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[crazyrabbits]

I am of two minds about this.

I've bought at least $100 worth of product from GMG over the last two years and never had a problem with them. When I had a glitch while a payment for a game was being processed (my money was taken but I didn't receive the game I ordered), I emailed CS and got a prompt response back with a solution to the problem. I got the game I wanted and was very happy.

On the other, you can't blow off remarks from the mods on a major source of promotion for your site, under the guise that "you don't want to go through contracts". This whole situation could have been avoided months ago if GMG had been upfront after the CDPR fiasco, but they chose not to.

Looks very shady in retrospect.

 

[DeaviL]

I've noticed that they've been going downhill for a while now.
I've already jumped ship to another site.

 

[xAlias]

You can help by not spreading misinformation, cdkeys.com ARE legit, they aren't involved in anything illegal and i've heard nothing but good things about them, which I and many gaffers can attest to.

No offence but how is cdkeys legit.

You mean legit as in you receiving the keys or legit as an authorized reseller?

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

How do they get keys in the first place?

 

[KingV]

Thanks for the details, it will be interesting to see in the future if publishers get more vocal about this stuff or more aggressive about it.

I think it's in the best interest of pubs to secretly sell to them and say nothing. You create variable pricing elasticities for consumers based on a perceived risk which may or may not be legit.

 

[sflufan]

How do they get keys in the first place?

1. Activision sells CoD: Black Ops III keys to their authorized Russian retailer YurisPCGames.ru for $30/key

2. GMG and YurisPCGames.ru have a side deal where YurisPCGames.ru sells some of the keys to GMG for $35/key.

3. GMG sells those keys to you and I for $40/key.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

I pretty much figured that out when they sold Anno on launchday with like 45% off.
That's it for me too. There are cheaper "grey-market" sites out there, I kept buying on GMG because I like to be in the white-market (I guess?). Too bad.

Also, can I just say how incredibly annoying their "WAIT, don't leave the site we have this 15% off coupon here!" thing is when I try to close the GMG tab in my browser? Fuck off with that.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

1. Activision sells CoD: Black Ops III keys to their authorized Russian retailer YurisPCGames.ru for $30/key

2. GMG and YurisPCGames.ru have a side deal where YurisPCGames.ru sells some of the keys to GMG for $35/key.

3. GMG sells those keys to you and I for $40/key.

Even if this is true, why should I, as a consumer, be concerned about any of it when it represents a 33% savings?

 

[sflufan]

Even if this is true, why should I, as a consumer, be concerned about any of it when it represents a 33% savings?

Because in theory, Activision could deactivate that key as it represents an "unauthorized" use in your region.

 

[TwIsTeD]

1. Activision sells CoD: Black Ops III keys to their authorized Russian retailer YurisPCGames.ru for $30/key

2. GMG and YurisPCGames.ru have a side deal where YurisPCGames.ru sells some of the keys to GMG for $35/key.

3. GMG sells those keys to you and I for $40/key.

These sites would be out of business if the publishers really pushed on them for reselling these codes - but GMG needs to modify their site to reflect their grey market status

 

[YianGaruga]

Even if this is true, why should I, as a consumer, be concerned about any of it when it represents a 33% savings?

You shouldn't

Because in theory, Activision could deactivate that key as it represents an "unauthorized" use in your region.

Only in theory. Also if that were to happen on a massive scale, I'm 100% sure GMG would reimburse you. And so would most of the other "big" key sellers

 

[Coreda]

1. Activision sells CoD: Black Ops III keys to their authorized Russian retailer YurisPCGames.ru for $30/key

2. GMG and YurisPCGames.ru have a side deal where YurisPCGames.ru sells some of the keys to GMG for $35/key.

3. GMG sells those keys to you and I for $40/key.

 

[Nzyme32]

Used to trust GMG till the Witcher 3 incident, and yet it seems they are still up to the same tricks. I'm currently just sticking with Humble and Steam for Steam stuff, GOG for other stuff, and naturally Battle.net for its own stuff.

 

[Grief.exe]

I pretty much figured that out when they sold Anno on launchday with like 45% off.
That's it for me too. There are cheaper "grey-market" sites out there, I kept buying on GMG because I like to be in the white-market (I guess?). Too bad.

Also, can I just say how incredibly annoying their "WAIT, don't leave the site we have this 15% off coupon here!" thing is when I try to close the GMG tab in my browser? Fuck off with that.

Uplay keys have significantly reduced value. I'm not saying your necessarily wrong, just be careful applying that assumption.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Uplay keys have significantly reduced value. I'm not saying your necessarily wrong, just be careful applying that assumption.

Not quite sure what you mean by this? How do they have reduced value?

 

[Vincent Grayson]

Not quite sure what you mean by this? How do they have reduced value?

Maybe because people fucking hate Uplay? It's never been a huge issue for me, but there's a lot of people who cannot stand it.

 

[YianGaruga]

Uplay keys have significantly reduced value. I'm not saying your necessarily wrong, just be careful applying that assumption.

I doubt Ubi would officially "sell" the keys to GMG at such a reduced price just because "uplay keys have reduced value". They'd still be sold at closer to RRP. The only way it can be 45% off is because of the grey market

 

[ZOONAMI]

Not quite sure what you mean by this? How do they have reduced value?

No one likes uplay?

 

[Grief.exe]

Not quite sure what you mean by this? How do they have reduced value?

Ubisoft tends to undercut Steam to attempt to push their platform, the majority of the base would prefer a Steam key over a Uplay key.

To be honest, the majority of the demographic would prefer if Uplay doesn't exist at all, but people tend to prefer Steam over just Uplay. That is why the value of a Uplay key is reduced.

 

[low-G]

I've already preordered 2 games via PayPal from them (the PayPal's debt card got stolen & thus is now deactivated), so I'm not gonna bother asking for a refund, but I hope I don't have problems with illegal keys. They're Battlefront & Just Cause 3

 

[nynt9]

You shouldn't

Only in theory. Also if that were to happen on a massive scale, I'm 100% sure GMG would reimburse you. And so would most of the other "big" key sellers

There have been instances where a publisher didn't take action for a while, then at once acted upon masses of unauthorized keys and revoked them all. Not saying it will definitely happen, but there's always the risk.

 

[IronRinn]

This really sucks to hear. I've purchased more than a few games from them in the past.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I have never seen nor heard of any, and I have looked.

They are the key reseller I use most often.

One thing that makes me seriously doubt that they are usually usbg fraudulent keys is that they have many items that sell for higher than retail, probably because they can't source said items for cheap.

Everything bought with stolen credit cards is cheap, and there is no reason not discount everything in that case.

Here's one very recent example
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=185386352&postcount=10631
the retailer in question was cd keys

There's also the sniper elite 3 incident
uplay incident here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=979151
and I remember another incident of a gaffer asking for help after his copy of dark souls 2 got revoked shortly after launch, but I can't find it. If I do I will update.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

No one likes uplay?

Maybe because people fucking hate Uplay? It's never been a huge issue for me, but there's a lot of people who cannot stand it.

I figured as much, but GMG still needs to buy those keys from somewhere right? They obviously don't get them from Ubisoft and I don't see any other site selling them THAT cheap.
When you check Isthereanydeal, GMG is almost 10€ lower than the next site. I agree, that's not enough reason to accuse them of anything, but it does look suspicious.

Edit:

Ubisoft tends to undercut Steam to attempt to push their platform, the majority of the base would prefer a Steam key over a Uplay key.

Huh. Hadn't thought of that. That sounds like something Ubisoft would do.

 

[YianGaruga]

There have been instances where a publisher didn't take action for a while, then at once acted upon masses of unauthorized keys and revoked them all. Not saying it will definitely happen, but there's always the risk.

I only remember the Ubi (FC4?) situation which got reverted and the Sniper Elite situation where keys were actually stolen or illegal. I haven't heard of any other cases

 

[GatticusFinch]

Oh boy, more Reddit investigative journalism! Remember that time Reddit caught the Boston bombers? Oh, wait, I meant falsely accused someone of a terrorist act and drove him to commit suicide.

Never had an issue with GMG and have been given no reason not to trust them that the keys are legitimate. Not sure why the GAF hivemind thinks destroying third-party key vendors is a good thing. Imagine what happens to PC game prices, control, and access if you took them all away.

 

[YianGaruga]

Oh boy, more Reddit investigative journalism! Remember that time Reddit caught the Boston bombers? Oh, wait, I meant falsely accused someone of a terrorist act and drove him to commit suicide.

Never had an issue with GMG and have been given no reason not to trust them that the keys are legitimate. Not sure why the GAF hivemind thinks destroying third-party key vendors is a good thing. Imagine what happens to PC game prices, control, and access if you took them all away.

Not necessarily a reddit thing, but I also don't think three emails from random support employees should be taken as hard proof for anything. It was pretty clear what they were doing after the W3 situation but most people didn't care back then. Why now?

You should be mindful of it when buying there, but now years of trust and (decent enough) customer support are worth nothing because of this? Laughable.

Pubs ARE getting money from your purchases and you're saving money. It's win-win.

 

[KingV]

I doubt Ubi would officially "sell" the keys to GMG at such a reduced price just because "uplay keys have reduced value". They'd still be sold at closer to RRP. The only way it can be 45% off is because of the grey market

It might be worth it if you are trying to lure consumers into your crappy service (I.e. Ubi to Uplay)

 

[nynt9]

Oh boy, more Reddit investigative journalism! Remember that time Reddit caught the Boston bombers? Oh, wait, I meant falsely accused someone of a terrorist act and drove him to commit suicide.

Never had an issue with GMG and have been given no reason not to trust them that the keys are legitimate. Not sure why the GAF hivemind thinks destroying third-party key vendors is a good thing. Imagine what happens to PC game prices, control, and access if you took them all away.

Just because it's reddit doesn't mean it's wrong (or right). But this isn't random redditors, this is the moderation team of a big subreddit that deals with key sellers on a regular basis and has a verification process. These aren't nobodies.

Not necessarily a reddit thing, but I also don't think three emails from random support employees should be taken as hard proof for anything. It was pretty clear what they were doing after the W3 situation but most people didn't care back then. Why now?

Be mindful of it when buying there, but now years of trust and (decent enough) customer support are worth nothing because of this? Laughable.

There have been several incidents where they have shown themselves to be untrustworthy.

They claim every game sold on their site is through an authorized publisher deal.

Activision isn't on their list of publishers, yet they sell BLOPS3. They sold The Witcher 3 despite not being authorized to do so.

 

[fantomena]

CDKeys is not legit.
G2A is not legit.
G2Play is not legit.

None of them and many more are not legit and it's sad to see GAFfers defending these practices by "I don't care, it was a good price, nothing happened".

 

[mosdl]

Is this shady practice enough to get a refund through PayPal? I bought BLOPS 3 from them.

They just refunded my paypal preorder.

 

[exmachina64]

CDKeys is not legit.
G2A is not legit.
G2Play is not legit.

None of them and many more are not legit and it's sad to see GAFfers defending these practices by "I don't care, it was a good price, nothing happened".

Those sites and Funstock Digital and Green Man Gaming should be banned on GAF. Obviously, we should be allowed to discuss their "shady" nature, but we shouldn't be allowed to post deals from those sites anymore. And with the end of purchasing through Nuuvem and r/softwareswap, it appears the era of "bargain basement" pricing is at an end.

 

[Green Wiggly]

This is disappointing.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Selling keys without permission from the publisher is fine by me, just like secondary trade of any other goods.

Selling keys without permission from the publisher whilst pretending that you do have permission from the publisher is poor form indeed.

Had I bought any games under the false impression that they were obtained directly from the publisher, I'd be demanding a refund from GMG.

I will be interested to see how they handle this.

"Do so at your own risk". Where's "Do not buy from this vender?"
There's being shady and there's outright piracy. Lying is another issue.

We aren't authorized isn't saying your illegal either. I'm kinda bummed, but then again who am I buying from? I've thought they were legit for years.

 

[KingV]

Here's one very recent example
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=185386352&postcount=10631
the retailer in question was cd keys

There's also the sniper elite 3 incident
uplay incident here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=979151
and I remember another incident of a gaffer asking for help after his copy of dark souls 2 got revoked shortly after launch, but I can't find it. If I do I will update.

I literally don't see cdkeys.com listed in either example. Maybe the first one mentioned it somewhere else in the thread, but couldn't find any references specific to that site on page 1 of that thread. I didn't read it word for word, so I might have missed it.

There are also two places that sometimes get confused cdkeys.com and cjs-cdkeys (not sure of their actual URL).

CJS definitely was part of the sniper elite 3 thing, but cdkeys was not (to the best of my knowledge).

My big thing with resellers in general is that pubs could get draconian about activation and revoking keys and shut that whole side industry down, quickly. They don't, which means they must support it on some level.

 

[YianGaruga]

Those sites and Funstock Digital and Green Man Gaming should be banned on GAF. Obviously, we should be allowed to discuss their "shady" nature, but we shouldn't be allowed to post deals from those sites anymore. And with the end of purchasing through Nuuvem and r/softwareswap, it appears the era of "bargain basement" pricing is at an end.

At least GMG and Funstock shouldn't. Everyone who buys there gets a key that works, so they're a legit and legal business. Don't force your morals on others.

The others are already banned.

 

[Grief.exe]

Huh. Hadn't thought of that. That sounds like something Ubisoft would do.

I honestly don't see how they can justify Uplay.

They likely aren't selling many copies on the Uplay client, where they would get their 30% cut.
They undercut Steam, and themselves, on stores like GMG where they don't receive a 30% cut.
They get the lionshare of their sales through Steam where they sacrifice 30% to Valve. Even then they are receiving relatively reduced sales since people ignore their games due to Uplay.

I have no idea how they can justify the service at all. Why not just remove Uplay, sell more copies through Steam then before, and don't have to spend money developing and running their digital service?

 

[nynt9]

At least GMG and Funstock shouldn't. Everyone who buys there gets a key that works, so they're a legit and legal business. Don't force your morals on others.

The others are already banned.

Keys from G2A also work. That doesn't mean they're not shady. GMG's practices seem to be not so different. This isn't a question of morals.

 

[Raticus79]

Steam has run out of stock before

lol, not even the authorized stores have an unlimited amount of keys.

*eyes Steam suspiciously*

Hmm, guess I was expecting these things to be more integrated and just fetch new keys as needed from the publisher as they go. Good to know.

 

[Saiyan-Rox]

I don't know how many games i've bought from CDkeys but it's a lot and never had an issue with the keys

may be unauthorised but again never had an issue.

 

[Freiya]

I'm glad this whole grey market stuff doesn't matter to me.

 

[Banjo-Kazooie]

Even if this is true, why should I, as a consumer, be concerned about any of it when it represents a 33% savings?

If you only care about savings that is fine. You as a consumer are getting a key, for a reduced price.

However, if you as a consumer are buying the key from them and think it is secure based off of them LYING to yu that they buy their keys due to direct contracts with the publishers, then you are being falsely advertised to and misled.

If none of that matters to you then by all means buy the key and don't have any second thoughts.

Doesn't change the fact that they are misrepresenting their business and are lying to consumers.

 

[Kurdel]

Glad I never supported this website.

 

[AHA-Lambda]

I literally don't see cdkeys.com listed in either example. Maybe the first one mentioned it somewhere else in the thread, but couldn't find any references specific to that site on page 1 of that thread. I didn't read it word for word, so I might have missed it.

There are also two places that sometimes get confused cdkeys.com and cjs-cdkeys (not sure of their actual URL).

CJS definitely was part of the sniper elite 3 thing, but cdkeys was not (to the best of my knowledge).

My big thing with resellers in general is that pubs could get draconian about activation and revoking keys and shut that whole side industry down, quickly. They don't, which means they must support it on some level.

The very first example I gave was cd keys, as was said in a later post.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=185387909&postcount=10635

And certainly the sniper elite story was well documented and cd keys was one of the sites named.
Rebellion posted what were their official partners, cd keys is not there, ergo... Where there's smoke there's fire.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/238090/discussions/0/540744936577983546/

 

[Rawket Lawnchair]

Nvm

 

[Shepard]

Damn, bought a lot of games from GMG and never had any problems. Will probably continue buying...

 

[Evolution of Metal]

Title is a bit misleading, those keys were authorized by publishers at some point. There is a HUGE gap between GMG being unauthorized redistributor and GMG keys being a problem.

GMG shouldn't lie about the origins of their keys, but trust me, their keys are legit and nobody is going to revoke them. There are like 3 or 4 stories about some douches selling a large batch of stolen keys, none of that concerns GMG/Cdkeys. Even if 1% of customers had a problem with them, they couldn't get away with it.

Some of us can't afford to pay taxes and a gigantic Steam cut. There is no evidence to think that Global or RoW keys undercut developers.

The very first example I gave was cd keys, as was said in a later post.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=185387909&postcount=10635

And certainly the sniper elite story was well documented and cd keys was one of the sites named.
Rebellion posted what were their official partners, cd keys is not there, ergo... Where there's smoke there's fire.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/238090/discussions/0/540744936577983546/

1. Either his mobile number wasn't working, or there was a technical problem in the website. It is all automated. That example has nothing to do with the legitimacy of the key, that should fall into the payment/delivery problem category.

2. Jumping to conclusions: not being a partner -> selling stolen keys.

 

[Aretak]

Just because it's reddit doesn't mean it's wrong (or right). But this isn't random redditors, this is the moderation team of a big subreddit that deals with key sellers on a regular basis and has a verification process. These aren't nobodies.

I'd argue that if the best "proof" they could muster that GMG aren't legit is a bunch of responses from publisher customer support reps, they are indeed nobodies. Certainly don't have any sort of industry connections, or they wouldn't be emailing low level support drones looking for answers. I could have done that, and I'm nobody. Running a subreddit doesn't make you important.

It'll be interesting to see if there's a more official statement from any of the publishers involved in the coming days.

 

[nynt9]

Title is a bit misleading, those keys were authorized by publishers at some point. There is a HUGE gap between GMG being unauthorized redistributor and GMG keys being a problem.

GMG shouldn't lie about the origins of their keys, but trust me, their keys are legit and nobody is going to revoke them. There are like 3 or 4 stories about some douches selling a large batch of stolen keys, none of that concerns GMG/Cdkeys. Even if 1% of customers had a problem with them, they couldn't get away with it.

Some of us can't afford to pay taxes and a gigantic Steam cut. There is no evidence to think that Global or RoW keys undercut developers.

If they are not an authorized distributor, the keys they're selling could easily not be authorized for sale in the region they're selling them. Doesn't mean the keys won't work, but it still doesn't come with the guarantee of the publisher.

I'd argue that if the best "proof" they could muster that GMG aren't legit is a bunch of responses from publisher customer support reps, they are indeed nobodies. Certainly don't have any sort of industry connections, or they wouldn't be emailing low level support drones looking for answers. I could have done that, and I'm nobody. Running a subreddit doesn't make you important.

It'll be interesting to see if there's a more official statement from any of the publishers involved in the coming days.

I suggest you look into the approval process the subreddit runs. Also GMG's shady responses to the post in the subreddit don't look good either.

 

[Coreda]

Some of us can't afford to pay taxes and a gigantic Steam cut. There is no evidence to think that Global or RoW keys undercut developers.

Worthwhile post from the Steam thread.

Yes they still get paid (in a way) but as others have said it's almost certainly an issue where regional prices are being exploited. So let's say you're GMG - and WB offers to sell you keys for the latest Batman game that are authorized for distribution in the UK and US at $42 each. You can turn around and flip those for $60, meaning you walk away with a hefty $18 profit as the middle man. Now let's say you find a source similar to the one linked in the other thread where a local branch of WB offloads 100,000 keys for Batman to a seller at $10 each who wants to double that and sell them to GMG for $20 each. GMG takes the deal and ends up with $40 profit each (vs $18) and it's pretty easy to see how this would be an easy business decision for them.

However, the publisher just made $32 less per sale, giving them a huge incentive to want to try to clamp down on this sort of behavior in the future by using region locking or other DRM that's, generally speaking, unfriendly to consumers.

So while I think I understand the scope of what's happening here - the more that sites continue to operate like CDKeys and now GreenManGaming become popular, the more likely it is we'll see further and further regional restrictions and DRM put in place to curb this behavior. We saw it happen on the Steam store directly, and I think it's only a matter of time before it happens on the "key redemption" side as well.