Buying Steam-keys?

[Jaguar]

I just learned about sites like G2A yesterday. Guess I have been living in the dark ages. So what's the general consensus? Grey market is wrong, so stay away? Price arbitrage doesn't hurt anyone, so go for it? The latter point, taken to extremes, would presumably hurt game development in the long term. For our U.S. watchers, the issue seems very similar to prescription drugs being much more expensive in the US than in other countries. US is funding the R&D, and yet if US didn't, drug companies argue the drugs couldn't exist at all...

 

[lostforever]

I just learned about sites like G2A yesterday. Guess I have been living in the dark ages. So what's the general consensus? Grey market is wrong, so stay away? Price arbitrage doesn't hurt anyone, so go for it? The latter point, taken to extremes, would presumably hurt game development in the long term. For our U.S. watchers, the issue seems very similar to prescription drugs being much more expensive in the US than in other countries. US is funding the R&D, and yet if US didn't, drug companies argue the drugs couldn't exist at all…

I use case by case basics. I want to help small time developer so I tend to buy the game from their website directly if possible. If its big time developer/publisher then G2A etc...

There is no right or wrong answer here...

 

[Gorath]

I use case by case basics. I want to help small time developer so I tend to buy the game from their website directly if possible. If its big time developer/publisher then G2A etc…

There is no right or wrong answer here…

Exactly. The guys who make the games are often not the ones making the big money. A lot of development is contract work.

I've read an article about the grey and not so grey key market on one of the big German sites (forgot which) a few weeks ago.
The main point was: Technology to region lock keys does exist. It's possible to prevent activation, and it's even possible to prevent the game from starting based on an IP check. Both is used on Steam to make sure games from The Index don't reach Germany, for example.
So the technology already exists and it's easy to implement. But only few publishers use it to the full extent, and if so then almost always only to comply with the law in a target market. The big question is "Why?".
The only sensible answer is that it's better for their business not to dry up the grey market and the unofficial resellers. They need those dozens of other sites as competition to the Steam shop! A lot of anecdotal evidence hints that Steam demands a 30% cut. If shop X and shop Y are willing to earn only 10% and pass the other 20% on to their customers, the publishers loses nothing compared to a Steam sale - and a full price Steam sale in combination with the new standard price of 60 credits pretty much doubles their margin compared to a PC retail sale, while pushing the risks associated with distribution to zero. 50 other shops with a combined market share of 20-30% is an insurance against Steam demanding a bigger cut.

 

[RPGFool]

Here's a pretty good article from TechAdvisor UK giving the ins and outs of G2A: Is G2A safe? G2A.com sells PC game keys for Steam, Uplay and more. We explain why it's not a scam..

Basically, G2A and their competitors (like Kinguin, CD Keys, etc) are, in most cases, set up like Ebay, allowing sellers with little to no overhead, the chance to sell to consumers like yourself. Essentially G2A and the like are the equivalent of large retail discounters like Walmart, Best Buy, etc. As noted in the article, G2A will optionally charge approx 1$ or 1Euro to add G2AShield "insurance" to your purchase which assures you a refund or replacement if your purchase is not legitimate.

I've bought a number of games from G2A and/or competitors and never had a problem.

Regarding "is this good or bad?" policy issues; IMO Joxer is correct in saying that this is a problem that properly can only be addressed by developers and publishers. If publishers and developers offer incredibly low prices to some large retail purchasers (but not others) and/or in some marketplaces (but not others), that's not a problem that I created or can fix. I personally do not believe it "wrong" for me to take advantage of these discounts, if legitimate.

__

 

[joxer]

Have to jump in again but will be short.
We need key reselling option because in a bunch of bundles we get the same game. Sure we can gift it, but why not earn some beer $ while we're at it.

All these key reselling sites are shady or to be precise, sellers are shady. You never know what's the story behind the key you're buying.

If you want to go high morality, lawful d&d role and make sure anything attached to you is clean there is only one thing to do.
Don't buy games on key reseller sites. Not now and not ever.
But always buy DLC from key reseller sites. Always. Because DLC is scamware. The only way you can assure it's scammers you bought the scam from is to buy DLC from keyreseller. Do it. I wish I did.

 

[Kordanor]

Lex Decrauw, founder of RageSquid (creators of Action Henk) (never heard of them before) is saying:
"Torrent my game instead of supporting shady resellers, I'll even give you the link"
Source: http://www.pcgamesn.com/action-henk/action-henk-g2a-piracy

 

[lostforever]

Lex Decrauw, founder of RageSquid (creators of Action Henk) (never heard of them before) is saying:
"Torrent my game instead of supporting shady resellers, I'll even give you the link"
Source: http://www.pcgamesn.com/action-henk/action-henk-g2a-piracy

Again attention seeking and not tacking the real issue ….

There is nothing wrong with legitimate reselling. If I buy a 1000s of game as part of humble bundle and then sell them on afterwards at higher price on G2A, then its called bloody good business! There is nothing shady about it.

G2A is like ebay, its simple as that. There are some shady sellers but most of them are "legit".

Some of these people used to complain about the secondhand console game market since they didn't get cut of. I mean, idiots…