Ubisoft cancles (atleast some ) re-seller keys for FC4 and AC

[cFortyfive]

I think that bizarre notion is a holdover from the whole "Oh it fell off a truck." thing. People see something cheap and assume that something shady is going on, when in reality it's very easy for these companies to flip legit games and turn a profit much to the chagrin of companies like UbiSoft.

I think claiming that a company like g2a deals exclusively with illegitimately gained keys deserves a bit more proof.

And you don't see how that is shady?

Making use of regional different prices ? No not really.

[Deleted]

Never purchased one before for this specific reason. They're not official retailers and don't get their codes directly from the publishers, that means that there's no guarantee that the keys are legally acquired or for sale in your region. This is the risk that is run when purchasing keys on these sites.

Let's be honest here, if you were a game developper and grew up in the gaming market would you make the retarded move and push people into piracy? Because this is exactly what they are doing. The only reason I've been purchasing games compared to movies or music is because I get to choose where I buy it from for a decent price if I'm patient enough to wait for deals.

Ever since "The Crew" I already promised myself to never purchase a game again published by Ubisoft, and if I hadn't before I'd simply start boycotting them now. I'll pirate any game published by Ubisoft as long as they don't stop their bullshit. That includes keeping Uplay active.

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What? Since when is Ubisoft responsible for consumers purchasing habits? I thought people controlled their purchasing habits.



Ubisoft temporarily removed a few games from Steam but put them back.
Them releasing broken games doesn't change where you buy the game from, it's still going to be broken if you get it from GameStop, Steam, or G2A.

If you don't like it, you can always either just not buy their games or wait months until they fix them. Buying from the grey market doesn't change the quality of the game you purchase.

Or I'll pirate their games which I haven't done in 8 years and I hope many others do the same. Instead of f*cking over people who are willing to spend money on their games they should put more money in making sure developpers release finished products.

[Tech614]

The only reason I've been purchasing games compared to movies or music is because I get to choose where I buy it from for a decent price if I'm patient enough to wait for deals.

There are plenty of legit places to buy game keys.

Amazon
GamersGate
Greenman Gaming
Gamefly
Gamestop
Nuuvem(if you live in south america)
Steam
Origin
Uplay

Plenty more I'm sure I'm forgetting. This doesn't effect legit key sellers like this at all.

[Deleted]

http://unknownworlds.com/blog/beware...nt-steam-keys/

Many other examples you want more?

But from the devs mouths themselves is not proof let me guess?

Sorry if you're hurt that you buy from shady ass sites, but the truth is the truth.

Except they don't know where said keys come from, so unless they have solid proof that a website like in the OP is stealing I'm not sure what your contribution is to the thread.

[Edge-]

I think claiming that a company like g2a deals exclusively with illegitimately gained keys deserves a bit more proof.

Nobody is saying that. What we're saying is that there is always a risk that they may get shipments of illegally acquired keys and that there's always a risk when purchasing from them. So if your keys get revoked, it's your fault as a consumer for using that site, not the developers/publishers.

Let's be honest here, if you were a game developper and grew up in the gaming market would you make the retarded move and push people into piracy? Because this is exactly what they are doing. The only reason I've been purchasing games compared to movies or music is because I get to choose where I buy it from for a decent price if I'm patient enough to wait for deals.

How are they pushing people to piracy?

Don't buy off the grey market where keys may be illegally obtained and resold and you won't have a problem. It's not as if games through official storefronts aren't cheap as shit anyways.

Like, if we were talking about a market that didn't have a thriving digital marketplace where games could be purchased on deep discount with great frequency, I could maybe understand it. But like, yo, Amazon, Steam, GMG, Gamersgate, GoG, Origin, GameStop, there are tons of official stores that routinely run insanely deep discounts on games, including big name AAA titles.

Ever since "The Crew" I already promised myself to never purchase a game again published by Ubisoft, and if I hadn't before I'd simply start boycotting them now. I'll pirate any game published by Ubisoft as long as they don't stop their bullshit. That includes keeping Uplay active.

1. Don't promote piracy in these forums.

2. If you want to boycott them, that's totally cool. I get why one would do that given their recent history. That doesn't change the fact that they're very much in the right in revoking these keys if they were indeed acquired illegally (stolen credit carts) or are being sold in the incorrect regions.

Except they don't know where said keys come from, so unless they have solid proof that a website like in the OP is stealing I'm not sure what your contribution is to the thread.

But they do...they keys came from purchases made with stolen credit cards that backcharged the purchases. That means they got nothing from those sales of the games so they keys were stolen.

[Deleted]

There are plenty of legit places to buy game keys.

Greenman Gaming
Steam
Origin
Uplay

Plenty more I'm sure I'm forgetting. This doesn't effect legit key sellers like this at all.

I fixed that for you. And if you think I'll buy a game for 60 euros you got another thing coming, that train passed when they started releasing broken products. You assume everybody lives in US where you can buy games from a million eshops that offer fair prices. In Belgium for example, you got none...every game I want to buy at a fair price is bought from eshops outside of my country.

[Orlong]

All keys are original from the game makers and they get there cut.

Does this stop you from using key re-seller sites ?

No they didnt get their cut. They got their cut of $5 or whatever the game sells for in Lithuania. You were supposed to buy it in the US where they would get their cut of $50 which is a lot more. Games are cheaper in the countries that the key sellers buy the games in because people in those countries are typically paupers and cant afford more than $5 for a game. And to make up for those lost profits, they have to charge more in first world nations

[Edge-]

I fixed that for you. And if you think I'll buy a game for 60 euros you got another thing coming, that train passed when they started releasing broken products. You assume everybody lives in US where you can buy games from a million eshops that offer fair prices. In Belgium for example, you got none...every game I want to buy at a fair price is bought from eshops outside of my country.

Every storefront he listed is an official retailer of product codes. And just about every one routinely runs sales upwards of 80%+ on games, with major AAA titles as cheap as $5 within a few years of release.

I mean, if you want to buy games at launch then yeah, you're going to be paying more (though even then it's very common to find upwards of 25% off pre-order discounts). If you want the cheap prices, you have to be patient. It's not as if waiting a few months+ for them to fix the games will hurt too much anyways : P

[Deleted]

Nobody is saying that. What we're saying is that there is always a risk that they may get shipments of illegally acquired keys and that there's always a risk when purchasing from them. So if your keys get revoked, it's your fault as a consumer for using that site, not the developers/publishers.



How are they pushing people to piracy?

Don't buy off the grey market where keys may be illegally obtained and resold and you won't have a problem. It's not as if games through official storefronts aren't cheap as shit anyways.

Like, if we were talking about a market that didn't have a thriving digital marketplace where games could be purchased on deep discount with great frequency, I could maybe understand it. But like, yo, Amazon, Steam, GMG, Gamersgate, GoG, Origin, GameStop, there are tons of official stores that routinely run insanely deep discounts on games, including big name AAA titles.



1. Don't promote piracy in these forums.

2. If you want to boycott them, that's totally cool. I get why one would do that given their recent history. That doesn't change the fact that they're very much in the right in revoking these keys if they were indeed acquired illegally (stolen credit carts) or are being sold in the incorrect regions.



But they do...they keys came from purchases made with stolen credit cards that backcharged the purchases. That means they got nothing from those sales of the games so they keys were stolen.

They don't know where the keys come from as they are still being investigated, so it would be great if people could stop claiming they were stolen untill it's proven.

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Every storefront he listed is an official retailer of product codes. And just about every one routinely runs sales upwards of 80%+ on games, with major AAA titles as cheap as $5 within a few years of release.

I mean, if you want to buy games at launch then yeah, you're going to be paying more (though even then it's very common to find upwards of 25% off pre-order discounts). If you want the cheap prices, you have to be patient. It's not as if waiting a few months+ for them to fix the games will hurt too much anyways : P

As I said, some of you have no clue about prices in different countries/regions. This might be news for you, but in many official stores prices never drop in some regions...and Origins/Uplay deals aren't very impressive.

They talk in the article about people who buy shit outside of their own region, let's say I buy something on Amazon, I'd still buy stuff outside of my own region from a place where the currency and product value don't match.

[Edge-]

They don't know where the keys come from as they are still being investigated, so it would be great if people could stop claiming they were stolen untill it's proven.

If you look in the comments section and if you looked in the Steam forums at the time, you saw plenty of folks who purchased through these very third party key resellers like G2A being the ones complaining of having their keys revoked.

Now, I wonder where they were getting them... : P

[Deleted]

If you look in the comments section and if you looked in the Steam forums at the time, you saw plenty of folks who purchased through these very third party key resellers like G2A being the ones complaining of having their keys revoked.

Now, I wonder where they were getting them... : P

The article isn't talking about stolen keys...at least the focus isn't there.

[Edge-]

The article isn't talking about stolen keys...at least the focus isn't there.

I'm confused...which article are we talking about now? The one about Natural Selection 2 (the dev blog) or the one in the OP about Ubisoft?

[cFortyfive]

Nobody is saying that.

Pretty sure that's the insinuation that comes with claiming they are shady ass and that their keys all fraudulently acquired in eastern Europe via charge backs. Maybe not exclusively but still.

. You were supposed to buy it in the US where they would get their cut of $50 which is a lot more.

Nobody owes anyone that.

[Edge-]

Pretty sure that's the insinuation that comes with claiming they are shady ass and that their keys all fraudulently acquired in eastern Europe via charge backs. Maybe not exclusively but still.

Claiming that they're shady sites that can potentially sell keys fraudulently acquired through stolen credit cards is a fact, though. The reality is that there is no guarantee that all the keys they receive are legitimate, as they don't receive them from the publisher themselves.

It's the same as the guy selling those cheap DVD's/Blue Rays at the flea market for a fraction of the cost. Sure, they may look brand new and legit, but do you know that they're all legit copies of the movie? That they weren't stolen, or don't have burned disks in them? No, you don't. That makes his suspiciously cheap prices pretty shady, IMO.

[Deleted]

I'm confused...which article are we talking about now? The one about Natural Selection 2 (the dev blog) or the one in the OP about Ubisoft?

The OP.

But if it was prooven that g2a or kinguin (previously called g2play) are selling stolen keys then action should be taken. Though this applies if it happens to be on a big scale and the websites are knowingly selling stolen keys.

As they are key resellers you should be able to get a new key if you buy their sale protection on the purchase of your game. Which for G2A is 1 euro...if people buy a key from resellers without this protection they really got nothing to complain about as the website offers you a key warranty for 1 euro.

This bolded part is important for people buying from said websites. (I myself buy from g2a, greenmangaming or steam depending what game and how soon I want to play it)

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Claiming that they're shady sites that can potentially sell keys fraudulently acquired through stolen credit cards is a fact, though. The reality is that there is no guarantee that all the keys they receive are legitimate, as they don't receive them from the publisher themselves.

It's the same as the guy selling those cheap DVD's/Blue Rays at the flea market for a fraction of the cost. Sure, they may look brand new and legit, but do you know that they're all legit copies of the movie? That they weren't stolen, or don't have burned disks in them? No, you don't. That makes his suspiciously cheap prices pretty shady, IMO.

True, but some of the websites offer a key warranty. If idiots are so cheap that they aren't even willing to pay 1 EUR or USD on top of the 10-50% cut they are getting then they deserve to be blocked from playing the game (figure of speech :P).

[cFortyfive]

It's the same as the guy selling those cheap DVD's/Blue Rays at the flea market for a fraction of the cost. Sure, they may look brand new and legit, but do you know that they're all legit copies of the movie? That they weren't stolen, or don't have burned disks in them? No, you don't. That makes his suspiciously cheap prices pretty shady, IMO.

Prices are usually in line with those of cheaper regions. Also unless the guy on the flea market has hundreds of well known affiliates and sponsors several entities in Gaming and esports I feel the comparison is pretty inaccurate.

[Edge-]

The OP.

But if it was prooven that g2a or kinguin (previously called g2play) are selling stolen keys then action should be taken. Though this applies if it happens to be on a big scale and the websites are knowingly selling stolen keys.

Ah, in this instance I believe it's an issue of keys from one region being sold outside that region, which is not allowed and is fully within the rights of Ubisoft to handle if they want to.

True, but some of the websites offer a key warranty. If idiots are so cheap that they aren't even willing to pay 1 EUR or USD on top of the 10-50% cut they are getting then they deserve to be blocked from playing the game (figure of speech :P).

I didn't know, but interesting to hear. It would definitely behoove people to spend that extra dollar/euro on the protection, then. Though I'd still not use them for various reasons.

Prices are usually in line with those of cheaper regions. Also unless the guy on the flea market has hundreds of well known affiliates and sponsors several entities in Gaming and esports I feel the comparison is pretty inaccurate.

Do they have any sponsors from the official publishers/sellers? Or are they just getting support from Youtubers and streamers who they provide referral codes to?

[Xar226]

Cool, that's what I do. But for reasons that have nothing to do with this, because they're absolutely in the right here.

I don't think it is nearly so clear. There are strong arguments against it being morally right to hurt your customers because they purchased a product for a price less than you intended them to purchase it for -- not to mention the horrible PR.

Legally? Also very murky, and obviously depends on the legal jurisdiction one is in. In Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., decided in 2013, the US Supreme Court held that a person who had his friends and family in other countries buy and ship him textbooks which he then re-sold was protected by the First-Sale Doctrine, even though those books were explicitly marked as not to be re-imported by the publisher. I'm sure Ubisoft et al would make arguments that the product being digital changes everything. I am less sure a court would agree.

All of this is based on the assumption that the keys in question are legitimately obtained and resold (which does not seem to be the case in this specific example), as opposed to being fraudulently obtained. That said, with a US buyer and seller and if said site is merely reselling game codes I believe a court would grant relief in light of Kirtsaeng.

[cFortyfive]

Do they have any sponsors from the official publishers/sellers? Or are they just getting support from Youtubers and streamers who they provide referral codes to?

Not exactly sure what you mean. I am not aware at this time of any publisher that sponsors anything gaming related apart from maybe their own events.

[Deleted]

How sites like g2a and kinguin are "shady ass" considering they are endorsed left and right everywhere in gaming is pretty dubious to me.
Also don't worry I am not hurt. Hypocrisy merely amuses me.

Considering G2A had to release a statement saying they would offer compensation for these keys sold via stolen CC's shows you how "Shady ass" they are.

Also.."everywhere" in the gaming community, the only place I ever see G2A is on twitch, and most streamers will push G2A in your face because of that shitty "Goldmine" service G2A do, it in no way does it show the legitimacy of G2A. It's like all the WoW streamers "sponsored" by Skillcapped, or other boosting services, clearly not legal against Blizzards ToS, nothing twitch can do about it.