G2A Offers Royalties To Developers

[FirstArmada]

Source : Polygon

 

Last week G2A, a sort of eBay but for video games keys, and tinyBuild, the publishers of Speedrunners and others, had a bit of a tussle after tinyBuild accused G2A of facilitating the sale of $450,000 worth of fraudulent game keys. Both sides exchanged demands, and today G2A seems to have pulled back on their stance and is now rolling out a program that will, in part, offer developers and publishers up to 10 percent royalties on each sale of their game. But is that going to be enough

 

Quote

 

After weeks of enduring a public and nasty dispute with developer Tiny Build, gray market game code reseller G2A has agreed to make concessions in favor of creators and fans.

The seven-point plan, detailed in an email sent by G2A to Polygon late last night, sets new guidelines for how games will be sold on the secondary marketplace, what portion of the proceeds developers are entitled to, and the kind of access developers have to root out fraud.

However, the measures fall short of key demands made by Tiny Build, specifically to set a minimum sale price for all game keys.

The situation began when Tiny Build discovered $450,000 of its own game keys had been sold through G2A. Later, CEO Alex Nichiporchik was able to purchase codes for titles likePunch Club and SpeedRunners from resellers on G2A and link them directly back to credit card fraud perpetrated through his company’s own online store.

A week later, the situation escalated when G2A gave Tiny Build a three-day deadline to provide evidence of fraud, which caused Tiny Build to respond with its own ultimatum that G2A change how it does business.

It would appear that, at least in part, G2A has capitulated.

The statement sent to Polygon outlines the following new policies at G2A:

 

 

1. Royalties on Third-party Auctions: Developers may apply a royalty of up to 10 percent for any of their products sold on the G2A marketplace, which provides a way for developers to monetize third-party transactions.
2. Priority Placement: Developer-managed auctions will be listed first, above third-party sellers, to provide more visibility and transparency. Developers will also be able to create their own custom storefront featuring all of their products and promotions.
3. Chargeback Protection: G2A offers G2A Pay with free integration to developers as a protection on their own websites to mitigate their risk factors (especially beneficial for small developers, beginners and those who feel that their security systems are not sufficient).
4. Dedicated Database Access: Developers will have access to our database information to verify sales, volume and timing to track the lifecycle of every key and identify illegal practices.
5. Dedicated Account Managers: We’re expanding our dedicated account manager model to support developers and to resolve any question or issue, especially those related to security concerns.
6. Developer Funding Option: Many gamers wish to support their favorite developers. For the first time, they will be able to contribute funds directly through an additional button on the developer’s product page.
7. Expansive Global Access: Multi-language translation program expands exposure for developers to our 10 million global customers who are eager for new games from Indie developers.

 

[DXMember]

well.. the guys were frauded on their own online store so it's like releasing those keys... probly should've black listed them

I don't believe G2A should be responsible for a company's incompetence of leaking out half a million worth of keys...

[spartaman64]

5 minutes ago, DXMember said:

well.. the guys were frauded on their own online store so it's like releasing those keys... probly should've black listed them

I don't believe G2A should be responsible for a companies incompetence of leaking out half a million worth of keys...

there are also a lot of cases of people using fraudulent credit cards to buy a bunch of game keys to sell on g2a and then the person whose credit card was stolen charged back

[FirstArmada]

3 minutes ago, DXMember said:

well.. the guys were frauded on their own online store so it's like releasing those keys... probly should've black listed them

I don't believe G2A should be responsible for a companies incompetence of leaking out half a million worth of keys...

There are also cases of keys being carded and mass sold on here, the card holders would than charge back and the retailer would face massive amount of charge back fees 

 

This video explains it very well 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[DXMember]

2 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

there are also a lot of cases of people using fraudulent credit cards to buy a bunch of game keys to sell on g2a and then the person whose credit card was stolen charged back

yeah, if the transaction is charged back, so should be the keys

there's also bunch of retail clerks that just sell the game keys for cheap that they steal or otherwise obtain at their work...

[FirstArmada]

1 minute ago, DXMember said:

yeah, if the transaction is charged back, so should be the keys

there's also bunch of retail clerks that just sell the game keys for cheap that they steal or otherwise obtain at their work...

That's not it, the retailer has to pay chrageback fees too so i dont remember the number exactly but it was in the neighborhood of $30 per chargeback in some cases more than the key itself is worth 

[spartaman64]

23 hours ago, DXMember said:

yeah, if the transaction is charged back, so should be the keys

there's also bunch of retail clerks that just sell the game keys for cheap that they steal or otherwise obtain at their work...

and then people who bought the keys get angry like a case when ubisoft invalidated a lot of the fraudulent keys and then was forced to re validate them because people were angry at them

[DXMember]

3 minutes ago, FirstArmada said:

There are also cases of keys being carded and mass sold on here, the card holders would than charge back and the retailer would face massive amount of charge back fees 

 

This video explains it very well 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

I believe the bank should eat the chargeback since they authorized and processed an unauthorized transaction... it's not the little people's fault

plus G2A wallet protects from frozen accounts due to chargebacks

[FirstArmada]

2 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

and then people who bought the keys get angry like a case when ubisoft invalidated a lot of the fraudulent keys and then was forced to re validate them because people where angry at them

Same thing happend with Sniper Elite 3 7000 carded keys were revoked and were given a DLC for sniper elite 3 in return.....

[DXMember]

9 minutes ago, FirstArmada said:

There are also cases of keys being carded and mass sold on here, the card holders would than charge back and the retailer would face massive amount of charge back fees 

 

This video explains it very well 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

@ 5:21  - why is that interviewed person not in jail? credit card fraud is a criminal offense...

[DXMember]

8 minutes ago, FirstArmada said:

That's not it, the retailer has to pay chrageback fees too so i dont remember the number exactly but it was in the neighborhood of $30 per chargeback in some cases more than the key itself is worth 

don't authorize and process unauthorized transactions...

[FirstArmada]

1 minute ago, DXMember said:

@ 5:21  - why is that interviewed person not in jail? credit card fraud is a criminal offense...

Because they don't know his identity and if they did they would keep it confidential that's how journalism works 

[FirstArmada]

1 minute ago, DXMember said:

don't authorize and process unauthorized transactions...

How do you tell a authorized transaction from an un-authorized? 

[DXMember]

2 minutes ago, FirstArmada said:

Because they don't know his identity and if they did they would keep it confidential that's how journalism works 

the video says Tiny Build interviewed the guy...

[DXMember]

5 minutes ago, FirstArmada said:

How do you tell a authorized transaction from an un-authorized? 

if the bank says it's OK, then it's OK, and if it turns out to not be, then it's the banks responsibility, because they provide the authentication and authorization service

 

as a side note, G2A does hell of a lot of charity stuff as well

[FirstArmada]

9 minutes ago, DXMember said:

the video says Tiny Build interviewed the guy...

A guy, don't believe it was the guy who did it himself and if it was it was probably from a jail cell

[DXMember]

7 minutes ago, FirstArmada said:

A guy, don't believe it was the guy who did it himself and if it was it was probably from a jail cell

from a jail cell... and then the video narrator proceeds to say that the worst thing to happen to him is probably get a ban on G2A and his G2A wallet emptied ?!?!?!?!

c'mon that's absurd, I don't think it's real...

 

either way neither the retailer nor the developer should suffer from credit card transaction charge backs because they do not have any means to validate the transaction other than trust relationship with the bank

 

if the keys get stolen in any other way - like for example a release to public by a rouge employee, a security breach

then the developer should eat the loss

 

if any of the same happens on the side of publisher, distributer or retailer, then the developer should persuade those parties for a compensation instead

 

G2A is the easy target to go after, but it's not the right one

[dimitriianghelov]

2 hours ago, FirstArmada said:

There are also cases of keys being carded and mass sold on here, the card holders would than charge back and the retailer would face massive amount of charge back fees 

 

This video explains it very well 

 

  Hide contents

 

 

based on half -truths , only 200/30,000 fraudulent transactions went through their website, the devs didn't want to cooperate because they knew the truth, and rode the "you should feel bad for us" just before steam summer sale .

 

the 3'rd party resellers market is huge and yet everyone focuses on G2A .

[Energycore]

5 hours ago, DXMember said:

well.. the guys were frauded on their own online store so it's like releasing those keys... probly should've black listed them

I don't believe G2A should be responsible for a company's incompetence of leaking out half a million worth of keys...

So if I secure my bicycle with a chain that can be cut and someone comes and steals it it's my fault then.

 

Because clearly I wasn't competent enough to get a sturdier chain.

 

On the topic, nice of G2A to step back, hope they enforce their claims, and glad the situation is resolved. I'll still tell people who can't afford Windows to just run it deactivated.

[bcredeur97]

now that G2A is 10% more expensive... what do we use now?

 

lol jk

 

I don't like buying from them unless i really want something and im poor lol

[DXMember]

4 hours ago, Energycore said:

So if I secure my bicycle with a chain that can be cut and someone comes and steals it it's my fault then.

Because clearly I wasn't competent enough to get a sturdier chain.

now how did we come to that?

of course the criminal is supposed to face the charges.

 

would you suggest the state park where you left the bicycle should be responsible?

or the 2nd hand shop where the bicycle eventually ends up? - they didn't steal it...

[vanished]

Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that G2A is just now deciding to offer a certain percentage to these devs?  One would think that any legit retailer would already have a well thought out deal/contract in place with the devs that dictates what the terms will be when selling keys...

[Energycore]

51 minutes ago, DXMember said:

now how did we come to that?

of course the criminal is supposed to face the charges.

 

would you suggest the state park where you left the bicycle should be responsible?

or the 2nd hand shop where the bicycle eventually ends up? - they didn't steal it...

I'm trying to put emphasis in the fact that G2A already knew the keys they were selling were stolen (if they didn't, which is possible, then they were out of touch with what people said about them because Ubi had already disabled a bunch of stolen keys that got sold through their platform). And if a company willingly and knowingly sells stolen goods, they're liable as well.

 

Sorry for the snark

 

48 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that G2A is just now deciding to offer a certain percentage to these devs?  One would think that any legit retailer would already have a well thought out deal/contract in place with the devs that dictates what the terms will be when selling keys...

I mean, I still see it as a step in the right direction for G2A, if they deliver on it. Otherwise it was just an announcement that they made so that the masses calmed and they could continue their shady workings.

[Shahnewaz]

51 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Doesn't it strike anyone as odd that G2A is just now deciding to offer a certain percentage to these devs?  One would think that any legit retailer would already have a well thought out deal/contract in place with the devs that dictates what the terms will be when selling keys...

Yeah, I expected some sort of response regarding dealing with the actual problem, but this "royalties" thing is so far off the issue... it's weird.

[Yog]

10 hours ago, FirstArmada said:

G2A, a sort of eBay but for video games keys

I guess that's one way to describe mostly stolen goods.