Tag: G2A

[NM] G2A Vows To Pay Devs 10x Money Lost On Chargebacks


G2A; it’s a website whose very mention here at MMO Fallout will cause some developers to stop communicating with me.

You may be familiar with G2A thanks to its reputation as the place that sells video games dirt cheap, but also as a place that developers/publishers hate because the whole key reselling world is kind of unregulated and open to problems related to fraud. There have been a lot of accusations leveled against G2A in the past for facilitating and profiting off of credit fraud, people buying game keys from devs using stolen credit cards and then selling those keys for pure profit. As you’d expect for any company looking to protect its reputation, G2A has repeatedly denied all claims of malfeasance.

According to G2A, the overwhelming majority of their keys are sold by wholesalers, businesses who get their keys in large quantities from the publisher and sell at a good deal. In a blog post put up this week, the company announced that they are putting up an offer for developers: If you think your stolen keys are being sold on our store, get in touch. G2A will pay for independent auditing and if any stolen keys were sold on G2A, they will pay ten times the money they lost on chargebacks.

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.  

I won’t go any further into the piece since I’ve no doubt been blocked on Twitter by about a dozen more indie game devs just by acknowledging that the blog post exists. You can read it at the link below and make up your own mind.

For the sake of preempting a few comments, I am reporting on this on my own volition and this piece was not sent to me by anyone.

Source: G2A

Gearbox Follows Through: Cancels Deal With G2A


Following yesterday’s delcaration of demands against G2A, Gearbox Software have announced that they are cancelling their partnership with the key reseller. The two parties were partnered for the launch of Bulletstorm: Full Clip edition on Steam, going as far as having a G2A exclusive collector’s edition. After being presented with evidence that G2A was profiting off of resold games purchased with stolen credit cards, Gearbox unveiled a list of demands for G2A to prove that they were committed to combating the use of its service for fraudulent purposes, and since then it appears that the company has not responded.

Gearbox’s own Steve Gibson, head of publishing, gave the following statement:

“As there has been no public movement from G2A by the time Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition launched now on PC, Gearbox Publishing will be doing their part to not directly support a marketplace that did not make the new public commitment to protecting customers and developers requested by Gearbox Publishing.”

The last couple of days have seen people asking the same question, how did Gearbox get into a deal with a company that they clearly knew little about? According to Randy Pitchford, the deal with G2A had begun with People Can Fly. Pitchford himself had only become aware of the deal yesterday (April 6).

(Source: Vice)

Gearbox Issues List of Demands To G2A


Gearbox Software has issued an ultimatum to G2A.com, an online key reseller and distributor with whom the game developer had partnered with for the upcoming launch of Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition. G2A, where people can sell keys, has come under fire in recent years for its inability to police its market for users selling game codes purchased with stolen credit cards and then offloaded onto the store at cheap prices. The store sells buyer protection for an additional fee, which has in turn been criticized as profiting off of said fraud.

Popular online personality John Bain, known more so as Totalbiscuit, threatened to boycott all coverage of Gearbox’s games as a result of the partnership. After a long discussion between the two parties, Gearbox has put forward an ultimatum to G2A, threatening to end their partnership if the demands are not met. For the sake of clarity, we’ve included the entire list of demands, which involve making protection free and creating a web API where developers can report and flag fraudulent keys, at no cost to the developer, as well as throttling for non-developer accounts.

· Before Bulletstorm Steam launch, G2A makes a public commitment to this: Within 30 days, G2A Shield (aka, customer fraud protection) is made free instead of a separate paid subscription service within terms offered by other major marketplaces. All customers who spend money deserve fraud protection from a storefront. To that end, all existing G2A Shield customers are notified by April 14th that fraud protection services are now free and they will no longer be charged for this.

· Before Bulletstorm Steam launch, G2A makes a public commitment to this: Within 90 days, G2A will open up a web service or API to certified developers and publishers to search for and flag for immediate removal, keys that are fraudulent. This access will be free of charge and will not require payment by the content holders.

· Before Bulletstorm Steam launch, G2A makes a public commitment to this: Within 60 days implement throttling for non-certified developers and publishers at the title, userid, and account payable levels for a fraud flagging process. This is to protect content providers from having large quantities of stolen goods flipped on G2A before they can be flagged.

· Before Bulletstorm Steam launch, G2A makes a public commitment to this: Within 30 days, G2A restructures its payment system so that customers who wish to buy and sell legitimate keys are given a clear, simple fee-structure that is easy to understand and contains no hidden or obfuscated charges. Join the ranks of other major marketplaces.

Whether or not G2A will capitulate will have to be seen. Gearbox’s statement has been met with mixed response, with some applauding the announcement and others brushing it off as empty threats with long timelines for a partnership that won’t even be relevant two to three months down the line when the deadlines come due.

“Gearbox Publishing won’t support a marketplace that is unwilling to make these commitments and execute on them.”

(Source: Kotaku)

G2A Approaches Indies At Insomnia59


Insomnia59 has come and gone, the UK’s biggest gaming festival saw developers of all stripes and sizes coming together to run tournaments, give live Q&A sessions, and showcase their latest games and VR tech. G2A showed up at the event to meet with indie developers and show their plans for supporting independent developers through programs like G2A Direct, a developer support system, and G2A 3D Plus, a program for 3D printing game swag.

“G2A is enthusiastic about strengthening relations with gaming developers and the breakfast we hosted was key to extending our hand to them.” said Scott Millard. “We have offered a chance for lots of great questions to be asked, and it has allowed us to demonstrate our passion for cooperating with – and developing – the gaming community.”

Insomnia60 will take place from April 14-17 at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, UK. Tickets are available online through the official website.

Steam Dev: Torrent My Game Instead Of Using G2A


Homefront®: The Revolution_20160522155530

Action Henk would rather you pirate their games than support shady resellers like G2A, one of the game’s two programmers posted on Reddit following last week’s controversial statements over the key reseller. Consistently the ire of developers, G2A came to attention once again last week after allegations surfaced that the service sold $450 thousand in stolen keys from developer Tiny Build.

This G2a thing goes beyond Hearthstone. I’m a game developer with a game on steam and please just torrent my game instead of supporting shady resellers, I’ll even give you the download link. I understand people aren’t always able or willing to pay full price for a game, but seeing people play my game is the most important thing to me. Just torrent it instead of putting money in the wrong hands.

G2A is a grey market key reseller that allows users to sell cd keys to games that they no longer want. Theoretically, the service exists as a digital Ebay of sorts, especially relevant since Ebay forbids the sale of virtual items. In practice, the service has become a haven for criminals using stolen credit cards to buy keys in massive quantities to sell cheap. The cards are eventually reversed, leaving the developer with nothing and the thief with all of the profits.

It has been difficult to divorce G2A from the gaming community since the company has played its hand by sponsoring many of the top game streamers, and paying quite well apparently.

Developers have attempted in the past to find a way to push customers away from G2A, with larger developers spending the resources to revoke fraudulent keys. For smaller developers like Tiny Build, such a process is prohibitively expensive.

(Source: Reddit)