Last year, the website G2A once again went into the spotlight due to their market place allowing anyone to sell game keys and often they're from dubious sources. Now G2A has given an update.
In 2019, G2A said in in a blog post that they would pay 10x the cost of chargebacks as a result of any stolen keys sold through G2A. This follows on from many developers being unhappy with them. This required any interested developer to work with G2A on it and they were going to hire an external auditor to do it.
In the now updated blog post titled "Keeping our promise", G2A announced that Wube Software who make Factorio were the only developer to take them up on the offer and a settlement was reached.However, they were unable to find an external auditor so they did the audit themselves. G2A finally admit they actually had stolen keys! Against the list of 321 illegitimate keys provided, they found 198 keys were sold on G2A.
G2A don't actually admit any fault on their part, in fact they somewhat play the victim card, with their blog post having the typical PR spin you would expect. They did say they will continue to compensate developers the full value of any chargeback fees for keys sold on G2A, as long as the developer is "able to prove they were illegitimate".
As per the agreement, they've paid off Wube Software. According to gamesindustry.biz who spoke to Wube, they seem satisfied with the outcome as they have received a payout of $39,600 from G2A as a result. Like Scott Klonan of Wube Software said, the best way to combat such key sales it to "cut it at the source" as much as possible. Part of the problem for them was their original store, and how it was less secure than others like Steam, itch.io and the Humble Store widget.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
In any case, good for them. Wube are one of the nicest devs out there and Factorio is beyond amazing.
Are there any rogue agents trying to generate collisions ?
Or do they actually stole them from phishing, unauthorized access or from the inside ?
That's the kind of questions I'd love G2A to answer as they might know better.
Quoting: aokamiI wonder how can they even flourish a business out of stolen keys...
Are there any rogue agents trying to generate collisions ?
Or do they actually stole them from phishing, unauthorized access or from the inside ?
That's the kind of questions I'd love G2A to answer as they might know better.
Beginner's guide to laundering money using G2A
1. Steal credit card details using phishing techniques.
2. Buy loads of game keys on Humble or game developers' own websites.
3. Sell keys on G2A to cash out.
4. Leave game devs to deal with chargeback fees while G2A gets rich off of the cut they get from stolen keys.
Last edited by Samsai on 21 May 2020 at 8:03 pm UTC
Quoting: SamsaiQuoting: aokamiI wonder how can they even flourish a business out of stolen keys...
Are there any rogue agents trying to generate collisions ?
Or do they actually stole them from phishing, unauthorized access or from the inside ?
That's the kind of questions I'd love G2A to answer as they might know better.
Beginner's guide to laundering money using G2A
1. Steal credit card details using phishing techniques.
2. Buy loads of game keys on Humble or game developer's own websites.
3. Sell keys on G2A to cash out.
4. Leave game devs to deal with chargeback fees while G2A gets rich off of the cut they get from stolen keys.
Why don't they just revoke the keys?
If so many stolen keys are actually sold in G2A, the user will know, everyone will say on the Internet that their key bought in G2A has been revoked, even though not many buyers denounce G2A, it would be a problem for them, and they would worry about doing something.
Quoting: K3rcusThey could revoke the keys but since that key now belongs to somebody that thinks they bought a legitimate key, they risk pissing off people playing their game. The devs already have to deal with the chargeback but on top of that they risk PR damage if they actually try to do something about it. So, not exactly a perfect solution.Quoting: SamsaiQuoting: aokamiI wonder how can they even flourish a business out of stolen keys...
Are there any rogue agents trying to generate collisions ?
Or do they actually stole them from phishing, unauthorized access or from the inside ?
That's the kind of questions I'd love G2A to answer as they might know better.
Beginner's guide to laundering money using G2A
1. Steal credit card details using phishing techniques.
2. Buy loads of game keys on Humble or game developer's own websites.
3. Sell keys on G2A to cash out.
4. Leave game devs to deal with chargeback fees while G2A gets rich off of the cut they get from stolen keys.
Why don't they just revoke the keys?
If so many stolen keys are actually sold in G2A, the user will know, everyone will say on the Internet that their key bought in G2A has been revoked, even though not many buyers denounce G2A, it would be a problem for them, and they would worry about doing something.
Quoting: SamsaiBeginner's guide to laundering money using G2A
1. Steal credit card details using phishing techniques.
2. Buy loads of game keys on Humble or game developers' own websites.
3. Sell keys on G2A to cash out.
4. Leave game devs to deal with chargeback fees while G2A gets rich off of the cut they get from stolen keys.
Makes sense :O
I still think the 30 percent cut steam takes too much, especily on smaller titles, but it's not my decision to make.
And I disagree still that I can not give games I bought to friends. But the times probably changed too much for that.
Last edited by STiAT on 21 May 2020 at 11:34 pm UTC
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