[G2A Response UPDATE] Gearbox Delivers an Ultimatum to G2A for Continued Partnership

[HelplmChoking]

5 minutes ago, Bensemus said:

Not really. Games devs have gone bankrupt from credit card charge backs. It would be less harmful if you pirated the game as devs don't risk charge backs and G2A doesn't make money off of likely stolen keys.

 

I mean, I'll support indie devs, the sort of people who charge very little for their games and basically just cover costs, just like (before Spotify) I would buy music from small artists just starting out, but anyone huge can do without my $20. So like I bought Rust like 2 years ago, but GTA V? I'm not paying $100 for 4 year old game, just so I can go online and spend up on micro-transactions while people hack their way around the game. 

I think I'd have issues with people not getting the stuff they buy (unless they buy steam gifts, that's just dumb) because that's really bad, but I don't much care what G2A does. It doesn't hurt me, and I have too many other things to worry about.

[typographie]

33 minutes ago, Rangaman42 said:

Yah, and if it's stolen or whatever, that's no problem of mine. I totally get that their business is super dodgy, but it doesn't affect me negatively and there's more chance of a dev (lol like devs get much after the publishers take their cuts...) getting paid than if I pirate it.

If you think your only options are to steal a game or buy one that you don't care could be stolen because it doesn't affect your short-term gain, any argument I can come up with is just going to sound silly. We don't even agree on the basics. You do you, I guess. 

[AshleyAshes]

52 minutes ago, Rangaman42 said:

I don't much care what G2A does. It doesn't hurt me, and I have too many other things to worry about.

You're spending a lot of time in this thread to declare how much you don't care about the issue at hand...  Seems like the opposite of not caring.

[Lazmarr]

6 hours ago, 8-Bit Ninja said:

There is no way g2a will agree to this, they make a small fortune in tricking people into paying £2.50 for g2a shield. 

£2.50? It used to be £0.80p....

[Delicieuxz]

7 hours ago, TimeOmnivore said:

 

 

Adding:

 

Then TB should similarly not ever use Craigslist, eBay, or similar services, and should equally vocally oppose those places, because the exact same vulnerability to credit card fraud exists in every reseller marker. Some gamers have just become aware the potential and presence of it in the games reseller market, and they're reacting as if this is a new and unique phenomena, when it has been a basic tenant of reseller markets since always. There is nothing different about the potential as it exists when it comes to game keys.

 

And, just recently, I wrote a blog post about this subject.

A person doesn't boycott all used and reseller markets, yet criticizes the gaming one, is a total hypocrite.

 

If a person really thinks that eBay and Craigslist shouldn't exist for people to sell their legitimate licenses because of the potential for some people to offload fraudulently-bought licenses through the same avenues, then they basically are saying that everyone should be punished and refused opportunity to sell their own stuff because of something they haven't done. It's not a logical or moral position.

[Bouzoo]

1 hour ago, Rangaman42 said:

So like I bought Rust like 2 years ago, but GTA V? I'm not paying $100 for 4 year old game, just so I can go online and spend up on micro-transactions while people hack their way around the game. 

The argument "everyone else is doing it" has been washed over and really shouldn't be used. You can get GTAV for much less, just wait for sale. But the bottom line is pretty simple, if you haven't bought the game, you should not be playing it. Period. I'm a person that is always looking for a middle ground, but this is really a black/white scenario. I'm dying to play Nier: Automata na ME:A but I'll be waiting a bit more due to some expenses that I have, and then I'll buy them. Buy it from an official reseller or don't buy it. 

[ARikozuM]

5 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

The argument "everyone else is doing it" has been washed over and really shouldn't be used. 

Or you could buy it from me! On G2A since I received a code for it (I passed it to the wife since I'm not a fan of Mass Effect) and have no use for the darn thing. Too many keys lying around and I have been known to just give them away to people.

[zMeul]

what a load of bullcrap

if TB would not've said a thing, GearBox would've continued like nothing happened - it's public knowledge G2A is the "silk road" for video games

[Teddy07]

I only have good experiences with G2A. I sold a legit key for good money there which i got with my GPU.

 

I just unsubscribed from Totalbiscuit because enough is enough.

[WereCat]

I am not touching G2A ever again. I got ripped off on one $2 game... I don't mind that. What opened my eyes was when I accidentally ripped off someone else when I was selling game and mistook key for one that was already used on $10 game.

I am really sorry, whoever it was. I hope you got your refund.

When I entered the key for sale I got several VERIFIED messages from G2A so I though it was all OK.

Not to mention how many cuts does G2A take from the games you sell there and another cuts when you want to withdraw money from the wallet.

[Derangel]

18 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

I only have good experiences with G2A. I sold a legit key for good money there which i got with my GPU.

 

I just unsubscribed from Totalbiscuit because enough is enough.

And you could have just as easily have sold a key gained through credit card fraud or other illegal means. That's the problem. Plugging your ears and pretending everything is fine because you had a good experience is a bullshit, lazy, excuse.

[Derangel]

1 hour ago, Delicieuxz said:

 

Then TB should similarly not ever use Craigslist, eBay, or similar services, and should equally vocally oppose those places, because the exact same vulnerability to credit card fraud exists in every reseller marker. Some gamers have just become aware the potential and presence of it in the games reseller market, and they're reacting as if this is a new and unique phenomena, when it has been a basic tenant of reseller markets since always. There is nothing different about the potential as it exists when it comes to game keys.

 

And, just recently, I wrote a blog post about this subject.

A person doesn't boycott all used and reseller markets, yet criticizes the gaming one, is a total hypocrite.

 

If a person really thinks that eBay and Craigslist shouldn't exist for people to sell their legitimate licenses because of the potential for some people to offload fraudulently-bought licenses through the same avenues, then they basically are saying that everyone should be punished and refused opportunity to sell their own stuff because of something they haven't done. It's not a logical or moral position.

And game developers team up with those services to sell exclusive editions of games?

[Bouzoo]

58 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Or you could buy it from me! On G2A since I received a code for it (I passed it to the wife since I'm not a fan of Mass Effect) and have no use for the darn thing. Too many keys lying around and I have been known to just give them away to people.

PM me with the price. Sadly might have to wait a bit unless you sell it, speeding ticket and uni fees. 

[zMeul]

 

[ashypanda]

once you factor in G2A shield and their ridiculous paypal fee, games from G2A aren't really much cheaper than from steam, gamesplanet, or even amazon.

But how G2A popped up and somehow took over E-sports practically overnight, is a little suspicious, although good to see more backlash against them.

[Mooshi]

It took G2A 6 MONTHS to refund a bum key WITH sheild. I'm glad TB is not tolerating anyone that shills the cancer known as G2A.

 

Kudos to those that haven't been scammed by G2A, but as a first impression, it left a lingering bad taste.

[SeriousDad69]

Awful lot of virtue signalling in this thread lol
"I paid more money for this game than you did so I'm better!"
It's not the end user's place to care about this kinda shit, it's the developer's and publisher's problems. Me personally? I like getting my games for 20-50% cheaper.

[sof006]

I refuse to use G2A no matter how appealing the cost might be, i'd rather pay full price and get a working key and know the money is going straight to the publisher/developer.

[CyanideInsanity]

5 hours ago, Teddy07 said:

I only have good experiences with G2A. I sold a legit key for good money there which i got with my GPU.

 

I just unsubscribed from Totalbiscuit because enough is enough.

Thats how it went down with me when I sold the AC4 key I got with my xbone bundle. Then sometime later I sold a ff13 key and never got a notification and forgot about(minor annoyance not the issue though) and then someone got a hold of my account logging in from a chinese IP and gain like $10 or so from that ff13 sale. No autolocking accounts logging in from different countries, no way to cancel g2ashield early and even more so in the case for a fraudulent activation, and about 1 month of trying to sort this out and a further month with no communication, or confirmation that my request was received, that they were looking into the matter to actually get my account back in order. Nah, g2a just sucks.

[Derangel]

3 hours ago, SeriousDad69 said:

Awful lot of virtue signalling in this thread lol
"I paid more money for this game than you did so I'm better!"
It's not the end user's place to care about this kinda shit, it's the developer's and publisher's problems. Me personally? I like getting my games for 20-50% cheaper.

Wrong. It IS our place to care because supporting G2A means supporting a bunch of shitbags that have DIRECTELY harmed smaller companies and caused more than one to close up shop due to the cost of fighting stolen keys. This isn't a case of getting games cheaper, if you want that just wait for a damn sale or shop around there are far better grey market sites out there that aren't designed around allowing a marketplace for stolen keys. It is also your problem because G2A is running a protection racket that YOU are actively engaging in. You are directly contributing to people that are a real danger to indie developers, studios that are the life blood of the industry these days.

[XenosTech]

How games work for me... Pirate first to see if I like it then I buy it from the devs or some other platform that's legit so I don't have to worry about losing money but then again I use paypal so I'll always get a refund if I have to.

[Grinners]

Do people boycott Ebay because there might be some stolen items for sale on there? Isnt g2a just the middleman allowing transactions between individuals? 

 

As for the grey market argument; i don't have a moral issue with buying a key from another region to avoid the 30% 'Australia tax' that companies like to charge. 

 

G2A is a 2nd last resort for me. I'll wait a few months for a game to go on sale again and buy legit or pay a few dollars more to get it through steam but I won't pay $50 more (dishonored 2 for example 3 weeks ago - 60USD on steam vs 34 on g2a). That is a big difference. 

[AshleyAshes]

3 minutes ago, Grinners said:

Do people boycott Ebay because there might be some stolen items for sale on there? Isn't g2a just the middleman allowing transactions between individuals? 

This is a pretty bad comparison really.  eBay is about as pro-active as can be in dealing with scams and the like.  More over, eBay doesn't go 'So, maybe the seller really ISN'T selling you a GTX Titan XP for $49.99 and you're a total sucker.  For a fee we'll sorta promise to give your money back if you get scammed... Which would make you not a sucker.  Totally not a sucker.  We promise.  Only smart people think this a goo idea'.  eBay offers consumer protections outright and side heavily with the consumer.

 

There are a lot of venues for commerce that can and are be used to defraud consumers or be used for money laundering, but G2A actively encourages it and has made itself an integral part of the money laundering and fraud operations for the sake of profit.

 

Not to mention, since G2A's operations have directly lead to large scale financial hits to developers, Unknown World's has stated that G2A nearly bankrupt the company due to it's facilitation of software keys and stolen credit cards for money laundering, so a developer getting into bed with a company that is known to directly harm developers is kinda a bad idea.  You can rest assured that yesterday someone at Gearbox was yelling at someone else in Gearbox to the effect of 'HOW THE FUCK DID YOU EVEN GET US INTO THIS MESS!?'

[Energycore]

14 hours ago, Rangaman42 said:

I mean, just don't buy a game as a "steam gift" because that's clearly dodgy, but I've never seen something go wrong. I don't really care how they got the keys in the first place, that's not my problem. And, with the way my life is atm, I will either buy it that way, or it'll end up being pirated.

That's where I see the issue. Is it not your problem that multiple companies that make good games have to shut down or face strong financial problems because people buy stolen keys? Consider that your favourite developer might be the next to suffer from this issue, or your favourite game's sequel might be cancelled because of this. Is it really not your problem?

[Bleedingyamato]

17 hours ago, Fooshi said:

As I've been spammingsaying for years now; if you have to pay extra to be sure you get your product delivered, you should not be spending your money there to begin with.

 

G2A and their clones should not be used under any circumstances. "I want cheap games" is not an excuse.

 

What would those clones be?    

 

It would help to know what to avoid.  I don't want to buy from somewhere and find out afterwards that they sell stolen keys.

 

I've only gotten games from Steam, GOG, and Humblebundle but idk what else is out there and if there's any other legit sites out there that aren't shady like G2A.  

 

The only other site I've heard of is Greenmangaming (I think it was called that.) but idk if it does illegal and shady things like G2A does.  

 

I haven't bought games from other sites because idk what other game selling sites there are but also because the couple I know about (G2A and GMG) I either know sell stolen keys (G2A) or idk if the site is trustworthy/legal (GMG) so I haven't used either.  

 

14 hours ago, killcomic said:

So either G2A are crooks that charge you less or publishers are crooks for hiking the prices in Australia with no real reason other than because they can... tough choice (not really).

That's really stupid you'd get overcharged just for living in Australia.