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[BreezyLimbo]

I call that making business decisions. CDP made business decision not to partner up with GMG and I don't see how that is "throwing rocks". Not every outlet have every product on the shelves.

Oh definitely, like they're not breaking any rules or anything. But it is snobby. To write out an analogy, It's like if I have a huge art project, and I work with a local distributor to well, distribute. The project is a huge success, and we both come out happy over it. Then I make another art project, that same distributor comes up to me saying 'Hey remember when we worked together? If you'd like I can invite you to dinner and we can talk about me helping distributing it again.' Except this time I just ignore him and go to bigger distributors. He gets angry so he contacts one of these distributors to buy a bulk set, and then undercuts other distributors around me.

Yeah, I would be within my business right to do this, but I'd look like a dick coming out of it. It's spitting in the face of someone who I worked with before. I think this analogy would fit how I view this situation.

 

[TheSlySoul]

Someone mentioned that corporations aren't your friends. And yeah, I agree wholeheartedly.

Yep.
People have to remember this when buying Amiibos.

 

[Vagabundo]

Fuck CDPR for trying to put the squeeze on a small business and then smearing them online.

Wankers.

I'm with GMG here. Unless the keys are stolen then CDPR can go to hell. Fucking anticompetitive nonsense.

 

[CTLance]

I haven't really delved into the facts yet so I really don't know who to side with, but I wish to thank the mod that changed the thread title. Got a chuckle out of me, it did.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

And get accused of censorship and hiding things from the public because they deleted message that was there, screencapped by user X and then deleted by company. They really don't need that shitshow landing on their doorstep, keeping those mod posts up is a lot more honest.

Even if and when such volunteer mod statements do not represent official stance or thinking of CDP in regards to GMG.

That's nonsense.
Moderators - volunteer or otherwise - on any official company forum have codes of conduct and know that they are perceived as representatives despite their non-employee stance.

Nobody would have a problem with inflammatory comments about a competitor being edited out, and people bringing screencaps of them would be met with the rational response "Yeah, obviously CDP don't believe that, that's why they edited it out".

In the same way if a Steam volunteer moderator made a topic about how EA are cunts and Origin steals personal data from everyone who uses it to sell to spammers nobody would even blink twice before that message was removed and Valve distanced themselves from those comments

 

[liezryou]

Fuck CDPR for trying to put the squeeze on a small business and then smearing them online.

Wankers.

I'm with GMG here. Unless the keys are stolen then CDPR can go to hell. Fucking anticompetitive nonsense.

Lol 'squeeze'? They didn't want to devalue their product so they refused to let GMG do that. If i recall correctly, one of the stardrive 1/2 people claimed yesterday on twitter that GMG was doing heavy discounts without their authorization.

If you distribute a product to several retailers at MSRP and then one guy comes by and says we are gunna cut that in half without your authorization, would you be ok with that? Hell no you wouldn't.

and LOL @ GMG being a small business. Small business my ass.

 

[Tovarisc]

Oh definitely, like they're not breaking any rules or anything. But it is snobby. To write out an analogy, It's like if I have a huge art project, and I work with a local distributor to well, distribute. The project is a huge success, and we both come out happy over it. Then I make another art project, that same distributor comes up to me saying 'Hey remember when we worked together? If you'd like I can invite you to dinner and we can talk about me helping distributing it again.' Except this time I just ignore him and go to bigger distributors. He gets angry so he contacts one of these distributors to buy a bulk set, and then undercuts other distributors around me.

Yeah, I would be within my business right to do this, but I'd look like a dick coming out of it. It's spitting in the face of someone who I worked with before. I think this analogy would fit how I view this situation.

We don't know why CDP didn't make partnership deal with GMG for TW3. Also breaking rules as in laws? No they aren't as far I understand, CDP has all rights to decide retailers they work with in order to get their product sold to consumers.

Why to make it sound like CDP acted like little child towards GMG, "spitting in the face of someone who I worked with before", when we have absolutely no idea why deal wasn't made? At the end of the day it's GMG who didn't accept it that CDP doesn't want them selling TW3.

That's nonsense.
Moderators - volunteer or otherwise - on any official company forum have codes of conduct and know that they are perceived as representatives despite their non-employee stance.

Nobody would have a problem with inflammatory comments about a competitor being edited out, and people bringing screencaps of them would be met with the rational response "Yeah, obviously CDP don't believe that, that's why they edited it out".

In the same way if a Steam volunteer moderator made a topic about how EA are cunts and Origin steals personal data from everyone who uses it to sell to spammers nobody would even blink twice before that message was removed and Valve distanced themselves from those comments

Internet has made me too cynical so I would even for a second believe that there would be reasonable response to CDP deleting those mod posts. This thread alone is proof how fucking kneejerky people can get about things in Internet when all facts aren't known and some are just made up to stir shit up. Also when this all shit started to blow up it was very late in EU so I wouldn't be surprised if CDP employee had chat with those mods during this week about what mods said.

 

[dark10x]

Really disappointed in CDPR here.

 

[gai_shain]

Oh definitely, like they're not breaking any rules or anything. But it is snobby. To write out an analogy, It's like if I have a huge art project, and I work with a local distributor to well, distribute. The project is a huge success, and we both come out happy over it. Then I make another art project, that same distributor comes up to me saying 'Hey remember when we worked together? If you'd like I can invite you to dinner and we can talk about me helping distributing it again.' Except this time I just ignore him and go to bigger distributors. He gets angry so he contacts one of these distributors to buy a bulk set, and then undercuts other distributors around me.

Yeah, I would be within my business right to do this, but I'd look like a dick coming out of it. It's spitting in the face of someone who I worked with before. I think this analogy would fit how I view this situation.

you already worked with other distributors the first time around though and this time you get a better deal only working with those other distributors and also distributing yourself the same way you did the first time

 

[Vagabundo]

Lol 'squeeze'? They didn't want to devalue their product so they refused to let GMG do that. If i recall correctly, one of the stardrive 1/2 people claimed yesterday on twitter that GMG was doing heavy discounts without their authorization.

If you distribute a product to several retailers at MSRP and then one guy comes by and says we are gunna cut that in half without your authorization, would you be ok with that? Hell no you wouldn't.

and LOL @ GMG being a small business. Small business my ass.

If they are taking the hit what would it bother me? Let the retailers sort it out among themselves.

I'm getting my money.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

Fuck CDPR for trying to put the squeeze on a small business and then smearing them online.

Wankers.

I'm with GMG here. Unless the keys are stolen then CDPR can go to hell. Fucking anticompetitive nonsense.

+1

CDPR said "fuck you, im looking out for me".

GMG tried for months to get keys the "right" way via negotiation with CDPRs middle finger in their asses and when that didn't work they also decided to look out for themselves too.

CDPR are well within their rights to give keys to who they want, but forgive me if I have ZERO sympathy for them indirectly and now directly screwing with GMGs business.

 

[gai_shain]

If they are taking the hit what would it bother me? Let the retailers sort it out among themselves.

I'm getting my money.

yes, you still want your product to have a high perceived(?) value among costumers and price certainly has an impact on that

+1

CDPR said "fuck you, im looking out for me".

GMG tried for months to get keys the "right" way via negotiation with CDPRs middle finger in their asses and when that didn't work they also decided to look out for themselves too.

CDPR are well within their rights to give keys to who they want, but forgive me if I have ZERO sympathy for them indirectly and now directly screwing with GMGs business.

Nobody knows what happened at those negotiations or where you there?

 

[BreezyLimbo]

We don't know why CDP didn't make partnership deal with GMG for TW3.

That's the million dollar question, isn't it? Why didn't they sale keys to GMG..Steam/Origin/uPlay make sense, they have huge playerbases and if CDPR didn't sell keys to them, they would be shooting themselves in the foot. So instead of increasing their competition, they decide to ignore GMG and apparently other smaller retailers...

CDPR chose not to engage with a number of significant, reputable, and successful retailers, including ourselves, as they instead focused on supporting their own platform GOG. " Sulyok said.

Granted GMG is throwing out the accusation that CDPR is doing it because they wanna focus on GOG. Still, the ball is on CDPRs court right now.

 

[Shiggy]

If CDPR tries to prevent GMG from selling Witcher 3 keys, they'll get into trouble with EU law. Thank God customers are at least somewhat protected from greedy companies here.

 

[FrontalMonk]

This needs to be included in the OP. GMG decided to go the shady cd key reseller route rather then respect the wishes of the publisher that they not sell their game.

Despite their reasons, CDPR have ever right to refuse a store/market to sell their product. Same as how EA has a right to refuse to sell their games outside of origin. We may not like it, but it's their right because it's their product.

I for one will never be buying from GMG again because of this little fiasco. This is like a little 5 year olds reaction: "Waaah CDPR won't let me officially sell their game so i'm going to go shady and resell cd keys."

GMG's entire mission was to become an authorized retailer of digital distribution, doing this just shows their hypocrisy for the extra $$$. They are no better then G2A/Kinguin/cdkeys.com/etc.

I didn't perceive it the same way as you. It sounds like they're reselling keys that are legit, i.e. getting keys directly from another company, not selling dubious keys. Honestly what it sounds like, based on what I've read here and what I've experienced, is CDPR doing with The Witcher 3 and GOG Galaxy what EA did with Battlefront 3 and Origin. You could buy keys from a number of places, but because they were trying to push Origin as a platform, they needed a reason for people to use it, so they decided to not allow people to buy it on Steam. It's just in this case, GMG has a way to not be made completely irrelevant. I _highly_ doubt GMG is making very much money off of this decision, between buying keys indirectly and discounting them like they are.

 

[Lagamorph]

Not sure why some people are painting GMG as the bad guys here. Seems to me that CDPR are the ones to 'blame'. GMG acquired legitimate keys and are re-selling them. Nothing wrong with that, they're just looking out for their customer base.

 

[boskee]

If CDPR tries to prevent GMG from selling Witcher 3 keys, they'll get into trouble with EU law. Thank God customers are at least somewhat protected from greedy companies here.

"Greedy companies". Jesus wept. And no, they will not get into trouble if GMG sourced their keys from a middle man who breached their contract with CDPR.

Not sure why some people are painting GMG as the bad guys here. Seems to me that CDPR are the ones to 'blame'. GMG acquired legitimate keys and are re-selling them. Nothing wrong with that, they're just looking out for their customer base.

Because so far GMG provided 0 evidence suggesting their source is legitimate. They are also breaking their mission statement which claims they are authorized resellers working directly with the publisher. It has shady written all over it.

 

[Tovarisc]

If CDPR tries to prevent GMG from selling Witcher 3 keys, they'll get into trouble with EU law. Thank God customers are at least somewhat protected from greedy companies here.

All that can be taken from CDP's statement is that they just want to be sure that keys sold by GMG are legit [not stolen/shady, not duplicates etc] so consumer doesn't get fucked over.

What CDP said; http://forums.cdprojektred.com/threads/35436-Witcher-3-35-off?p=1635264&viewfull=1#post1635264

I didn't perceive it the same way as you. It sounds like they're reselling keys that are legit, i.e. getting keys directly from another company, not selling dubious keys. Honestly what it sounds like, based on what I've read here and what I've experienced, is CDPR doing with The Witcher 3 and GOG Galaxy what EA did with Battlefront 3 and Origin. You could buy keys from a number of places, but because they were trying to push Origin as a platform, they needed a reason for people to use it, so they decided to not allow people to buy it on Steam. It's just in this case, GMG has a way to not be made completely irrelevant. I _highly_ doubt GMG is making very much money off of this decision, between buying keys indirectly and discounting them like they are.

You maybe had argument here is GMG was selling Steam keys as it would directly reduce users visiting GOG, but sold keys are GOG keys. People purchasing from GMG will land in GOG no matter what. Also CDP is doing shit job in pushing GOG as "The platform of TW3!" considering how many other digital platforms are selling the game [Steam, Origin, uPlay...].

 

[liezryou]

Why to make it sound like CDP acted like little child towards GMG, "spitting in the face of someone who I worked with before", when we have absolutely no idea why deal wasn't made? At the end of the day it's GMG who didn't accept it that CDP doesn't want them selling TW3.

Because it's god's ordained right that GMG MUST sell keys for every game... right?

If anyone is the 'little child' here, it's GMG who refused to accept that CDPR doesn't want them selling their game. Instead they turned around and starting reselling cd keys like the tons of other shady cd key sites do. If that's not an immature reaction, then what is?

yes, you still want your product to have a perceived(?) value among costumers and price certainly has an impact on that

One point many people fail to understand because they are too busy defending GMG for whatever reason.

I didn't perceive it the same way as you. It sounds like they're reselling keys that are legit, i.e. getting keys directly from another company, not selling dubious keys. Honestly what it sounds like, based on what I've read here and what I've experienced, is CDPR doing with The Witcher 3 and GOG Galaxy what EA did with Battlefront 3 and Origin. You could buy keys from a number of places, but because they were trying to push Origin as a platform, they needed a reason for people to use it, so they decided to not allow people to buy it on Steam. It's just in this case, GMG has a way to not be made completely irrelevant. I _highly_ doubt GMG is making very much money off of this decision, between buying keys indirectly and discounting them like they are.

It's not legit if it's not authorized by the publisher. Secondly, Origin and battlefield 3 are a totally different story. The biggest competitor in both cases is/was steam, and in this case CDPR is allowing the sales of w3 on steam and yet ea did not. It's not analogous.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

yes, you still want your product to have a high perceived(?) value among costumers and price certainly has an impact on that

But following this line of thinking leads to companies being entitled to prevent things like second hand sales and entitled to price-fixing.

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Because it's god's ordained right that GMG MUST sell keys for every game... right?

If anyone is the 'little child' here, it's GMG who refused to accept that CDPR doesn't want them selling their game. Instead they turned around and starting reselling cd keys like the tons of other shady cd key sites do. If that's not an immature reaction, then what is?



One point many people fail to understand because they are too busy defending GMG for whatever reason.

Cheap price, good for their wallets, of course.

 

[boskee]

Cheap price, good for their wallets, of course.

The very same game was sold cheaper on GOG over the past year. GMG doesn't have a monopoly on cheap prices.

 

[duckroll]

Lol. Publishers have no right to control who can or cannot sell their games. Anyone saying otherwise is drinking the kool aid. No one has to "accept" that. It's not an obligation. You can choose not to directly distribute to a retailer, but that's about it.

 

[Lagamorph]

The second GMG reveal their source though, that source will probably find themselves blacklisted by CDPR too. Given how successful GMG have been I highly doubt they would go off and get dodgy keys and sell them on.

 

[Vagabundo]

yes, you still want your product to have a high perceived(?) value among costumers and price certainly has an impact on that

I have zero sympathy with anticompetitive price fixing. You can want a lot of things it doesn't mean you are going to get them once your product goes live.

 

[boskee]

Lol. Publishers have no right to control who can or cannot sell their games. Anyone saying otherwise is drinking the kool aid. No one has to "accept" that. It's not an obligation. You can choose not to directly distribute to a retailer, but that's about it.

They can contractually force their digitial distribution partners to sell directly to the end user. That would make the middle man in breach of contract with CDPR and would allow them to revoke all those keys.

 

[liezryou]

Lol. Publishers have no right to control who can or cannot sell their games. Anyone saying otherwise is drinking the kool aid. No one has to "accept" that. It's not an obligation. You can choose not to directly distribute to a retailer, but that's about it.

100% correct that they have no right, hence the tons of shady cd key reseller sites out there.

However, GMG claimed to be an authorized reseller of CDPR/witcher 3 keys (see here). They've always claimed their mission was to be an authorized retailer of digital distribution for several publishers. The fact that they would switch their philosophy around out of spite just highlights their hypocrisy and makes them no better then the shady cd key resellers.

That's fine, resell cd keys all you want, but don't claim to be an authorized reseller.

 

[Tovarisc]

But following this line of thinking leads to companies being entitled to prevent things like second hand sales and entitled to price-fixing.

Apples and oranges. I don't think second hand sales and very heavy pre-release sales are same thing nor have same impact on value of product.

Lol. Publishers have no right to control who can or cannot sell their games. Anyone saying otherwise is drinking the kool aid. No one has to "accept" that. It's not an obligation. You can choose not to directly distribute to a retailer, but that's about it.

If we throw that argument out of the window we still have GMG who is priding itself in dealing with publishers directly when obtaining games to sell. Now they decided to go "Fuck it" and go to 3rd party instead of publisher.

Well they did go to publisher and they didn't want them selling their game, but does it excuse ignoring own business policies that you pride yourself in?

 

[Dunkley]

This needs to be included in the OP. GMG decided to go the shady cd key reseller route rather then respect the wishes of the publisher that they not sell their game.

Despite their reasons, CDPR have ever right to refuse a store/market to sell their product. Same as how EA has a right to refuse to sell their games outside of origin. We may not like it, but it's their right because it's their product.

I for one will never be buying from GMG again because of this little fiasco. This is like a little 5 year olds reaction: "Waaah CDPR won't let me officially sell their game so i'm going to go shady and resell cd keys."

GMG's entire mission was to become an authorized retailer of digital distribution, doing this just shows their hypocrisy for the extra $$$. They are no better then G2A/Kinguin/cdkeys.com/etc.

This and your last post are very weird to read from a context perspective. Exactly why are you so quick to jump the gun on GMG being shady there?

There is no proof provided by CDPR, which worked with GMG for Witcher 2 (meaning they have well established business contact), that suggests they acquired the keys through fraudelent means, and due to their track record it's hard to believe they'd seriously commit fraud just "for some extra $$$" here.

 

[Chariot]

Lol. Publishers have no right to control who can or cannot sell their games. Anyone saying otherwise is drinking the kool aid. No one has to "accept" that. It's not an obligation. You can choose not to directly distribute to a retailer, but that's about it.

And CDPR didn't try to. They adviced their customers to be careful with GMG keys because they don't know the source. Looks more like a shield against possible rage when the keys turn ouy to be illegtimate.

CDPR didn't actually do anything against GMG yet, people are taking that advice a bit out of proportion. Although I am curious why yhry denied GMG in the first placr and who is supplying GMG.

 

[Shiggy]

"Greedy companies". Jesus wept. And no, they will not get into trouble if GMG sourced their keys from a middle man who breached their contract with CDPR.

CDPR cannot prevent any European company from selling Witcher 3 keys to GMG. Such a clause would be against EU law.

 

[Bony Manifesto]

They can contractually force their digitial distribution partners to sell directly to the end user. That would make the middle man in breach of contract with CDPR and would allow them to revoke all those keys.

What about wholesalers selling the boxed copy of the game?

 

[boskee]

CDPR cannot prevent any European company from selling Witcher 3 keys to GMG. Such a clause would be against EU law.

Of course they can. They can prevent bulk sale of digital keys to another digital distributor in their contract. They could only grant license to sell digital copies of the game to the end user. That's all they need.

 

[Lagamorph]

Why is simply reselling cd keys even considered 'shady' in the first place? Sure, if the source of them is stolen keys or something then yeah, shady. But some people seem to simply consider it shady regardless of the source. Newsflash, it's not.

GMG have every right to legitimately acquire keys from an authorised seller and then re-sell those keys on. CDPR have no right to stop them. Saying they receive nothing from those sales is also misleading since they got their money when GMG bought the keys in the first place from their reseller.

Until there's proof GMG are selling illegitimate keys, I'm behind them totally and consider CDPR to be acting like children because one of their competitors has found a way around their sneaky anti-competitive tactic.

 

[duckroll]

Of course they can. They can prevent bulk sale of digital keys to another digital distributor.

Contracts don't mean anything if they go against the trade law in a region.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

CDPR didn't actually do anything against GMG yet, people are taking that advice a bit out of proportion.

It is not super professional to - apropos of nothing - go to the press and tell them "Hey, this retailer with a good reputation for being above board? We didn't sell them anything, boy I hope nobody ends up buying illegal stolen merchandise from them, just saying".

 

[Tovarisc]

This and your last post are very weird to read from a context perspective. Exactly why are you so quick to jump the gun on GMG being shady there?

There is no proof provided by CDPR, which worked with GMG for Witcher 2 (meaning they have well established business contact), that suggests they acquired the keys through fraudelent means, and due to their track record it's hard to believe they'd seriously commit fraud just "for some extra $$$" here.

Why people are so quick to judge CDP for smearing etc. when none of the kind has been done?

CDP never said that GMG keys are gained by illegal or fraudulent means. All they said was that they don't know from where GMG is getting theirs keys as CDP didn't sell them any directly.

It is not super professional to - apropos of nothing - go to the press and tell them "Hey, this retailer with a good reputation for being above board? We didn't sell them anything, boy I hope nobody ends up buying illegal stolen merchandise from them, just saying".

Did they go to press or did GameStop come by that thread on forums and proceeded to make clickbait shitshow out of it? Have you read what CDP has actually said?

 

[liezryou]

This and your last post are very weird to read from a context perspective. Exactly why are you so quick to jump the gun on GMG being shady there?

There is no proof provided by CDPR which worked with GMG for Witcher 2 (meaning they have well established business contact), and due to their track record it's hard to believe they'd seriously commit fraud just "for some extra $$$".

Why are people so quick to defend GMG and call CDPR scum? Everyone has their own perception and opinions. The hypocrisy of GMG is disgusting to me, pushing themselves as a big digital authorized retailer for most publishers; then turning around and reselling cd keys when one publisher doesn't want to partner with you.

I'm not sure if you can call this fraud, it's just extremely shady.

 

[Durante]

It is not super professional to - apropos of nothing - go to the press and tell them "Hey, this retailer with a good reputation for being above board? We didn't sell them anything, boy I hope nobody ends up buying illegal stolen merchandise from them, just saying".

Exactly. It's petty revenge for not succeeding in price fixing.

 

[Theonik]

Contracts don't mean anything if they go against the trade law in a region.

Then the onus would be on GMG to prove that trade laws are breached. Copyright laws actually grant CDPR exclusive say on how the game is distributed. That's the whole point of Copyright.

 

[liezryou]

Exactly. It's petty revenge for not succeeding in price fixing.

I'm not a lawyer but aren't the laws of price fixing totally different in the case of intellectual properties?

I mean you wouldn't say apple is price fixing on their iPhones would ya?

 

[LewieP]

Contracts don't mean anything if they go against the trade law in a region.

Yep.

The only real power CD Projekt would have would be the ability to refuse to do business with the distributor in question ever again, and I guess tell other publishers about their actions, or even publicly name them.

 

[Chariot]

It is not super professional to - apropos of nothing - go to the press and tell them "Hey, this retailer with a good reputation for being above board? We didn't sell them anything, boy I hope nobody ends up buying illegal stolen merchandise from them, just saying".

Exactly. It's petty revenge for not succeeding in price fixing.

Uh. They were writing it on their forum. You sound like they were making a huge campaign with zeppelins.

 

[duckroll]

Why are people so quick to defend GMG and call CDPR scum?

One does not have to defend GMG to dislike what CDPR is doing. Any time a publisher tries to influence distribution when they're unhappy with a retailer selling at a lower price, consumers should be wary. To rush to the defense of the publisher is to sell yourself short.

 

[Dunkley]

Why are people so quick to defend GMG and call CDPR scum? Everyone has their own perception and opinions. The hypocrisy of GMG is disgusting to me, pushing themselves as a big digital authorized retailer for most publishers; then turning around and reselling cd keys when one publisher doesn't want to partner with you.

I'm not sure if you can call this fraud, it's just extremely shady.

G2A and the likes acquire their keys through fraudulent payments, hence why they are shamed with selling "stolen keys"

Also, just because people give GMG the benefit of doubt doesn't mean they hate CDPR and think they are scum.

 

[glaurung]

I have never been mislead by GMG. They are a reputable site for me and I have bought many games from them over the last couple of years.

Feels weird that they cannot come to an understanding with CDPR.

 

[Durante]

Yep.

The only real power CD Projekt would have would be the ability to refuse to do business with the distributor in question ever again, and I guess tell other publishers about their actions, or even publicly name them.

And that's why GMG is not naming the source of their keys. It makes perfect sense, and neither company is doing anything illegal.

What annoys me is how CDPR try to keep their "better than other publishers" image while resorting to publicly discrediting a retailer that doesn't agree with their pricing policies.

 

[RipperGrim]

One does not have to defend GMG to dislike what CDPR is doing. Any time a publisher tries to influence distribution when they're unhappy with a retailer selling at a lower price, consumers should be wary. To rush to the defense of the publisher is to sell yourself short.

But to rush to GMG's isn't? We don't know much here or why, just speculating.

 

[Shiggy]

Of course they can. They can prevent bulk sale of digital keys to another digital distributor in their contract. They could only grant license to sell digital copies of the game to the end user. That's all they need.

You are right, I thought EU regulations were stricter. Then again, if they only sell to Steam, GOG, and Origin, the situation is not entirely clear.

7. How will the Commission ensure competition in markets which are highly concentrated?
When a majority of the main suppliers in a market have selective distribution systems, the loss of competition at the distribution level can be significant, and it is possible that certain types of distributors could be excluded from the market, as well as there being an increased risk of collusion between these main suppliers. Exclusion (or foreclosure) of potentially more efficient distributors is a risk with selective distribution systems, because these systems allow suppliers to restrict sales by their authorised dealers to non-authorised dealers, thus preventing non-authorised dealers from obtaining supplies.

Pressure by different distribution formats such as price discounters or cheaper online-only distributors is good for competition. Foreclosure of such distribution formats could result either from the cumulative application of selective distribution in a market (the main suppliers all having selective distribution systems) or from the actions of a single supplier with a market share exceeding 30%. In either situation, the lack of competitive pressure from price discounters or cheaper online-only distributors would reduce the possibilities for consumers to take advantage of the specific benefits offered by these alternative formats – such as lower prices, more transparency and wider access. In such instances, the Commission may find that there are unjustified restrictions of competition, and may act or withdraw the benefit of the BER.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Uh. They were writing it on their forum. You sound like they were making a huge campaign with zeppelins.

From the OP:

A representative for CD Projekt Red tells GameSpot that Green Man Gaming's Witcher 3 codes are coming from an "unknown source." As such, none of the revenue from Green Man Gaming's current Witcher 3 promotion will go to GOG.com or CD Projekt Red. If you'd like to buy The Witcher 3 directly from CD Projekt Red, head to the game's GOG.com page here.

GameSpot is a relatively well known website for videogaming news.
CDPs statement - while simultaneously stating they don't know how GMG obtained these codes - is literally implying that they will receive "none of the revenue" from any sales made.

C'mon now.