Potential new sponsor, G2A - Yay or nay?

[linusforsell]

Just to add something, I would really like to see GOG.com as a sponsor, they have great prices and a fantastic catalog of older games all of which are DRM free!

 

I second that, GOG is amazing!

[nicklmg]

So far my main takeaway from this thread is this:

If you look at it objectively, G2A is PROBABLY fine, and if you get screwed by a sketchy seller on the site, you can get a legit code, but it might take WAY too long without Shield as they require proof and their customer support doesn't respond all that quickly.

 

The issue is that on the internet, many people don't look at things objectively. The "marketplace" idea is often misunderstood, and people associate bad sellers with a bad marketplace. Possible that G2A also sells illegitimate codes themselves, though I haven't seen any proof of this as of yet...

Right now I'm thinking we'll probably pass on this. I'll monitor this thread for a while, see what else comes of it.

Thanks for the feedback folks.

[beebskadoo]

I second that, GOG is amazing!

You are amazing <3

 

:-*

[Brawhammer]

It's not really fair to say "you can't do shit" since there is at least one user in this thread who was sold an illegitimate key, dealt with customer service, and got a legit key (not as quickly as G2A claimed people did, and in my opinion not in an acceptable amount of time, but they did get a legitimate key in the end).

 

That purely depends on the rep you get on CS.

 

If you don't buy G2A Shield and you get sold a key which doesn't work then what do you do? Phone CS and Hope that they refund you? If you buy with Steam, Origin, uPlay that is all solved because the games sold there have permission to be on there. Yes of course g2a can do what they want but if you phone up ANY Game company and ask for help they will say "lol not our problem ask g2a"

 

And then what..

 

If G2A Come out and tell you... eh we think your lying you have no other option but to chargeback and even then you might lose the case.

 

At least with buying from a trusted source: Steam, Origin, uPlay, GOG they can check keys and make sure that they are activated on your account and you were not issued a faulty one. And I can tell you straight that every time G2A has fucked up. Twitch streamers ALWAYS get the blame. Kingkongor for example during the Diablo 3 DLC release got all sorts of shit, people hating, flaming and unsubbing because g2a had problems giving the keys out on time.

 

 

These CD Key sellers are just bad news.

[nicklmg]

You are amazing <3

 

:-*

I second that @linusforsell

[beebskadoo]

That purely depends on the rep you get on CS.

 

If you don't buy G2A Shield and you get sold a key which doesn't work then what do you do? Phone CS and Hope that they refund you? If you buy with Steam, Origin, uPlay that is all solved because the games sold there have permission to be on there. Yes of course g2a can do what they want but if you phone up ANY Game company and ask for help they will say "lol not our problem ask g2a"

 

And then what..

 

If G2A Come out and tell you... eh we think your lying you have no other option but to chargeback and even then you might lose the case.

 

At least with buying from a trusted source: Steam, Origin, uPlay, GOG they can check keys and make sure that they are activated on your account and you were not issued a faulty one. And I can tell you straight that every time G2A has fucked up. Twitch streamers ALWAYS get the blame. Kingkongor for example during the Diablo 3 DLC release got all sorts of shit, people hating, flaming and unsubbing because g2a had problems giving the keys out on time.

 

 

These CD Key sellers are just bad news.

People are forgetting that Steam has shit for CS...

 

G2A seems better in a lot of ways CS wise lol

[Brawhammer]

People are forgetting that Steam has shit for CS...

 

G2A seems better in a lot of ways CS wise lol

 

Steam may  have shit customer support but there have never been issues with keys being sold because when you buy the key it is automatically tied to your steam account. So not much wrong can go wrong there.

 

So I'm not sure why you would need to contact CS Anyway.

[Hunched]

I don't think it's fair to say that a developer gets no support from a legit copy of a game sold on a marketplace. That game was, at one point, purchased from a source that supports the developer. That's not great for developers as they're not adding value for devs, but it's nowhere near the same as pirating...

Do you have a source that tied G2A as a company to illegal/stolen keys? (not a seller on their marketplace, the company itself) Not trying to say that you're not correct, I just want to make sure I get the facts straight.

I don't conveniently have a giant list of sources to provide unfortunately, but you can Google all of this and find it quite easily.

They've frequently been caught selling illegal and stolen keys, and make no effort to assure the legality of what they sell.

Developers and publishers have complained about how businesses like G2A hurt their profits, some indie developers have spoken out about this as well.

TotalBiscuit, who I know employees of LTT (Luke in particular) respect and listen to, has voiced his opinion on G2A occassionally, and it's not positive.

TB has said he's spoken to many developers about G2A and they've all spoken poorly of G2A because games purchased from them don't benefit the dev.

 

He's also said it's unfortunate so many Twitch streamers are partnered with G2A, they don't take the time to research the issues and just see money at take it.

Many streamers have also said G2A has practically harassed them with trying to get sponsorships, G2A has probably contacted half of Twitch regarding sponsorships.

You can often see debates in the Twitch chat of streamers who are sponsored by G2A, it's just a controversial company and isn't something you should want around.

 

Hopefully the community and the votes are enough for you guys to make the right decision.

[beebskadoo]

Steam may  have shit customer support but there have never been issues with keys being sold because when you buy the key it is automatically tied to your steam account. So not much wrong can go wrong there.

 

So I'm not sure why you would need to contact CS Anyway.

Like for example...if your account has been breached.

[thorpj]

True but I have had a friend saved from the shield protection so....yeah, and you are not forced to buy it.. I see G2A as a risk just like ebay, since the game is like 1/3 the cost anyway an extra £1 is hardly an issue, you are still saving money which is the ONLY point of buying from G2A

I think you're missing an important point here. why are those games cheaper?

[AxelRantila]

 

The issue is that on the internet, many people don't look at things objectively. The "marketplace" idea is often misunderstood, and people associate bad sellers with a bad marketplace. Possible that G2A also sells illegitimate codes themselves, though I haven't seen any proof of this as of yet...

Can I just ask you one thing, have they ever taken action against sellers of illegitimate keys. And then I mean not just given affected customers a new (hopefully legitimate) key, but taken actions against the ones who sold the keys in the first place

[Brawhammer]

Like for example...if your account has been breached.

 

Fair point. But now we are going off track into accounts being hacked.

 

I can say the same with your email being hacked. Someone has been waiting for you to buy keys. Takes the key then activates it. You didn't buy G2A Shield and can't prove you never activated it.

[thorpj]

Just to add something, I would really like to see GOG.com as a sponsor, they have great prices and a fantastic catalog of older games all of which are DRM free!

that is not why nick is asking us about g2a... it's about how dodgy they are, and how they're customer service is

[nicklmg]

That purely depends on the rep you get on CS.

 

If you don't buy G2A Shield and you get sold a key which doesn't work then what do you do? Phone CS and Hope that they refund you? If you buy with Steam, Origin, uPlay that is all solved because the games sold there have permission to be on there. Yes of course g2a can do what they want but if you phone up ANY Game company and ask for help they will say "lol not our problem ask g2a"

 

And then what..

 

If G2A Come out and tell you... eh we think your lying you have no other option but to chargeback and even then you might lose the case.

 

At least with buying from a trusted source: Steam, Origin, uPlay, GOG they can check keys and make sure that they are activated on your account and you were not issued a faulty one. And I can tell you straight that every time G2A has fucked up. Twitch streamers ALWAYS get the blame. Kingkongor for example during the Diablo 3 DLC release got all sorts of shit, people hating, flaming and unsubbing because g2a had problems giving the keys out on time.

 

 

These CD Key sellers are just bad news.

People are forgetting that Steam has shit for CS...

 

G2A seems better in a lot of ways CS wise lol

Pretty much this. At Valve "everyone is in customer support" which really means that NO ONE is in customer support. Luckily it's pretty rare to have an issue with a Steam key, but if you ever DO, I bet you'd be wishing you purchased from a different source...

 

 

 

If you phone up any game company and ask about a code you got through Steam I'm sure they'd also say "lol not our problem go ask Valve."

 

You seem to be missing the "maybe they actually solve your issue and give you a key" step, which seems to be what happens in most cases that I've seen on discussion boards... Been looking around about this a bit lately.

Either way, like I said above, my best course of action for us at this point is probably to steer clear of this, as public opinion on G2A seems to be pretty negative.

[beebskadoo]

that is not why nick is asking us about g2a... it's about how dodgy they are, and how they're customer service is

Just to add something

I went off topic...

[ShadowCaptain]

I think you're missing an important point here. why are those games cheaper?

 

As I said, we dont know where the keys are from - it seems some developers support G2A so its possible that they are legitimately selling those keys

 

We are all basing our opinions on accusations and thoughts- we do not have cold hard facts.. we can only assume what we think. I would like evidence

 

SNIP

 

Nick, I think the main problem with G2A is we have no assurances or facts on wether the service is legit or not  and what happens with dodgy keys. Are developers supported? are they keys stolen? are they against teams terms of service?

 

Can they clarify anything Perhaps you or Linus or anyone there could try and get the bottom of this once and for al

 

Can we get a G2A spokesman to the forum? or on the WAN show? to answer questions, or to explain things

maybe they can discuss how their business works, how they get keys, how they support developers, what happens with dodgy keys in the marketplace

 

Perhaps if they can explain how their business operates, we would all trust it a lot more and would be happy for them to sponsor LTT

 

Since there are so many unknowns and assumptions about it, it will never be 100% positive

[thorpj]

I don't conveniently have a giant list of sources to provide unfortunately, but you can Google all of this and find it quite easily.

They've frequently been caught selling illegal and stolen keys, and make no effort to assure the legality of what they sell.

Developers and publishers have complained about how businesses like G2A hurt their profits, some indie developers have spoken out about this as well.

TotalBiscuit, who I know employees of LTT (Luke in particular) respect and listen to, has voiced his opinion on G2A occassionally, and it's not positive.

TB has said he's spoken to many developers about G2A and they've all spoken poorly of G2A because games purchased from them don't benefit the dev.

He's also said it's unfortunate so many Twitch streamers are partnered with G2A, they don't take the time to research the issues and just see money at take it.

Many streamers have also said G2A has practically harassed them with trying to get sponsorships, G2A has probably contacted half of Twitch regarding sponsorships.

You can often see debates in the Twitch chat of streamers who are sponsored by G2A, it's just a controversial company and isn't something you should want around.

Hopefully the community and the votes are enough for you guys to make the right decision.

completely agree. to add to this, refusing g2a will be yet another opportunity for ltt to prove that they're made of better stuff than the average twitch steamer

on a side note, maybe you could get total biscuit on the wan show of you say no to g2a

[thorpj]

As I said, we dont know where the keys are from - it seems some developers support G2A so its possible that they are legitimately selling those keys

We are all basing our opinions on accusations and thoughts- we do not have cold hard facts.. we can only assume what we think. I would like evidence

Nick, I think the main problem with G2A is we have no assurances or facts on wether the service is legit or not and what happens with dodgy keys. Are developers supported? are they keys stolen? are they against teams terms of service?

Can they clarify anything Perhaps you or Linus or anyone there could try and get the bottom of this once and for al

Can we get a G2A spokesman to the forum? or on the WAN show? to answer questions, or to explain things

maybe they can discuss how their business works, how they get keys, how they support developers, what happens with dodgy keys in the marketplace

Perhaps if they can explain how their business operates, we would all trust it a lot more and would be happy for them to sponsor LTT

Since there are so many unknowns and assumptions about it, it will never be 100% positive

a g2a spokesman? please, ate they really going to tell us the absolute truth?

[beebskadoo]

Pretty much this. At Valve "everyone is in customer support" which really means that NO ONE is in customer support. Luckily it's pretty rare to have an issue with a Steam key, but if you ever DO, I bet you'd be wishing you purchased from a different source...

 

 

 

If you phone up any game company and ask about a code you got through Steam I'm sure they'd also say "lol not our problem go ask Valve."

 

You seem to be missing the "maybe they actually solve your issue and give you a key" step, which seems to be what happens in most cases that I've seen on discussion boards... Been looking around about this a bit lately.

Either way, like I said above, my best course of action for us at this point is probably to steer clear of this, as public opinion on G2A seems to be pretty negative.

I had an issue where I received an email stating that my account was accessed from another computer, so I contacted Valves customer support....well 3 days later I received an email in response.

Not my only complaint either!

A couple of years back I randomly had 4 Magika keys show add to my account, nothing was purchased by me, it was a server glitch that gave me the keys. I contacted customer support and informed them of that, they eventually said that it was fine and for me to keep the keys. Well I gave them away to friends and a few weeks later one of them contacted me and said that their game was taken out of their library. Steam support said that I could keep the keys, I give them away, they invalidate the keys anyways and the worst part of it was that I had purchased Magika for myself with my own money and they removed that from my library as well. It took them a few days to respond to an email. It was all sorted out but a week or 2 later. Like WTF

[Hunched]

completely agree. to add to this, refusing g2a will be yet another opportunity for ltt to prove that they're made of better stuff than the average twitch steamer

on a side note, maybe you could get total biscuit on the wan show of you say no to g2a

TotalBiscuit actually has been on the wan show before

[beebskadoo]

As I said, we dont know where the keys are from - it seems some developers support G2A so its possible that they are legitimately selling those keys

 

We are all basing our opinions on accusations and thoughts- we do not have cold hard facts.. we can only assume what we think. I would like evidence

 

 

Nick, I think the main problem with G2A is we have no assurances or facts on wether the service is legit or not  and what happens with dodgy keys. Are developers supported? are they keys stolen? are they against teams terms of service?

 

Can they clarify anything Perhaps you or Linus or anyone there could try and get the bottom of this once and for al

 

Can we get a G2A spokesman to the forum? or on the WAN show? to answer questions, or to explain things

maybe they can discuss how their business works, how they get keys, how they support developers, what happens with dodgy keys in the marketplace

 

Perhaps if they can explain how their business operates, we would all trust it a lot more and would be happy for them to sponsor LTT

 

Since there are so many unknowns and assumptions about it, it will never be 100% positive

I was actually gonna suggest an AMA thread for G2A, to clear things up. That would be a good idea! +1

[ShadowCaptain]

a g2a spokesman? please, ate they really going to tell us the absolute truth?

 

sheesh we cant be cynical about everything and unless we hire a private investigator or something I see no other option

 

I would like to hear what they have to say, perhaps Linus can interview them live on air about it.. and see if they will answer any questions

 

if they refuse to give details, or dodge questions we can assume they are dodgy, if they have a valid explanation, then we can assume they are safe instead of pointless forum arguments about a companies legitimacy when none of us have any idea

 

 

I was actually gonna suggest an AMA thread for G2A, to clear things up. That would be a good idea! +1

 

Exactly!! We need details in order to base a fair and honest opinion about them, without facts we have nothing to base our assumptions on

[thorpj]

As I said, we dont know where the keys are from - it seems some developers support G2A so its possible that they are legitimately selling those keys

We are all basing our opinions on accusations and thoughts- we do not have cold hard facts.. we can only assume what we think. I would like evidence

Nick, I think the main problem with G2A is we have no assurances or facts on wether the service is legit or not and what happens with dodgy keys. Are developers supported? are they keys stolen? are they against teams terms of service?

Can they clarify anything Perhaps you or Linus or anyone there could try and get the bottom of this once and for al

Can we get a G2A spokesman to the forum? or on the WAN show? to answer questions, or to explain things

maybe they can discuss how their business works, how they get keys, how they support developers, what happens with dodgy keys in the marketplace

Perhaps if they can explain how their business operates, we would all trust it a lot more and would be happy for them to sponsor LTT

Since there are so many unknowns and assumptions about it, it will never be 100% positive

we may not have cold hard evidence that these keys are illegitimate, but ask yourself this, why are publishers reckoning keys, if they're legit. why was my key (bought directly from g2a) revoked if it is legit

[thorpj]

TotalBiscuit actually has been on the wan show before

I know, but that was a long time ago. I remember them talking about getting him back recently.

 

Either that or they were talking about getting Linus on the Cooptional podcast.

[ShadowCaptain]

we may not have cold hard evidence that these keys are illegitimate, but ask yourself this, why are publishers reckoning keys, if they're legit. why was my key (bought directly from g2a) revoked if it is legit

 

I dont know and neither does anybody... we can assume they were stolen keys etc which is likely but we dont know for sure

 

Did you buy it through the market place or through G2A? two very different things

Maybe they unknowingly bought stolen keys? maybe they did it on purpose... who knows, maybe Ubisoft or whatsoever were just being dicks, I know somebody who had their key revoked and then had a legit one emailed out a few hours later  and their key still works now - so that key is definitely legit or it would have been revoked again

 

 

Either that or they were talking about getting Linus on the Cooptional podcast.

 

That would be epic to see Linus on the cooptional!