Gearbox Softworks is busy prepping the launch of the remastered Bulletstorm, and in the process has announced a very limited line of collector’s editions. The packages come with the same standard fare; a figurine, some throwaway collectibles and in-game content. The confusing part of the announcement has to do with who they’re partnering up with to get the copies out. In this case it’s G2A- a traditionally digital storefront with a messy history of fraud.
G2A, if you’re unaware, has long endured claims of compromised security, fraudulent sales of game keys and pushing developers into a corner and profiting off of their sales issues. There have been many articles detailing their questionable business practices. A lengthy report from Patrick Klepek (previously at Kotaku) details how the key reseller became so big, while developer TinyBuild’s harrowing account of their dealings with the company show how severe their practices can be on smaller independent outlets.
In a nutshell, G2A have been accused again and again of facilitating marketplaces for keys to be sold that have originated from illegal means (whether it be stolen credit cards or illegally obtained keys). In recent months they’ve really tried to hammer home that they’re changing, and a deal with Gearbox could be seen as a first step towards legitimacy. That would be believable, if G2A hadn’t shown that their process hasn’t really changed in a recent Reddit AMA.
The AMA in question focused on the changes G2A was making to the way it ran business, with the company attempting to ensure customers and potential partners that they were investing in better ways to detect fraudulent keys. During the AMA, one user stated how easy it was to flip to selling illegal keys once you became a verified user, which in itself wasn’t a difficult process. The user even submitted a fake listing during the AMA, and had it approved before the session was even over. With the evidence being thrown at them, G2A responded in the only way they shouldn’t have – they banned the user.
G2A fell back on to their typical excuses, stating that without help from developers it is increasingly difficult for them to detect when a key is fraudulent. The company claims to have a team of 100 employees combing listings in an attempt to quell the issue, but reiterated that without help their task was just impossible. Impossible to manage, but certainly not something they’re seemingly willing to turn off – even when admitting that they’re contributing to the problem.
So to have a developer/publisher like Gearbox partner with a company that is financially screwing with other competitors in their trade is curious to say the least. And the backlash has been severe, with threads on Reddit and NeoGAF lambasting Gearbox for the move. Popular gaming personality and YouTuber TotalBiscuit voiced his displeasure over the deal on Twitter, stating that he would cease coverage of the game immediately.
Pulling coverage plans for it and future Gearbox titles. No support for crooks.
— John Bain (@Totalbiscuit) 5 April 2017
A message must be sent that greymarket havens for fraud and theft will not be normalized in this industry.
— John Bain (@Totalbiscuit) 5 April 2017
You know what I call “work with us and we can help your keys not get stolen and sold on our site”? A protection racket.
— John Bain (@Totalbiscuit) 5 April 2017
Speaking further with Kotaku, TotalBiscuit detailed why he thinks G2A are so toxic to the industry.
“G2A has offered its own payment system as a ‘solution’ to credit card fraud and mass-chargebacks which cost indie developers and retailers huge amounts of money and put them at risk of being blacklisted by the worlds major credit card companies. A company can decide to work with G2A directly and use their payment solution and API, from which G2A takes a fee. This has been offered to companies such as TinyBuild who claimed to have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue due to G2A as well as smaller startup retailers such as our partner chrono.gg, who also suffered significant credit card fraud and chargebacks early in its life. When they approached G2A regarding this, they offered to give them insight into who was selling stolen keys from chrono.gg but only if they switched to using their payment system and API.G2A is providing a ‘solution’ to a problem that they created and continue to facilitate and profit from both the solution and the fraud,” he added. “G2A is essentially saying, ‘That’s a nice game you have there, it would be a shame if something were to happen to it.’ That sounds an awful lot like a protection racket to me.”
It’s clear then that this move might have been instigated by G2A, as the company attempts to move past their bad reputation and establish themselves as a more legitimate outlet. But in being the guinea pigs of this experiment, Gearbox might have just inadvertently damaged their own reputation.
Last Updated: April 6, 2017
Gavin Mannion
April 6, 2017 at 10:05
Gearbox seem to lurch from bad decision to bad decision… maybe there’s something funny in that Texan water
James Anderton
April 6, 2017 at 11:46
Perhaps ID switched to bottled water to produce DOOM (2016)
Alien Emperor Trevor
April 6, 2017 at 10:21
Dodgy dealings, double standards, questionable ethics… it’s like Randy & G2A were made for each other.
Trollin_n_Rollin
April 6, 2017 at 11:56
*Sandy (FTFY)
Captain JJ
April 6, 2017 at 10:28
I’ve never had problems with G2A, it’s the sellers on G2A to watch out for. But anyone who’s spent 5min on a street market should know how to spot a dodgy item.
Alien Emperor Trevor
April 6, 2017 at 10:33
It doesn’t help if the street market is run by the mafia.
Captain JJ
April 6, 2017 at 10:34
Just don’t piss the mafia off, I always say 😛
Gavin Mannion
April 6, 2017 at 11:43
I bought from a reputable seller with 5 stars and over 10k trades or something..
Overwatch key was revoked 4 months later.. that’s when I found out that G2A is not a reputable place to be buying things.
How many people don’t replay games they bought afterwards and never notice their keys are revoked?
Captain JJ
April 6, 2017 at 12:12
Yea, I never said that things like that never happens, just read my other comment below. But it definitely hasn’t happened to me.
Viking Of Science
April 6, 2017 at 12:46
Never Support Grey Market. There are Plenty of Certified Key Sellers on the Web if you go bargain hunting.