G2A Sells $450k Worth Of Game Keys, Game’s Developer Receives nothing

Sites such as G2A.com have been commonly used for a fair while now. Their low prices provide a more appealing method to purchase games from across the years. There’s always bee some curious stares thrown towards G2A.com, mainly with suspicions of wrong doing.

[Ashlen]

The keys were sold to someone who then resold them. The developers got money. The way this is presented is misleading. These developers are apparently wanting to double bill. They want to sell a key then get paid when it's resold.

In this case I fully support G2A. They haven't done anything wrong.

[PixelGateUk]

The breakdown they supplied kinda says otherwise to be fair

[Ashlen]

It's the same as if I buy a bunch of games on bulk or sale and resell them on eBay or Amazon. The developers are not going to get paid for my sale directly. But they still got paid at some point.

Edited to add: The keys came from Humble Bundle. So when they sold them to Humble they got paid. Now when the keys are being resold on G2A, for whatever reason this dev thinks they should be getting paid again.

[Lon3wolf]

Will be interesting to see their response.

[rdgneoz3]

The 3rd paragraph mentions: "G2A have blamed TinyBuild’s partners, which include Humble Bundle and BundleStars, claiming they are selling keys directly on the marketplace."

I get games from Humble Bundle all the time, you can pay as much or as little as you want and choose who the money goes to. If I bought games on Humble Bundle and decided to have all the money I spend go to charity, the devs get nothing and I get keys. I can then sell those keys and the devs still get nothing, since they were sold to Humble Bundle in the first place (or if Humble Bundle sold without permission, go blame them).

[donthate]

Well, I think the main issue is that the keys were obtained with stolen credit cards, that subsequently funds was taken back with chargebacks. However, the key's are still active, and sold on G2A i.e. G2A is facilitating illegal business.

[callahan09]

I was under the impression that Humble Bundle keys came with the caveat that they can't be resold, so if they are buying keys from Humble Bundle on the cheap and reselling them, doesn't that break the Humble Bundle terms?

[UltimateMaster]

It can literally be a key generator as we have seen so many times before.
If that is the case, then yes the developers have not received a dime from it.
If it were already purchased from another seller, that has to be determined whether or not that seller did pay the developers.
It's something that I don't like when dealing with all of these third party key reseller, we don't know if they are legit or if they are screwing people and developers out of their money.
Again, 450k is not a small number by any means. The use of stolen credit cards means that either Visa or Mastercard, refuses to pay the illegal transaction and the developers looses their keys.
It is a scam, and developers are loosing money over this. If you were to use a fraudulent credit card on Steam, PSN or Xbox Live, you would get your account banned.

[Lon3wolf]

Exactly I am not seeing where G2A are doing anything wrong, the devs must get paid for the keys somewhere down the line, they don't just give them away and then say ok pay us later.

[PixelGateUk]

I've reached out to TinyBuild with these kind of questions. They're a bit bust at the moment with their site being taken down so hopefully we'll a answer within the next day or so

[wannabe gamer]

the devs arent getting money cause the original buyer of the keys does a chargeback and still gets all the keys, they then resell them to G2A and make pure profit. G2A gets a HUGE deal cause the person that sold them knows they are essentially stolen and wants to get rid of them quick AND they didnt pay for them so any money made is all profit for them. so at this point G2A is reselling stolen property and making a HUGE profit since they got them mega cheap . the problem is that G2A has been doing this for sooooo many years that they have to know what they are doing. so while they arent stealing the keys themselves they are knowingly selling stolen property and the devs dont see a single cent of from any of this. while the thieves and G2A make tons of money

[Dabigsiebowski]

Whoa hold on...Are you saying that G2A was selling ligate keys? That's a first, usually these orders are fulfilled with a stolen credit cards and then bought out by G2A for a dirt cheap price. I don't know how anyone honestly finds G2A respectable and I will never ever buy a game from them. Saving a couple dollars on a key that goes to criminals pockets on not devs it pretty messed up. Spin it however you like but this is nothing new in the realm of G2A.

[PixelGateUk]

No one is claiming it's new info

[conanlifts]

I resell the humble bundle keys if i don't want them. I don't see a problem with it.
Technically though i think it's against the humble bundle terms of service.

[FlameBaitGod]

This article is so dumb, they want to pay developers twice for the key lol. Yeah i'm going to buy a broken house to the bank, fix it, sell it for profit and i'm going to give a % to the bank ... LOL retarded.

[Christopher]

You should actually read the article. The developer isn't getting paid due to the use of stolen credit cards and chargebacks by people who reverse the payments once they find that the credit card was stolen and had illegal charges made on them.

[Christopher]

***The developers got money. ***

Read the article. They didn't because it's fueled by an economy of people who buy using stolen credit cards. That results in a massive amount of chargebacks to the original seller (steam or otherwise) which means that the money does not go to the developer. The person who bought it with the stolen credit card(s) then sells it for money on G2A and makes money off of a valid key that gave zero money to the developer.

The problem is that CC theft and use is so prevalent and isn't handled as well as it should that it allows this to happen and G2A openly facilitates this structure by having zero questions about where a person gets their keys.

It's also facilitated by Steam and Humble Bundle in that they offer a system of game keys that are given out freely at the point of sale but can result in them losing absolutely nothing while the developer loses a whole sale when a chargeback occurs.

Essentially, and especially for Indie developers, this means a system that is against them on all sides. And small studios with their own stores who suddenly get a rash of chargebacks from stolen CC will result in them having their stores closed down due to that while much larger online retail sources like Steam, EA, and Ubisoft are protected by that with larger purchase portals that they pay extra for such things.

This is why there are Consoles. This is why UPlay and Origin exist.

[Gh05t]

This pertains to every third party seller though. Does GameStop know if the game being sold to them is illegally obtained? Not to mention it should be on the bundle sites that are getting fraud end to come up with a better system for keys if this continues to happen, otherwise these developers are playing the odds. They shouldn't be stolen from but knowing it happens and participating anyways is a calculated risk so to complain about it later is ridiculous. Look at any retailer, shrinkage is a part of the budget. It happens, it sucks but it's factored into the cost of doing business. And if Humble bundle or others can't control the shrinkage STOP USING THEM TO SELL YOUR GAMES. Problem solved.

[Christopher]

***Does GameStop know if the game being sold to them is illegally obtained?***

One credit card can buy hundreds if not thousands of game keys in a very small amount of time and is impossible to track.

One credit card can buy a handful of games that won't suspiciously look like someone just bought a ton of games to resell to GameStop for store credit, not actual cash.

Sorry, but they are not the same.

*** They shouldn't be stolen from but knowing it happens and participating anyways is a calculated risk so to complain about it later is ridiculous. ***

100% wrong and just whitewashing the issue to being of no concern. Again, read the article and you will see that this issue isn't just Humble Bundle items but also Steam where people 'gift' codes they own to people using the same techniques.

[IceKoldKilla]

Read the article. The person even updated here so clarify what many of you thought.

[wannabe gamer]

creating a marketplace for said fraud and letting it operate then feigning ignorance is a load of crap. no one believes that bs. receiving stolen property is a crime and they have been doing this for so long that they know what is going on behind the scenes yet they choose to ignore it cause they are making so much money in the process.
you supporting them is no different that going to a local pawn shop full of your neighbors stolen items and then saying that it isnt the pawn shops fault that they have been receiving stolen items for the last 5 years and "didnt know"

[atticus14]

G2A is as shady as it gets. It's the primary place that encourages those who do credit fraud of some sort, to buy a bunch of games, sell them on G2A as fast as you can before the charge-back happens. G2A doesn't do anything to try to stop this, because they just want to collect their fees. The chargeback only hits the devs and they lost many keys in the process, of course they could deactivate the ones that got stolen, but that is a PR nightmare for anyone, especially an Indie Dev.

This is like ebay with no paypal safety net/money back guarantees. How much do they value the safety of buying from them you ask? Well, you are SOL unless you pay an additional insurance fee and maybe even still SOL if they decide to screw you anyway. They also basically try to trick you into buying that insurance and have a convoluted way of unsubscribing from it.

[Lon3wolf]

Do the devs give the keys away or something as that's only way they wouldn't be paid, unless the keys are stolen.

[wannabe gamer]

the keys are stolen thats the whole point, they are bought wit ha credit card and then a chargeback is done so they get their miney back and keep the keys so the devs dont get paid. g2a then buys the stolen keys from the person that bought them with the chargeback or a stolen card. so the thieve gets paid for something he stole. g2a gets keys really cheap and acts like they are ignorant to how they got this amazing deal

[Lon3wolf]

That wasn't in the article yesterday, hence the update on the article. Why I asked 17 hrs ago.

[DarkOcelet]

The devs receive nothing because those game keys were already bought a first time and they got their cut the first time. So they shouldn't expect to get paid a second time if those game keys went to sale.

[PixelGateUk]

From what i understand, it seems to be concerns stemming around stolen keys or keys bought with stolen card details etc. It's all a bit murky at the moment, still wait for them to reply to get a clearer idea

[rdgneoz3]

Unless their servers were hacked, the keys were stolen. If they were bought with stolen cards, that's another issue and headaches for a lot of people. One of their partners is Humble Bundle, which sells keys at time for as little or as much as you want, and you can choose to have the money you spend go to a charity and not the devs. They're a digital eBay, instead of going after them they should be going after their partners giving away keys for free / selling their keys without splitting the profits or the ones buying stuff with stolen cards.

[ThePope]

Good for them I mean its places like G2A that makes all these games that we love! give them the money! Oh wait! They make nothing that we love to play.

[yarbie1000]

They make it much easier on my wallet to buy the games I love. Been using them for yrs and not had one bad experience. Great prices for games & XBL/PSN subscriptions. I can see where some people might be a bit salty for overpaying for everything :)

[Christopher]

Poor logic.

It's good for me, so it must be good in general!

You can go to the guy on the corner and get a rip of the latest album for a $1, that doesn't mean it's good for the economy. Because it isn't. This is why people came up with DRM, consoles, online authentication, and more. By supporting methods that allow the circumvention of the standard retailer process and encourage illegal activities, you are actually encouraging them to create systems that we complain about all the time here while being ignorant of your own actions that have led to it.

[wannabe gamer]

yea why bother wondering why you are getting stuff so cheap..... i mean benefits you so no need to research how g2a gets keys so cheap..... its not like the writing has been on the wall all these years screaming "we sell stolen stuff" so you buy your clothing from a child labor sweatshop in bangladesh too cause its cheap and you dont see the kids being beaten?

[Lionsguard]

I'm just wondering but do used car sales lots also cut a check to the car manufacturer whenever they resell a used car?

[PixelGateUk]

Out of everything you could of compared it to, you compared it to the car industry, stacked with independent manufacturers XD

The music industry would of made much more sense ;)

[TheColbertinator]

The car industry works a bit differently even though you can sell a car and pocket the bulk of the cash. Car makers can still sell the car parts for used cars through themselves or 3rd party sellers.

Even though Honda doesn't make 2000-2014 Civics anymore they still sell the components to those who recently bought it used.

On topic : Forgot g2a existed. Some good deals in there

[alfcrippinjr]

end of the day the developers got paid by the first party
bank the money let it build up

but why should they get paid twice.

[annoyedgamer]

BOO HOO devs cant price gouge. I always told gamers the digital only sales are meant to price gouge consumers but they won't listen.

[marioJP87]

Isn't it like selling used games at Gamestop? These keys are resold after purchased. Anyway, all of my PC game purchases are from G2A. Love them.

[s45gr32]

Anything good for us consumers is bad. In this case buying game keys at cheap prices. They make G2A look like an evil company which is not.

[Tzuno]

Greed, oh but when karma hits ohh boy.

[Soldierone]

The core issue is with the bundle sites. They need to track the keys. If they did that, when a card is fraud and the key is listed as "stolen" they can deactivate it. This in turn would cause issues for G2A when customers complain their keys are not working.

However getting mad because people took a bundle deal and flipped it is absurd. You made the deal with the bundle site, you not making money off those specific codes is your own fault.

[Majister-Ludi]

I love g2a and swear by it to any I know. Don't get me wrong steam has great sales all the time but you can never go wrong with g2a. Thank you Ivan from Russia with a 100 percent approval rating and 310023 lifetime sales for selling things at a fraction of the normal price

[IceKoldKilla]

So they updated it clarifying stolen credit cards are being used to buy these keys and then resold. Ok but I doubt all keys on there and similar websites ALL come from stolen credit card purchases. Maybe some stolen as I've heard people getting their key/license revoked.

[PixelGateUk]

I didn't update anything. The mods were just sick of people reading the title and reacting, which is what happens on here 90% of the time lol

[Christopher]

The article wasn't updated at all, just people didn't actually read it. I felt it important to add that since it seems people can't be bothered to actually read what is being discussed and only post knee-jerk responses about used game sales without understanding the context.

[wannabe gamer]

G2A acquires keys from people that buy the keys with stolen credit cards and then sells the keys to G2A so the original money the devs would have gotten is charged back. the people doing this know they are doing something wrong since they are essentially stealing the keys by getting their money back after the purchase so they want to get rid of these keys as quick as possible and G2A wants to get a good deal on a lod of keys so they buy them G2A acts like they are doing nothing wrong when receiving stolen property is a crime so YES they are doing something wrong. they have been doing this for YEARS and YEARS so them acting like they dont know whats going on is the real problem they know what they are doing when they buy these keys but they get them for so cheap that they don't care cause they can sell them for a huge profit.

[wannabe gamer]

I love how the top comments here are all from people that either didn't read the article or read it and just totally didn't get the point at all.

[evil6eric99]

Please, I get sooooo tired of listening to all these self righteous people. Many times G2A partners with PayPal on the weekends for some pretty slick deals. Then you have Humblebundle and Bundlestars, I buy bundles all the time, usually you can see keys for some of the games included with the different bundles spike on auction sites like eBay. So it's OK to buy keys off of ebay which I am sure runs into the same issue with some jackass using a stolen credit card to buy a bunch of keys, or buys a bunch of keys through PayPal or a credit card and does a charge-back pretending that their credit card was "stolen" or their PayPal account was "hacked" or "misused". There is nothing wrong with buying a key from G2A, I am a consumer with a limited budget, it's better than just stealing the damn game through a torrent or what have you. At least in most cases money was originally given to the developer at some point before it was resold. A lot of times it's promotions through Nvidia or AMD as well where a free game key is given with the purchase of one of their products. I've resold game keys on G2A if I already owned that particular game. It's a good way to unload all those duplicate game keys you may have so that you can then purchase a newer game you may have been eye-balling. So the moral of the story is, Get Over Yourselves!

[Alexious]

Just avoid G2A and use Greenman Gaming, they're legitimate and have great discounts.