The G2A marketplace specializes in providing a platform for buyers and sellers of digital goods, most notably game keys. In the latest G2A game key scandal, the website has come under fire from developers and publishers for questionable practices related to its “
Several days ago G2A.com was forced into damage control when a supposedly rogue employee attempted to get journalists to publish favorable, “unbiased” articles (advertisements?) about G2A. In addition, the employee suggested possible financial compensation for the favorable coverage if the publishers wouldn’t disclose the agreement. Will the real Slim Shady please stand up, please stand up.
Developer Outrage
As the story broke and gained circulation, developers began voicing their opposition to the website and its practices, touting many of the keys are stolen. In addition, developers argued keys are often bought with illegally obtained bankcards which results in them being hit with the chargebacks, thus losing money.
Mike Rose (@RaveofRavendale) even voiced his preference that gamers pirate his games over buying from G2A.
“Please, if you’re going to buy a game from G2A, just pirate it instead! Genuinely! Devs don’t see a penny
@RaveofRavendale – 5:08 AM – 30 Jun 2019either way, so we’d much rather G2A didn’t see money either”
Many other developers quickly chimed in supporting the position of having gamers obtain pirated copies over using the G2A marketplace since they see no money either way. Games purchased through G2A often lead to the developers having to provide customer support to dissatisfied buyers frustrated their codes are fake or have been deactivated.
G2A quickly replied by offering to compensate developers 10x the money they lost to chargebacks. Of course, the burden of proof is put on the developers, to show that those chargebacks were for keys that were obtained “illegally” via G2A’s storefront.
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.
G2A.com, July 5th, 2019
G2A Offers More Action
The G2A game key scandal didn’t stop there, as today G2A posted an offer to developers to try to prevent the sale of review keys or keys that have been given away. Their solution is to provide a key blocker tool that would ultimately put the responsibility of the developer to input the keys into G2A’s system. Once entered, G2A claims their system would then block any attempt by a seller to list the same key for purchase on their site.
G2A’s Proposal:
- You, the developer, only need to get verified. All you have to do is prove that you can act in the name of the studio you’re representing, so that we can deter any impostors. Once your identity is confirmed, you will gain access to two separate sections.
- The first of these is the “Review keys” part. Once you generate keys to be sent out for a review to various sources, all you would need to do is select your game in our panel and paste the keys you don’t want to pop up on our marketplace.
- Once that’s done, each time anyone tries to sell a key for your game, our algorithm will check the keys you have provided us with. If there is a match, the seller will get a notification that the key has been blocked so that they can’t sell it.
- The second section would be the “Giveaway” part. This panel works in the same way as the previous one – just fill in the keys you will be giving out that you don’t want sold before you start the giveaway.
- If a seller tries to sell more than 3 keys that match the ones in the giveaway database, our system won’t allow that.
This doesn’t address the developer’s point, being that their headache comes from keys that have been obtained through stolen bank cards or other fraudulent means. In addition, having to input each as they’re giving them away and tracking usage is more overhead than most developers are eager to take on. At least it is an attempt by G2A to throw the devs a bone, but this is likely more about damage control than a real concern for the developer’s wallet.
What Do Gamers Want?
I doubt G2A is going to go away as a result of the bad press of late. It is probably in the best interest of developers to use this opportunity to make whatever gains they can at insuring more profits end up in their pockets. The actions of gamers as a result of this controversy will set the path going forward. Do gamers care more about getting their games as cheaply as possible, regardless of whether it hurts the publishers/developers? I would hope, in the interest of supporting creators and their works, customers would pursue purchases that ultimately reward the devs.
