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[Rumor] Ubisoft is removing games from UPlay bought from unauthorized retailers
- Thread starter dex3108
- Start date
Corruption.
Consumers should bother to think before buying.
Customer bought game from unauthorized retailer. Unauthorized retailer didn't disclose that they are not authorized to sell those keys, they didn't disclose how they got their keys, and they didn't disclose why can they sell games with that discount.
And how is all of that Ubisofts fault?
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
Makes sense that players shouldn't be allowed to use unauthorized and/or illegal keys bought from shady sites.
j0hnny_385
Member
seems to me that this is the case.
I never bought "too good to be true" keys with ridiculous prices (like 15-20 EUR for a AAA title day one, via "Steam gift"/RU-VPN or something).
Hibiki Kurosawa
Member
I'm no expert on this stuff so maybe my solution doesn't make sense, but couldn't they just send out a press release or e-mail or something saying which online sellers are not valid and then proceed to say that all illegitimate codes entered from now on will not work, rather than screwing over people who already paid for the codes.
I personally would stay away from sites like that because I'm paranoid about where I spend my money, but I'm sure other people have bought from these sites being told it's safe from people they trust.
I personally would stay away from sites like that because I'm paranoid about where I spend my money, but I'm sure other people have bought from these sites being told it's safe from people they trust.
Woo-Fu
Banned
Moneyhats, duh.
Schreckstoff
Banned
They can take my key of Heroes of M&M VI, not like the game works on my integrated GPU anyway...
There's been a lot of BS by Ubisoft I've just accepted but that was some straight A bullshit.
There's been a lot of BS by Ubisoft I've just accepted but that was some straight A bullshit.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
You know something is up if Devolver is doing this. I only ever heard really shady things about G2A
CosmicQueso
Member
If the keys are stolen or had been obtained illegitimately by the reseller then Ubi is not in the wrong here.
The customer that bought the key has been wronged by the reseller, not by Ubisoft. It's easier to blame the faceless evil corporation though rather than the good guy reseller with a deal I guess?
That is, if the keys were obtained illegitimately.
The customer that bought the key has been wronged by the reseller, not by Ubisoft. It's easier to blame the faceless evil corporation though rather than the good guy reseller with a deal I guess?
That is, if the keys were obtained illegitimately.
Schreckstoff
Banned
thats not strictly true. its not 2010 where you have global keys for everyone. the keys from cheaper regions often come without english language and need either a vpn to unlock, an english language "patch" or even both. if an AAA key has native EU languages and needs no vpn bs it is a key for the eu market. if a key is really stolen it a) wont work to begin with or b) will get revoked shortly after.
this whole situation just looks very anticonsumer to me and like an empowerment to pirates.
it mabye well within ubisofts rights to do so, but im also gladly in the right not to buy anything from them in the future. (and no this doesnt mean ill pirate it, backlog for years…
That's true I bought plenty of games from G2A and not one was taken away and for none I had to use a VPN or only had an english patch.
I actually have to go into the settings to get them to be english instead of german and germany is far from a cheap region
SliChillax
Member
This fucking sucks. I asked lots of people online and even on this forum before buying stuff on Kinguin and everyone told me that it was legit. I had no idea they were unauthorised otherwise I wouldn't have bought anything. Ubisoft or anyone else should just cancel or remove games from this point and on not games bought before because customers have no idea.
Its not even a flaw in their distribution network. Its assholes absuing services that are designed to protect consumers from fraud to defraud consumers. Frankly though, if you are buying brand new products at a ridiculous discount then its your responsibility to be diligent and investigate the source. Thats the risk you assume when dealing with unlicensed/grey market resellers.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
There is a German saying "Dummheit schützt vor Strafe nicht" meaning: Just because you didn't know something is illegal, doesn't mean you shouldn't/can't get punished for it.
If you buy a Picasso in alleway and it turns out the seller stole it doesn't mean you can keep it.
You can always go to About Us on Sellers page and see if they are official or not. G2A doesn't have any publisher listed as partner.
Region exploiting key resellers used (may still?) to be banned on GAF. No idea why you just got a blanket recommendation.
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The chargeback fees named by Unknown Worlds seem extremely excessive. Can anyone give any insight if that is a special case or if they really are 75% of the disputed value on top?
cm osi
Member
then you should wait.
Exactly this.
It's funny how some people try to push the guilt away from G2A, like they're some angels.
Kinguin doesn't directly sell keys, Kinguin gives you offers from different sites and you then buy the key from them through Kinguin.
G2play for example is a site made by the same people that made Kinguin (G2Play came first) and they directly sell keys.
According to my account on their website I have bought 89 games from them over the years. Not a single one of them had a problem.
Of course, anecdotal evidence, etc..
BibiMaghoo
Member
The thing is though, in any other industry, the company who had the items stolen would have to go through the police to recover them. They would have to prove they were stolen.
This isn't happening here. They are revoking all bought through the site, without any proof they are not legit, and without any official involvement other than their say.
That stinks.
Schreckstoff
Banned
the essence is that it won't necessarily mean more revenue for Ubi when they do this.
except he or she has to go through legal channels to prove and enforce his ownership
Wait few weeks/months and it will be super cheap on legit reseller site.
Providing a marketplace for stolen keys is obviously not cool, but I am not a big fan of condemning the entire grey market for that.
Consumers need a way to resell digital rights.
Publishers are going to cast any service that allows that as "unauthorized", but I don't care. They may try to make that word seem scary but its not.
Consumers need a way to resell digital rights.
Publishers are going to cast any service that allows that as "unauthorized", but I don't care. They may try to make that word seem scary but its not.
Denton
Member
They actually talk a bit in that twitter thread, but no idea if they resolved anything with them afterwards.
Personally I bought 1 game from G2A, Lords of the Fallen, and no issues so far. Worked and works as it should. I am probably not going to be buying from them again though, without verifying first the validity of the key with devs.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
So....what? Just cause they might not make more money (which is highly debatable) they should allow people selling stolen/illegal keys? That makes no sense.
How is this in any way applicable here? If you have a spare key there a numerous options to sell it. Legal ones.
This isn't about consumers trying to resell "digital rights" it's about a site selling stolen keys.
How does that make sense?
If you wait the publisher gets 70% of the reduced price.
If you don't wait and buy an illegitimately gained key they get nothing and if they are the defrauded storefront they pay the chargeback fees, and if they aren't they get 0.
In any case they get more if you buy it from an official reseller.
They don't enforce it.
hobblygobbly
Member
How do they (if they even) enforce that? Do they check payment origin such as where your credit card is registered and so on? So if you buy with a U.S credit card, do they decline payment?
I assume it's pretty easy to prove ownership when the product is a unique product key that your company created. If someone really wanted to try and sue Ubisoft for access to the product rather than going after the key seller for selling them stolen goods they would be incredibly foolish.
Fair enough if they're only cancelling keys which were not bought legitimately, but doesn't seem very fair if they're cancelling every key on that site considering how it's basically just a big marketplace which some people may use to get rid of keys they don't want. Don't know how they'd be able to tell though.
Is this analogy meant to be about physical goods? Because if so it's pretty different to a copy of a digital product.
CosmicQueso
Member
Different ways. Like buying things and make a credit card recharge. I heard some people even asked devs for review keys just to sell them. Of course there are games that are bought just in different countries, but there is a lot of fraud and exploitation involved.
Crossing Eden
Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!
So what's stopping you from waiting til a price drop?
I've bought two games from G2A in the past (Alien Isolation and COD:AW) i bought it directly from G2A themselves ( In G2A there are two different ways of buying if im correct. you can buy from G2A or from private sellers , who are cheaper but riskier)
If I bought from G2A directly, do the devs still get money? or is there just no way to tell whether or not keys are stolen?
If I bought from G2A directly, do the devs still get money? or is there just no way to tell whether or not keys are stolen?
Schreckstoff
Banned
that's not the issue, the issue, if true, is that Ubisoft is playing judge, jury and executioner.
My key, bought on G2A, wasn't taken away btw, not that I could use it. Thanks Ubisoft...
G2A is only a market place, they just have a guaranty you pay extra for if you want protection.
SliChillax
Member
Just like these companies do everything they can to get money out of customers with shady practices, like releasing broken games and cutting out pieces of games to sell as DLC, customers are also allowed to pursue the lowest possible price. It's not their job to police the internet. If I find a good deal then I'm taking it. At the end of the day I'm just trying to save money and if I really wanted to be shady I'd just pirate the game. These companies already have an army of lawyers looking out for their interests, they don't need customers like you doing it for them.
TheSlySoul
Member
I was confused what they meant, but a website selling stolen keys is wrong. So Ubisoft is right on this one.
I dont know if they are removing all keys from the site. Some folks in here seem to be suggesting that their games are fine.
Fantastapotamus
Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
You didn't pay Ubisoft. If your key is revoked you should talk to the site who sold it to you. They sold you a faulty key, not Ubisoft.
Two wrongs doesn't make one right. Just because Ubisoft are a bunch of asshats doesn't mean they aren't allowed to take measures against stolen keys.
Well technically the key isn't "faulty" since it did give them the game and so it was a legit game key.
It's just that Ubisoft has found that according to them "something" is wrong with that key and so they got rid of the game.
BibiMaghoo
Member
I think if they are actually checking each key to see if it was legit or not, then that is absolutely fair, however they must be able to prove that it was stolen. They cannot simply remove them all, because many of them will be legitimate, as anyone can sell a key they obtained through any legal channel.
So I guess we have to wait and see. If there are some, or many that do not have them removed in time, it will support that they are checking them, and that is fair. Police require that an owner prove stolen property belongs to them before being able to return it. I don't see why Ubisoft don't.
I use G2A only for buying recent Ubisoft games, as they're riddled with issues, and it takes ages to get a good deal otherwise. Still, as of now, my Watch_Dogs copy remains intact... but if they're planning to remove keys on the presumption of them being originally stolen, that's quite an ugly turn of events.
You may as well be pirating since Ubi isnt getting money from illegitimate transactions. In fact they are potentially losing money on chargeback fees. Your beef should be with whoever sold you the key since they are the only winner in this situation.
styl3s
Member
I thought G2A was a legit place because of all these top twitch streamers using it and i used G2A to get a game like a year ago and then found out on GAF that it's a scummy piece of shit site and immediately went and bought it again for full retail cost because i felt like shit.