G2A finds G2A guilty of fraud. Or accessory to fraud.
It’s been a while since we talked about G2A. Last year G2A responded to repeated allegations that the platform was used to sell fraudulently obtained game codes by issuing an ultimatum; Put your mouth where your money is. They were so sure that the claims of G2A being used to sell fraudulently obtained keys was bunk that they were willing to not only pay for an audit, but pay 10x the money lost on chargebacks after the keys were sold on G2A.
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.
Now nobody signed up for the offer/challenge for a long time because most companies don’t want to deal with G2A period, except maybe Randy Pitchford. Prague studio Wube Software however took the offer and after attempting to find an external auditor, G2A conducted an internal investigation into hundreds of keys claimed to be sold on their store.
The result?
This investigation confirmed that 198 of Wube’s keys had been sold via its Marketplace between March 2016 – June 2016. It is assumed by both parties that the remaining 123 illegitimate keys were sold via other online marketplaces or other online stores.
As a result of their own promises, G2A will compensate Wube ten times the lost value of any bank-initiated refund costs that were paid in relation to the 198 keys sold through G2A. G2A hasn’t quite accepted responsibility for its part in the grey market, but offered its commitment to reducing its store being used to facilitate credit card fraud.
The gaming developer community has our solidarity and sympathies on this issue, and we want to continue building bridges. With our main point being made, about the seriousness of fraud in the industry, from now on we will compensate developers the full value of any chargeback fees they incurred for any keys sold via G2A Marketplace, if they are able to prove they were illegitimate.
If you want to support developers, buy from authorized retailers. If you don’t care about supporting developers, many would rather you just pirate their game instead of buying it through G2A. G2A has been the epicenter of unsavory folks buying games with stolen credit cards, using G2A to offload the merchandise, and leaving the developer/publisher paying for chargeback fees when the card is eventually reported stolen.
Source: G2A
MMO Fallout 