Developers Encourage Piracy Over Using Key Reseller G2A

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Spizz

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Video game key reseller G2A has come under fire (yet again) from a number of developers, over a recent ad push that has seen G2A links appear on Google above various publishers’ own links.

Publisher Mike Rose called the reseller out on Twitter, admonishing them for the practice. He explained that he and other publishers “make zero money on our games if people buy them through ads”, and said if you were considering buying through G2A, he’d rather you just pirate his games instead, for all the difference it would make to him.
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Full story...

https://www.unilad.co.uk/gaming/dev...cy-over-using-key-reseller-g2a/?source=gaming
 
If the devs/publishers doesn't like G2A, I doubt they will sell keys to them.

From my understanding, the keys on G2A are from third-parties selling keys that they don't want. From some of the comments I read on Reddit, some people sell the extra keys they get from buying graphics cards, etc.

But there are also sellers that buy keys from the devs/publishers using stolen credit cards and then sell them on G2A. The owner of the cc will likely reverse the charges when it's discovered, costing the dev/publisher money in regards to the original cost and penalties. They revoke the key and the guy that bought it from G2A is also screwed over.
 
I've never lost a key that I purchased from G2A.

I don't understand why the developers would be upset since they issued all of those keys in the first place.

I suppose fraud can happen, but it's no different really from people perpetrating fraud in other ways (stealing keys from hard copies of the game, Voucher cards, etc.). There is always a certain amount of pilfering and stock theft going on. All retail stores have to deal with it.
 
I see G2A responded to the devs,

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

G2A vows to pay devs 10x the money proven to be lost on chargebacks
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July 05, 2019 | 07:49

Let’s lay all cards on the table. We will pay developers 10 times the money they lost on chargebacks after their illegally obtained keys were sold on G2A. The idea is simple: developers just need to prove such a thing actually happened on their stores.

To assure honesty and transparency, we will ask a reputable and independent auditing company to make an unbiased examination of both sides – the developer’s store and G2A Marketplace. The cost of the first three audits is on us, every next one will be split 50/50.

The auditing company will check if any game keys sold on G2A were obtained using stolen credit cards on a developer’s store compliant with card scheme rules from Visa and Master Card/payment provider rules. If so, G2A guarantees it’ll pay all the money the developer lost on chargebacks… multiplied by 10.

We want this process to be transparent, so we will publicly report every step of the procedure. Meaning, you will get information such as who came forward, and what the verdict was, all of which will be published for everyone to see.

If you’re a developer willing to cooperate, contact the G2A Direct team

***

And now onto some other Twitter-related issues that have popped up in the last few days.

For the sake of your time, here’s a TL;DR version:
  1. G2A is a marketplace that’s all about making the prices for gamers as low as possible.
  2. G2A’s business model is the same as any other big, global marketplaces’ like Amazon or eBay, with all its ups and downs. And just like them, we always try to maximize the ups and minimize the downs. Not only because of the law, but also because the customers require certain standards, and because the competition would beat us if we stayed behind.
  3. Out of all marketplaces, G2A offers the best benefits for copyright owners – G2A Direct. Nobody else gives developers a percentage cut of all sales on their games sold by someone else.
  4. G2A, like most online businesses, uses automated marketing, so every product available on the marketplace can be shown based on what the user is interested in.
  5. If any developer suspects there are keys on the marketplace that shouldn’t be there, there’s a quick and easy way to report it. All it takes is to contact us. If any key was illegally obtained, we’ll remove it, block the seller and provide their personal data to the proper authorities.
  6. We are and always were open for discussion, but a real one, not empty accusations and catchy slogans.
The Wall of Text Edition™:
Got your coffee? Good, ‘cause this is gonna take a while. Thanks in advance for your time. We could say we’ll try to be brief, but you’ve probably already seen the length of this page, so, well… Let’s get right into it.

Continued
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Mike Ross has a point though. Prior to the game’s, Descenders, release on Steam, and only Steam, a single person sold 102 Steam keys @ $13 per key. This is without any regional key being priced close to that with the game at it’s cheapest being priced at $22.49. Yes, that is dodgy.

I see G2A is claiming it to be promotional keys, which is a possibility, but Ross questions how those keys ended up with 3 sellers on G2A. Obviously, these keys are produced by Steam, which is ‘purchasable’ by a use agreement by their subscribers, and promotional keys are produced on the owner’s request. G2A, however, didn’t elaborate on whether any chargebacks happened on those keys which they obviously won’t do due to legal reasons.

Ross clearly has no issue with small quantities being sold, he is questioning how 3 sellers have sold so many keys.

Ross also elaborated that many sellers abuse the Monthly Humble Bundle to resell those keys, but there is nothing much they can do about that since they themselves have participated within those sales and Humble is a licenced reseller. All they want to know is how some sellers are obtaining so many keys. Ross is stating that the article by G2A doesn't agree with a discussion they had via email with G2A.

All in all, this is about indie developers being exploited.
 
Just to put in perspective how much it can cost developers, Unknown Worlds lost around $30000 dollars due to charge backs on 1341 fraudulent keys. The money lost is only due to charge back fees they had to pay, not lost revenue. This was back in 2013. For an indie dev, this is a big hit. https://unknownworlds.com/blog/beware-shady-key-resellers-and-discount-steam-keys/

G2A (and other key resellers) aren't going to change. Even if the keys are stolen or fraudulent, they lose nothing in the process since they are effectively the middle man. Developers/publishers are the ones that have to carry the burden. The statement by G2A that they will pay 10 times the lost money is a PR move. They have no intention to pay because to prove that they are at fault is impossible.
 
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