Key-selling website G2A is currently facing heavy criticism from indie developers tinyBuild after being accused of selling over $450,000 worth of “stolen keys”.
G2A were quick to blow off the accusation, giving tinyBuild three days to provide a list of suspicious keys.
Head of tinyBuild Alex Nichiporchik found this ultimatum to be incredibly aggressive, and accused the company of trying to discredit tinyBuild.
As the situation boils over, tinyBuild also talked to an anonymous G2A merchant about how exactly G2A gets its keys so cheaply, and is providing PC gamers with a massive grey-market.
This is how it works:
With the number of game keys spread through bundles, most players would want to sell a few to other players.
It is a simple process for sellers:
- Get a game key from a bundle.
- Sell it on G2A.
- Make a small amount of money.
Meanwhile, the consumers get a good price on games.
tinyBuild states that this business model is fundamentally flawed and facilitates a black market economy.
Alex Nichiporchik spoke to a merchant on G2A, who said that he earned up to $4,000 a month using the following business model:
- Acquire of a database of stolen credit cards on the darkweb.
- Go to a bundle/3rd party key reseller and buy a ton of game keys.
- Put them up on G2A and sell them at half the retail price.
Have you used G2A in the past? Let us know in the comments below and in our forums.
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Correct me if I’m wrong but the keys are still being bought. Albeit at a massive discount – and with fraudulently acquired funds – but still bought. So the developer IS getting money?
I cannot speak for a lot of other players, but if it wasn’t for the deals on G2A there are some games I would simply never have played to begin with.