Witcher 3 - GMG keys are not authorized

Myrthos

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Shacknews has the news that the pre-order keys of GreenManGaming are not legit.

If a deal sounds too good to be true, chances are that it is. Yesterday, one of our Chatty posters found an amazing deal from Green Man Gaming that's offering The Witcher 3 for a staggering $38.99. For a pre-order deal, that falls under the "too good to be true" category.

The problem is, CD Projekt RED doesn't know where these codes are coming from.

Earlier today, a CD Projekt RED representative indicated to GameSpot that any keys Green Man Gaming is offering are coming from an "unknown source." What this means is that since these keys are essentially unauthorized, none of the revenue from these sales will go towards the developer.
GMG has responded to this:

Green Man Gaming (GMG) has an official contract with, and has been an approved retailer of CD Projekt S.A. (CDPR) products since 11th August 2011. Following a 6 month dialogue with CDPR about the launch of The Witcher 3, we were disappointed that despite the offer of significant cash advances, and other opportunities to officially work together, (we even offered to fly to Poland to discuss in detail how we could and wanted to support this launch), CDPR chose not to engage with a number of significant, reputable, and successful retailers, including ourselves, as they instead focused on supporting their own platform GOG.

We at GMG sincerely believe in getting games to gamers, and offering them a range of buying options to suit their preferences is critically important to this industry; we often go above corporate profits and commercial gain to make this happen. We, like millions of customers, are huge fans of The Witcher series, and have been eager for the launch of this amazing title. We believe that CDPR’s desire to support their own platform by working with retail outlets that would not conflict with their own is greater than that of meeting the demands of their audience, therefore we made the decision to indirectly secure the product and deliver it to our customers. To do this, we reached out to third parties and retailers that were approved by CDPR, to legitimately pass these keys onto our customers. This means that at some point, revenue has been passed directly onto CDPR, and any additional discount on the title is absorbed by us, as we want as many people enjoying The Witcher 3 as possible.

We would heartily welcome a renewed dialogue with CDPR, and are keen to continue to not only support the launch of The Witcher 3, but to keep celebrating and bringing the whole catalogue of CDPR titles to a worldwide audience, as we have done since 2011.
Thanks lostforever

More information.
 
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dont know what happened but in the last months, cdpr started falling hard
 
dont know what happened but in the last months, cdpr started falling hard
Have you missed the "What this means is that since these keys are essentially unauthorized, none of the revenue from these sales will go towards the developer" bit? Or are you one of those guys who gets upset because golden ring he bought for 5 quid from a stranger in a pub turned out not be golden?
 
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Have you missed the "What this means is that since these keys are essentially unauthorized, none of the revenue from these sales will go towards the developer" bit? Or are you one of those guys who gets upset because golden ring he bought for 5 quid from a stranger in a pub turned out not be golden?

Have you read the update? GMG is selling legit keys in that they got those keys from some other official retailer who got it from CDPR...

So my question is, why didn't CDPR sell them direct to GMG?
 
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bought it off some brazilian site for $24 (GOG key), much better deal.

You can buy Nivida W3 keys off ebay for even cheaper. They are perfectly legit...
 
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You can buy Nivida W3 keys off ebay for even cheaper. They are perfectly legit…

Actually they are not. From NVidia's terms and conditions: "Offer may not be substituted, exchanged, sold, or redeemed for cash or other goods or services."

Well, the keys are valid. But offering them on ebay is not allowed.

pibbur who assumes this doesn't matter to a number of people
 
Have you read the update? GMG is selling legit keys in that they got those keys from some other official retailer who got it from CDPR…

So my question is, why didn't CDPR sell them direct to GMG?

I have read the update but it's from GMG. Now I wait for another statement by CDPR. And your question is legit but I would rephrase it: why didn't GMG buy them direct from CDPR?


To be clear, IF it turns that there is a problem I don't think that's GMG trying to scam their customers but that GMG might have been scammed themselves.
 
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I believe GMG said that since CDPR refused to partner with them they got those keys from retailers authorized by CDPR
 
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Sounds to me like CDPR didn't sell to a number of bigger EU and NA shops because they want to channel this high margin business directly through GOG. Cheaper areas (South America, Eastern Europe, RU) appaarently have been supplied with keys. Looks like GMG then bought keys from there.
 
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I believe GMG said that since CDPR refused to partner with them they got those keys from retailers authorized by CDPR

Were those authorised retailers authorised to sell those keys in EU?
 
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Sounds to me like CDPR didn't sell to a number of bigger EU and NA shops because they want to channel this high margin business directly through GOG. Cheaper areas (South America, Eastern Europe, RU) appaarently have been supplied with keys. Looks like GMG then bought keys from there.

This is what I suspects as well and if this is the case then its bit of dick move by CDPR... As CDPR gets bigger and successful they seems to be going the way of Bioware and we all know how that ended up.

I have no problems with a CDPR wanting to make as much money as possible but unlike Bioware they came to the game business saying how they are not like other corporate business and claimed to the friends of consumers etc . Hypocrisy is what I don't like.

Don't get me wrong though, CDPR is still LOT better than most companies out there but alarms bells should start to ring just about now.
 
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Were those authorised retailers authorised to sell those keys in EU?

Region locking and Gog.com is what pisses me off.

When gog.com came about they were against region locking. Then they added region locking and claimed they were doing since some publishers wanted it. All well and good but why have region pricing for Witcher 3 when you are the publisher? Well money!!!
 
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CDpr is a business company. They're not a government.
They can be against certain horrible laws as much as they want - they can't change those laws.

Why are you pissed at GOG exactly? Because you voted for a government that supports regions, region prices and region locks and now GOG has no other option but to adapt to it? Man, you rock.
 
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CDpr is a publisher. They're not a government.
They can be against laws as much as they want - they can't change those laws.

What law? As far as I am aware, the publisher decided how much they charge for a game. You can't explain away the prices difference between regions on local tax! CDPR is clearly price discriminating which is fine but don't be a hypocrite about it!
 
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The publisher decided…
Erm… Wait a minute. GMG is not a publisher but if I'm seeing this correctly, it's GMG who decided. Not the publisher.

Sorry man, but I still see no reason to be pissed at GOG. :)
 
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You can't explain away the prices difference between regions on local tax! CDPR is clearly price discriminating which is fine but don't be a hypocrite about it!
But you can explain them on the basis of income levels. Average earnings in Poland (for example) are about 4 times lower than those in the UK.
 
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The publisher decided…
Erm… Wait a minute. GMG is not a publisher but if I'm seeing this correctly, it's GMG who decided something. Not the publisher.

Sorry man, but I still see no reason to be pissed at GOG. :)

We are talking about two different things here! GMG has nothing to do with region locking so please read what I exactly posted ;)
 
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