The STEAM Sales and Releases Thread - WINTER SALE 2024

[Cat Headed Eagle]

But that's the same warning that's issued about all of these key sites other than legit ones like Humble Bundle or Fanatical. You kinda played yourself with that one.

 

[Chuck Norris]

I bought a Hi-Fi Rush steam key from someone in Steamtrades 4-5 days ago. I activated the key, it worked, installed the game and even played it for 47 minutes.

Now, today I received this message from Steam:

A Steam Product code you activated has been removed from your account.

20 Jun
Hi-Fi RUSH PC Digital (WW)
Your recent Product code activation has been revoked due to a problem processing payment for this item. The games associated with this product code can no longer be played as a result. This could be due a problem with the payment methods you used to acquire this item from a third-party seller; or a problem with how the third-party seller acquired the Product code. Please contact the seller you acquired the Product code from for assistance.

If you would like to purchase the item, please visit the Steam Store. Otherwise you may choose to delete the local content associated with these games.

I didn't know something like this could happen. It's so unfair. If the CD-key has been acquired through unsavory ways, Steam should detect that upon activation. Not 4 days after the fact. Now the guy has removed me from his friend list and has closed his steamtrades listing, so I don't have access to him.

He was probably a scammer, but Steam is at fault here too. Now I have to start being paranoid about every CD key I acquire, because at any time, Steam can send a message like that and revoke it.

How much did you pay?

2.5 TF 2 keys. Its equivalent to 5 dollars.

But that's the same warning that's issued about all of these key sites other than legit ones like Humble Bundle or Fanatical. You kinda played yourself with that one.

Well people on steamtrades sell unwanted keys from Humble and Fanatical. It's not a site that sells keys itself.

And it doesn't happen with every key. I have gotten a lot of keys from there and all worked. There is a reputation system going that makes scamming very unlikely. This was an anomaly.

Anyways I'm poor and I cant afford to buy most games with real prices so no shame.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

you probably have a tenner:

 

[Latelistener]

Anyways I'm poor and I cant afford to buy most games with real prices so no shame.

If you need to buy something, you go to keyshops: https://gg.deals/game/hi-fi-rush/

Since Steam has raised prices, I have purchased a lot of bundled games from there and none of them were revoked.

Only one time a key was already activated, but I sent a message to the trader with a screenshot and he replaced it for me.

If you want to buy from someone on SteamTrades or Barter, you need to check their reputation first.

Judging from what I see on GG Deals, the lowest Hi-Fi Rush was is $6.19, so if someone is selling for lower than that it should raise questions.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I use gg.deals but filter out key sellers and only check actual storefronts like GMG, Fanatical, etc. Saves me from being concerned about the sketchy elements, for the most part. Never had any issues.

 

[Chuck Norris]

Anyways I'm poor and I cant afford to buy most games with real prices so no shame.

If you need to buy something, you go to keyshops: https://gg.deals/game/hi-fi-rush/

Since Steam has raised prices, I have purchased a lot of bundled games from there and none of them were revoked.

Only one time a key was already activated, but I sent a message to the trader with a screenshot and he replaced it for me.

If you want to buy from someone on SteamTrades or Barter, you need to check their reputation first.

Judging from what I see on GG Deals, the lowest Hi-Fi Rush was is $6.19, so if someone is selling for lower than that it should raise questions.

Yeah, I'm aware of GG.deals, but if you found someone who just wanted to get rid of his keys, you could get games for much cheaper than even the cheapest price on GG.deals.

For example, I got Kingdoms of Amalur: FATE Edition for 5 dollars on Steamtrades, even though it should be 8 dollars at least.

Or from the same guy who sold me Hi-Fi Rush, I also got Atari: 50th Anniversary for 2 dollars, but it's 3.18 dollars on GG.deals. (This is why I'm not sure if he was a scammer, because the Atari game is working fine so far).

But after having that experience, I'm going to be much more cautious.

 

[Elttharion]

Anyways I'm poor and I cant afford to buy most games with real prices so no shame.

If you need to buy something, you go to keyshops: https://gg.deals/game/hi-fi-rush/

Since Steam has raised prices, I have purchased a lot of bundled games from there and none of them were revoked.

Only one time a key was already activated, but I sent a message to the trader with a screenshot and he replaced it for me.

If you want to buy from someone on SteamTrades or Barter, you need to check their reputation first.

Judging from what I see on GG Deals, the lowest Hi-Fi Rush was is $6.19, so if someone is selling for lower than that it should raise questions.

Yeah, I'm aware of GG.deals, but if you found someone who just wanted to get rid of his keys, you could get games for much cheaper than even the cheapest price on GG.deals.

For example, I got Kingdoms of Amalur: FATE Edition for 5 dollars on Steamtrades, even though it should be 8 dollars at least.

Or from the same guy who sold me Hi-Fi Rush, I also got Atari: 50th Anniversary for 2 dollars, but it's 3.18 dollars on GG.deals. (This is why I'm not sure if he was a scammer, because the Atari game is working fine so far).

But after having that experience, I'm going to be much more cautious.

Steam removing a game from your library usually happens when either the publisher revokes the key or if the store contacts steam when someone does a chargeback on their credit card. Stolen credit cards are usually the biggest reason why keys are revoked. What was his reputation on steamtrades? I never had a problem there but I only trade with people with public steam accounts and very high positive reputations. Seems weird someone would nuke his account for 5 bucks. Did he block you on steam? Cant you check his account in you trade history?

I also only had problems with key sellers once, when a dude sold me RUS locked key, he apologized and refunded the full ammount for me in less than an hour.

 

[Chuck Norris]

Anyways I'm poor and I cant afford to buy most games with real prices so no shame.

If you need to buy something, you go to keyshops: https://gg.deals/game/hi-fi-rush/

Since Steam has raised prices, I have purchased a lot of bundled games from there and none of them were revoked.

Only one time a key was already activated, but I sent a message to the trader with a screenshot and he replaced it for me.

If you want to buy from someone on SteamTrades or Barter, you need to check their reputation first.

Judging from what I see on GG Deals, the lowest Hi-Fi Rush was is $6.19, so if someone is selling for lower than that it should raise questions.

Yeah, I'm aware of GG.deals, but if you found someone who just wanted to get rid of his keys, you could get games for much cheaper than even the cheapest price on GG.deals.

For example, I got Kingdoms of Amalur: FATE Edition for 5 dollars on Steamtrades, even though it should be 8 dollars at least.

Or from the same guy who sold me Hi-Fi Rush, I also got Atari: 50th Anniversary for 2 dollars, but it's 3.18 dollars on GG.deals. (This is why I'm not sure if he was a scammer, because the Atari game is working fine so far).

But after having that experience, I'm going to be much more cautious.

Steam removing a game from your library usually happens when either the publisher revokes the key or if the store contacts steam when someone does a chargeback on their credit card. Stolen credit cards are usually the biggest reason why keys are revoked. What was his reputation on steamtrades? I never had a problem there but I only trade with people with public steam accounts and very high positive reputations. Seems weird someone would nuke his account for 5 bucks. Did he block you on steam? Cant you check his account in you trade history?

I also only had problems with key sellers once, when a dude sold me RUS locked key, he apologized and refunded the full ammount for me in less than an hour.

I see. So the stolen credit card theory is the strongest. Do you know how long it takes for this to take effect? For example, can a game be revoked months after being activated?

His reputation on Steamtrades was +11. I know that's low, but I bought keys from lower reputations and I was fine.

His steam profile was not public. That should have been a red flag, but I didn't think anything of it. I should pay attention to that from now on.

He didn't nuke his account. Just closed all the open deals. He also made some deals with others. Some of them are resellers, so if he sold them a bad key, it would take a while for them to find out.

I have sent him a friend request again. I doubt he would accept it, but we'll see.

 

[Fargus]

I bought a Hi-Fi Rush steam key from someone in Steamtrades 4-5 days ago. I activated the key, it worked, installed the game and even played it for 47 minutes.

Now, today I received this message from Steam:

A Steam Product code you activated has been removed from your account.

20 Jun
Hi-Fi RUSH PC Digital (WW)
Your recent Product code activation has been revoked due to a problem processing payment for this item. The games associated with this product code can no longer be played as a result. This could be due a problem with the payment methods you used to acquire this item from a third-party seller; or a problem with how the third-party seller acquired the Product code. Please contact the seller you acquired the Product code from for assistance.

If you would like to purchase the item, please visit the Steam Store. Otherwise you may choose to delete the local content associated with these games.

I didn't know something like this could happen. It's so unfair. If the CD-key has been acquired through unsavory ways, Steam should detect that upon activation. Not 4 days after the fact. Now the guy has removed me from his friend list and has closed his steamtrades listing, so I don't have access to him.

He was probably a scammer, but Steam is at fault here too. Now I have to start being paranoid about every CD key I acquire, because at any time, Steam can send a message like that and revoke it.

What the royal fuck? I bought hundreds of games through shady russian key\gift vendors but never experienced anything like this.

It's funny when even russian key stores are more legit than whatever you guys use out there.

My condolences anyway. Losing money sucks.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Do you know how long it takes for this to take effect? For example, can a game be revoked months after being activated?

There are to many factors to be able to answer that with certainty. In theory, it could be months away.

 

[Modron]

There are to many factors to be able to answer that with certainty. In theory, it could be months away.

If it's trickled into months my guess would be scammer stole someone's identity, got a credit card in their name or they scammed a developer out of some keys and they just looked to see the range of them popping up all over the world.

On a really rare occasion a storefront might have erroneously included them in a bundle against the developer's wishes like so: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/833360/view/3883856311513332061.

 

[Elttharion]

Anyways I'm poor and I cant afford to buy most games with real prices so no shame.

If you need to buy something, you go to keyshops: https://gg.deals/game/hi-fi-rush/

Since Steam has raised prices, I have purchased a lot of bundled games from there and none of them were revoked.

Only one time a key was already activated, but I sent a message to the trader with a screenshot and he replaced it for me.

If you want to buy from someone on SteamTrades or Barter, you need to check their reputation first.

Judging from what I see on GG Deals, the lowest Hi-Fi Rush was is $6.19, so if someone is selling for lower than that it should raise questions.

Yeah, I'm aware of GG.deals, but if you found someone who just wanted to get rid of his keys, you could get games for much cheaper than even the cheapest price on GG.deals.

For example, I got Kingdoms of Amalur: FATE Edition for 5 dollars on Steamtrades, even though it should be 8 dollars at least.

Or from the same guy who sold me Hi-Fi Rush, I also got Atari: 50th Anniversary for 2 dollars, but it's 3.18 dollars on GG.deals. (This is why I'm not sure if he was a scammer, because the Atari game is working fine so far).

But after having that experience, I'm going to be much more cautious.

Steam removing a game from your library usually happens when either the publisher revokes the key or if the store contacts steam when someone does a chargeback on their credit card. Stolen credit cards are usually the biggest reason why keys are revoked. What was his reputation on steamtrades? I never had a problem there but I only trade with people with public steam accounts and very high positive reputations. Seems weird someone would nuke his account for 5 bucks. Did he block you on steam? Cant you check his account in you trade history?

I also only had problems with key sellers once, when a dude sold me RUS locked key, he apologized and refunded the full ammount for me in less than an hour.

I see. So the stolen credit card theory is the strongest. Do you know how long it takes for this to take effect? For example, can a game be revoked months after being activated?

His reputation on Steamtrades was +11. I know that's low, but I bought keys from lower reputations and I was fine.

His steam profile was not public. That should have been a red flag, but I didn't think anything of it. I should pay attention to that from now on.

He didn't nuke his account. Just closed all the open deals. He also made some deals with others. Some of them are resellers, so if he sold them a bad key, it would take a while for them to find out.

I have sent him a friend request again. I doubt he would accept it, but we'll see.

I dont think there is a time limit, I know the Factorio devs have revoked keys from G2A months after they were activated. Ubisoft did the same a few years ago. +11 is kinda low, yeah, but for a bundled game it shouldnt be a huge problem. The steam profile would be a better way to judge his account.

You should at least post on a negative rep in his steamtrades profile to see if he will say anything.

 

[Chuck Norris]

I dont think there is a time limit, I know the Factorio devs have revoked keys from G2A months after they were activated.

Well, that's just peachy. But at least I have access to all the other people who I have bought keys from. They are reputable.

You should at least post on a negative rep in his steamtrades profile to see if he will say anything.

I did, and also reported his Steam profile.

But I don't think it will amount to anything. He hasn't been online in Steamtrades since he closed his deals. I guess he just wanted to sell some dodgy keys and call it quits afterwards.

And Steam said on its report page that they don't ban profiles because of these reports, but they just want to stay up-to-date about the recent trends in scamming.

 

[Latelistener]

Usually only dev could revoke keys months and years away and it happens rarely and frowned upon.

If you don't want your keys to be sold on gray market sites, you don't sell your keys in batches to anyone and don't do bundles.

As being said, most likely there was something wrong with his card (stolen?). Maybe his dad found out he's wasting his money again and did a chargeback. No wonder he's not answering.

Most likely Humble Choice purchase where the game is featured currently got revoked along with other keys. Yes, they can revoke keys from Steam if you did a refund for some reason.

All in all, it seems like you just caught lightning in a bottle, but the cheap price should have been the first reason to avoid him.

 

[gabel]

Buy the game legitimately or pirate it.
Both ethically superior than these shady key-sellers.

 

[Chuck Norris]

One of the other traders who I happened to be friends with sent me a message saying that he noticed my bad review and his copy of High on Life from the same trader got revoked too. Said that in his 4 years of trading and 675 successful trades, this is the first time he got scammed this way. So as I said, this was an anomaly. And probably a new way of scamming. So one gotta be aware.

 

[Elttharion]

This is getting delisted on December 15th

 

[Caim]

Just a delist or will it become unplayable as well?

 

[Mitleser2020]

Just a delist or will it become unplayable as well?

On December 15, Forza Horizon 4 will be delisted from stores and Xbox Game Pass. This means the game and its additional content will no longer be available for purchase. Players who already own the game and its content will be able to download and play it as normal, including its offline, online, and multiplayer features; physical copies of the game purchased after this date will also work and will be able to use online features.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1293830/view/4185613970227394261

 

[Modron]

As far as I understand FH 2's servers were shut down last year, so don't count on FH4 online stuff lasting more than another 3 years. Still this thing does have an offline mode so don't expect to get sCrewed out of your game.

 

[ferratilis]

It has an offline mode, but they didn't explain how seasons will work after delisting, as those were handled by the server. Also, will all the cars that were a part of Forza playlist be available to players after delisting? I understand that all racing games will eventually suffer this fate due to how licensing works, but I especially dislike how Forza games are based on live service FOMO bullshit to keep you log in every week. Other than that, FH4 has some of the finest arcade racing since the early 00's.

EDIT: So they WILL make it possible to obtain all cars. And they also released information for all achievement hunters as to how obtain MP related achievements before the last festival playlist.

• Even though there won’t be any more Festival Playlists after Series 77 (August 22), you will still be able to see the Forza Events screen which will include a selection of daily and weekly challenges. Completing these challenges and Forzathon Live Events will earn you Forzathon Points that you can exchange for Backstage Passes.
• We will update the Backstage Pass Cars list with all the remaining cars that have previously been Festival Playlist Exclusive after Series 77.

Unlike those cunts at Ubisoft, this is a more graceful way of delisting a game. It also works well on Linux, which is a boon for Steam Deck users.

Now the only question that remains is what happens with all the custom car tunes and community created liveries? But I guess they'll answer that in due time.

 

[Latelistener]

I wouldn't call removing DLC the same day you announce the retirement "graceful".

Even the Ultimate edition is missing at least two DLCs and there is no way to buy them now.

 

[Bibbimbop]

I'll wait for a better deal, like maybe -110% off where, you know, they actually pay me $3.99

 

[Fedora Master]

Not even for free.

Although I do recommend the game to all those faggots who actually think DAI was "okay", since they've obviously never played it.

 

[Duplarius]

if you add this game to your steam library within 24 hrs you have it forever. it's a 30 dollar value: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2071500/Islands_of_Insight/