What the fuck is G2A? And why are so many people sperging out at them for the inherent limitations of running a secondary market for a class of product who's creators have been trying to make their products immune to the first sale doctrine?
It has been found out in the past that they obtained a lot of their keys through fraud of some sort. I believe something like charging them all to a fake credit card and once they get the keys from retailers they charge it back and then sell those keys for way cheaper than official sights to they make a profit without spending anything, or something like that. So then there have been cases of people buying keys from them and then they get deactivated by the original publisher because they were obtained in a shady way.
Yep. While G2A technically isn't at fault as they just act as a middleman for reselling keys, they don't really do anything to stop fraudulent sellers. Depending on who you ask, G2A is the devil or G2A is doing nothing wrong as they're just the middleman.
I always got the impression that they're a bit like a pawn shop that hangs out a flashing neon sign that says "We'll buy anything, no questions asked, and we mean anything.
FWIW I've bought plenty of keys from sites like G2A (though not G2A itself) and none of them have been deactivated, implying that none of them were fraudulent. There's a plenty good market in buying keys when they're heavily discounted (i.e. sales) and then selling them later when their price is below the official price.
Example: I bought CS:GO on sale (from Steam) for 2€. It sells for 14€ right now. If I had any sense I would have bought hundreds of keys when it was on sale and re-sold them for 10€ when the sale was over, making 8€ pure profit per key.
They sell some stolen stuff but I'm not sure they really rely on credit card theft. The game devs are pretty biased about the whole thing because sites like g2a remove their power to fix prices which is probably a good thing. Video games are a weird market these days because you can't sell a used copy to someone and companies are able to set their games at $60 for absurdly long amount of times. At least with g2a it's more like a free market. They can't gouge the people who they think are willing to pay more then turn around and sell the game at half the price in a different country. It's not a healthy market when you're able to do shit like that.
Look, let's be honest. They are Poles. What does the Polish educational system teach you? Is it obedience to the law? Is it decency? No. They teach you some romantic bullshit about how the Polish nation is superior to others and is the martyr of nations (I shit you not,. The effect is that Poles don't care about the law created by the oppresive state. It's always "Nah, it's fine".
The problem arises when shit doesn't go the way it was expected to because there's never a backup plan. In effect it's impossible to do damage control because a) there's no logic behind what you have done so far, b) you expected everything to go well anyway.
In short, Poles can write a thesis about honor and WW2 PTSD but are unable to setup a properly working business. That's why you don't know a single Polish brand. Finns have Nokia, Swedes have Ericsson, Czechs have Skoda, Poles have pierogi.
why any company with even a hint of controversy would do an AMA on the outrage machine that is reddit is beyond me. These kids live to climb the outrage ladder.
31 comments
n/a SnapshillBot 2017-02-04
Buzzword is, itself, a buzzword now.
Snapshots:
I am a bot. (Info / Contact)
n/a A6MZer0 2017-02-04
Update:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/5rtv2q/im_the_person_who_recently_exposed_g2a_i_need/
n/a FreekyFreezer 2017-02-04
I argue with G2A give me karma
n/a Toradoki 2017-02-04
Too bad internet points are worthless to me.
n/a FreekyFreezer 2017-02-04
Thats why you post unironically in /r/videogamecirclejerk
n/a tot22 2017-02-04
Go through their posting history, they're trying really hard (and really poorly) to do some damage control.
They literally keep copy+pasting the same thing over and over.
n/a A6MZer0 2017-02-04
It would be hilarious if they were banned for spamming
https://www.reddit.com/user/g2a_com
n/a tot22 2017-02-04
That'd be the icing on the schadenfreude cake
n/a PicksOut4Harambe 2017-02-04
Reported to the admins for harassment and brigading, thanks.
n/a ComedicSans 2017-02-04
Not sure if serious or retarded.
n/a 80BAIT08 2017-02-04
Gabi is a cunt.
n/a midairfistfight 2017-02-04
What the fuck is G2A? And why are so many people sperging out at them for the inherent limitations of running a secondary market for a class of product who's creators have been trying to make their products immune to the first sale doctrine?
n/a takaci 2017-02-04
I think it's like ebay for steam keys
n/a Ronocm13 2017-02-04
It has been found out in the past that they obtained a lot of their keys through fraud of some sort. I believe something like charging them all to a fake credit card and once they get the keys from retailers they charge it back and then sell those keys for way cheaper than official sights to they make a profit without spending anything, or something like that. So then there have been cases of people buying keys from them and then they get deactivated by the original publisher because they were obtained in a shady way.
n/a LuntiX 2017-02-04
Yep. While G2A technically isn't at fault as they just act as a middleman for reselling keys, they don't really do anything to stop fraudulent sellers. Depending on who you ask, G2A is the devil or G2A is doing nothing wrong as they're just the middleman.
n/a Ranilen 2017-02-04
I always got the impression that they're a bit like a pawn shop that hangs out a flashing neon sign that says "We'll buy anything, no questions asked, and we mean anything.
n/a LuntiX 2017-02-04
Pretty much, I always refer to them as a Grey Market of sorts for CD Keys.
n/a realgiffordpinchot 2017-02-04
This has been a thing for a looong time now.
Its a real shame their entire business model relies on systematic credit card theft.
n/a botchlings 2017-02-04
As long as I can get cheap games, I'm fine with it.
n/a TheMauveHand 2017-02-04
FWIW I've bought plenty of keys from sites like G2A (though not G2A itself) and none of them have been deactivated, implying that none of them were fraudulent. There's a plenty good market in buying keys when they're heavily discounted (i.e. sales) and then selling them later when their price is below the official price.
Example: I bought CS:GO on sale (from Steam) for 2€. It sells for 14€ right now. If I had any sense I would have bought hundreds of keys when it was on sale and re-sold them for 10€ when the sale was over, making 8€ pure profit per key.
n/a definitelymyrealname 2017-02-04
They sell some stolen stuff but I'm not sure they really rely on credit card theft. The game devs are pretty biased about the whole thing because sites like g2a remove their power to fix prices which is probably a good thing. Video games are a weird market these days because you can't sell a used copy to someone and companies are able to set their games at $60 for absurdly long amount of times. At least with g2a it's more like a free market. They can't gouge the people who they think are willing to pay more then turn around and sell the game at half the price in a different country. It's not a healthy market when you're able to do shit like that.
n/a holyshitimgood 2017-02-04
Look, let's be honest. They are Poles. What does the Polish educational system teach you? Is it obedience to the law? Is it decency? No. They teach you some romantic bullshit about how the Polish nation is superior to others and is the martyr of nations (I shit you not,. The effect is that Poles don't care about the law created by the oppresive state. It's always "Nah, it's fine".
The problem arises when shit doesn't go the way it was expected to because there's never a backup plan. In effect it's impossible to do damage control because a) there's no logic behind what you have done so far, b) you expected everything to go well anyway.
In short, Poles can write a thesis about honor and WW2 PTSD but are unable to setup a properly working business. That's why you don't know a single Polish brand. Finns have Nokia, Swedes have Ericsson, Czechs have Skoda, Poles have pierogi.
Source: born and raised here.
n/a Clopernicus 2017-02-04
What about CD Projekt RED?
n/a holyshitimgood 2017-02-04
See? You fucked up my argument with logic. You've actually proven my point.
n/a Clopernicus 2017-02-04
Well I don't know anything about your larger point. I also have no idea what Skoda is.
n/a holyshitimgood 2017-02-04
A car company.
n/a Pepperglue 2017-02-04
This guy's good.
n/a niczar 2017-02-04
Vodka?
n/a Newstade 2017-02-04
Grey market should be encouraged
n/a Chicup 2017-02-04
That was a much bigger shit show than expected.
n/a ComedicSans 2017-02-04
This kind of attention can have legal consequences, and the vendor knows it.
n/a neutralvoter 2017-02-04
why any company with even a hint of controversy would do an AMA on the outrage machine that is reddit is beyond me. These kids live to climb the outrage ladder.
n/a lostpasswordnoemail 2017-02-04
Shouldn't that g2a account be banned for doxxing?
n/a chaosaurus 2017-02-04
Pissing off a Eastern Europe Key reseller who has your credit card informations, what could go wrong ?