occurs whether someone intends to sell or play the game.

The one benefit of buying Steam keys from other sites is that many games (particularly Indie ones) don't have Australian prices, meaning that you can't purchase them, even if they are global keys.

And I have to shake my head at all the people who are outraged that they got scammed out of 15 bucks by someone on key-reselling sites. I'm not justifying fraud. However, if you're engaging in a grey market to save a dollar, that entails a certain amount of extra risk.

 

[Gerrard]

Good point. Transaction cancelled? Revoke the key.
What's the problem?

Retarded monkeys who bought stolen keys then blaming it on the developer.

 

[Modron]

Good point. Transaction cancelled? Revoke the key.
What's the problem?

To me it sounds like most of the stink is from developers with terrible accounting and/or are just being too lazy to deal with the problem themselves. Granted maybe they are just upset they aren't getting cuts of bundle key resales as well which isn't anything new what with publishers complaining about console game resales and increased mandates that games have multiplayer redeemable components that only could be activated once and shiet.

 

[Morkar Left]

Good point. Transaction cancelled? Revoke the key.
What's the problem?

Retarded monkeys who bought stolen keys then blaming it on the developer.

G2A has an isurance for that afaik. If the key is invalid you get your money back

 

[Gerrard]

Good point. Transaction cancelled? Revoke the key.
What's the problem?

Retarded monkeys who bought stolen keys then blaming it on the developer.

G2A has an isurance for that afaik. If the key is invalid you get your money back

Yeah, if you pay extra. For something that is a basic consumer right.

 

[Nyast]

This is what they're saying is happening:

1) Buy key directly from developer.

2) Cancel credit card transaction. You still have the key, developer gets no money.

3) Sell key to G2A.

4) G2A gets money by reselling key.

You forgot an important step:

2.5) Developer get charged an extra 50% penalty by the banks due to the refund / fraud.

It's not just that they don't get the money for the game's sale, it's that they actually lose money on fraudulent transactions.

Also, they're the ones getting spammed with support requests ( which costs time = money ).

Example: https://www.pcgamer.com/a-brazilian-hacker-explains-how-g2a-game-key-scams-work/

 

[Infinitron]

Good point. Transaction cancelled? Revoke the key.
What's the problem?

To me it sounds like most of the stink is from developers with terrible accounting and/or are just being too lazy to deal with the problem themselves. Granted maybe they are just upset they aren't getting cuts of bundle key resales as well which isn't anything new what with publishers complaining about console game resales and increased mandates that games have multiplayer redeemable components that only could be activated once and shiet.

Yes, it's mainly a problem for indie developers who don't have the bandwidth/expertise for dealing with this stuff. They're also the ones most likely to have their game dumped in various shady bundles.

 

[Nyast]

And if you can do that, how many times do they allow it before blocking that credit card? I mean, if somebody keeps buying and cancelling you should probably block that card.

It's always different accounts and different credit cards, see article posted above.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Wow, he made a whole $500 by going through all that trouble. Huepoors, stop being so poor.

Still G2A is as guilty as ebay is when someone sells a stolen product there.

 

[BlackAdderBG]

This is what they're saying is happening:

1) Buy key directly from developer.

2) Cancel credit card transaction. You still have the key, developer gets no money.

3) Sell key to G2A.

4) G2A gets money by reselling key.

Can't developers revoke specific keys on steam?

They can. Word of advice SEGA does that for sure, so if you are looking to buy some of their games from resellers be prepared to lose it down the road.

 

[Rahdulan]

The absolute asshurt that consumers are allowed to sell something they paid money for

While there are undoubtedly stolen keys circulating aka bought with stolen CC information and subsequently charged back, I believe a lot of industry butthurt does in fact come from what you say. I should be able to sell my Humble Monthly keys, for example. I sure as fuck paid for them.

 

[cvv]

Wow, he made a whole $500 by going through all that trouble. Huepoors, stop being so poor.

Still G2A is as guilty as ebay is when someone sells a stolen product there.

This. Plus there's one additional WTF element - why is everyone always riding G2A ass? Blaming a reseller for credit card theft (or your inability to revoke Steam keys) is weird enough but if people insist on doing that they should blame the entire reseller market.

Also this nugget from G2A wiki page:

Sergei Klimov, the owner of the Lithuania studio behind Gremlins, Inc., Charlie Oscar, said that G2A itself is not a problem but instead the mismanagement of indie owners with their keys when they participate in game bundles or other programs that require them to generate a large number of keys...

A picture starts to emerge doesn't it? Ofc all the outrage Youtubers are running with the "G2A so eevul" line. These fuckers are great for calling out and punishing various corpo shenanigans but a reliable source of objective info they are not.

 

[DalekFlay]

The only thing I dislike is selling cheap keys from one country in a country with a much higher average wage. That kind of abuse of the system is a disincentive for publishers when it comes to using aggressive regional pricing, which I think a lot of people need to afford games. Other than that I agree with the "I bought this key I can do what I want with it" stance, as long as fraud can be stopped.

The future is no keys at all though, which will put G2A out of business and make this all irrelevant.

 

[cvv]

The only thing I dislike is selling cheap keys from one country in a country with a much higher average wage.

Afaik you can't use a Ruski key if you live in the imperialist West. Unless you use a VPN in which case you might as well buy a game directly from the Ruski Steam. Also good luck playing in Ruski yazyk only.

The future is no keys at all though, which will put G2A out of business

Also the entire ecosystem living off of Steam keys. Not sure if that'd be good or bad tho.

 

[cvv]

5 years old but I haven't seen it before. Makes sense. EZ money. Why haven't I thought of that? Oh wait, because I'm not a fucking scumbag. Also devs who just send out keys willy nilly are retarded.

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Les...0/How_to_get_every_game_on_STEAM_for_free.php

 

[GreyViper]

G2A user here. I think I got burned twice with a key that did not work. On the other hand that why I used PayPal so G2A did not get the money until I had a working key. Honestly, I have No Remorse or No Regrets using the site. Mostly Activision/Bliz, Ubi and god forbid something from EA.
But yeah avoid their extra services and use Paypal for payment, for Steam get Keys, not gifts(takes way to long) and you won't get burned.

 

[FeelTheRads]

5 years old but I haven't seen it before. Makes sense. EZ money. Why haven't I thought of that? Oh wait, because I'm not a fucking scumbag. Also devs who just send out keys willy nilly are retarded.

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Les...0/How_to_get_every_game_on_STEAM_for_free.php

Damn, the Fluent scheme.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

You forgot an important step:

2.5) Developer get charged an extra 50% penalty by the banks due to the refund / fraud.

It's not just that they don't get the money for the game's sale, it's that they actually lose money on fraudulent transactions.

Also, they're the ones getting spammed with support requests ( which costs time = money ).

Example: https://www.pcgamer.com/a-brazilian-hacker-explains-how-g2a-game-key-scams-work/

This isn't the customer's problem

 

[rusty_shackleford]

5 years old but I haven't seen it before. Makes sense. EZ money. Why haven't I thought of that? Oh wait, because I'm not a fucking scumbag. Also devs who just send out keys willy nilly are retarded.

https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Les...0/How_to_get_every_game_on_STEAM_for_free.php

So, as it turned out, roughly 70% of the keys we had given out were taken under false pretenses, or to use a more direct term, stolen

Being hustled isn't the same as theft.

 

[Gerrard]

Nothing was forcibly removed from an inventory.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...lopers-have-called-for-g2as-key-blocking-tool

Only 19 developers have called for G2A's key blocking tool
But divisive marketplace has offered an extension for more people to register interest

G2A's proposal to build a key blocking tool that helps developers prevent their games being sold through company's website has failed to stir interest among studios.

The company outlined plans for such a tool in the wake of a dispute with indie publisher No More Robots, which started the call for players to pirate games rather than buy them via G2A.

The firm behind the controversial marketplace made several different attempts to defend itself, culminating in the promise of a key blocker. The proposed tool would enable developers to specify keys they do not want to be sold via G2A, marking them as either giveaway codes or review copies.

But G2A noted that since such a project would be expensive to develop, it wanted 100 developers to register interest by August 15 before it could justify building it.

So far, only 19 studios have supported this proposal.

In the interest of transparency, G2A has published the list of all 19, which includes: Beer Money Games, Bossa Studios, CCP Games, Crimson Leaf, Deep Silver, Dirty Beast Games, Dynart, Electrocosmos, Farom Studio, Fox Byte Games, Hound Picked Games, MetalBear, Modoka Studios Entertainment, Moonlight Mouse, Nyaargh, SimaGames, Squidpunch Studios, Tate Mutimedia, and Troglobytes Games.

However, G2A has extended its deadline to the end of August to give more developers a chance to say whether they want this tool or not. The company will also be discussing the plans with studios during Gamescom in Cologne next week.

Meanwhile, a petition started by No More Robots' founder Mike Rose around the same time, calling for G2A to stop selling indie games entirely, has received more than 6,200 signatures.

Subnautica dev in the comments:

Charlie Cleveland Game Director/Founder, Unknown Worlds 20 hours ago

G2A is such a gross company.

It's a load of crap that this tool would be "expensive" to develop. It's also suspect how they are pushing the names of developers who don't want their games to be sold on their service - it's almost like they want blowback from players who don't understand the shadiness of their service and be encouraged to review bomb those developers. It's also terrible to put the impetus on developers to have to take action with G2A to get this proposal moving in the first place, while G2A profits off gray-market sales and credit card fraud.

Mike Rose is right - it IS better for players to pirate than buy a key off G2A. We paid $30,000 to deal with credit card chargebacks because of G2A (written about here: https://www.engadget.com/2013/03/08/natural-selection-2-credit-card-scam-sees-developer-out-30-000/).

So, G2A, if you really want to put your money where your mouth is, you will now pay us (Unknown Worlds) $300,000.

https://www.g2a.com/news/latest/g2a-vows-to-pay-devs-10x-the-money-proven-to-be-lost-on-chargebacks/