So here is a pow-wow question. What do you guys think of G2A? If you don’t know what it is - G2A is a “grey market” games reseller that trades in gaming software keys. They only hit my radar a couple years ago when Eagle Dynamics specifically banned keys obtained through G2A due to fraudulent activity. I don’t know specifically what that activity was, but ED was not happy with what was going on.
I suspect it has to do with a few things.
Sometimes keys can be stolen in batches via stolen account information or credit cards.
And I’m guessing that some legitimate purchases have EULAs that specifically prohibit the resale of games.
Enter me, tonight, drinking a few glasses of wine, and having just witnessed Brazil getting routed out of the World Cup. Well, unfortunately, I only own Kopanito All Stars Soccer…which I love to play with my 8-year old. Him and his cousin have Switches with FIFA 18 on them…but poor old Daddy has no real soccer (football) games.
So I started looking around on the Steam store. They don’t sell FIFA games…you have to buy those directly from EA. I was like…OK, that’s cool, but I’m planning on playing this on my laptop, so I’d rather get like FIFA 16 or something a bit outdated on the cheap. I go to the EA site and see those titles are still $30. I bought FIFA 18 for my kid(s-ish)(let’s just call the cousin my kid since he effectively is…long story…) for $29!
So I Google FIFA alternatives. Pro Evolution Soccer comes up - a Steam carried title. Yay! But you can’t buy the old versions. Boo! And the reviews for the 2018 version aren’t the greatest (lots of FIFA employees I suspect on Steam).
So I go to Google Shopping - and see FIFA and PES titles, both current and older ones…for fractions of what they are retailing for. But they are on sites like G2A and Kinguin and CD-Keys dot net. Shady. But the prices look pretty good.
So (yeah…I’m gonna start every paragraph with that tonight)…I do some additional Googling to some investigative online sites that have penetrated this grey market and have written up some interesting articles on that “eco-space” or whatever. Are there scams? Sure are. Is there criminal activity? Seems to be a bit. But are there also an overwhelmingly large amount of people that manage legit transactions (perhaps ignoring EULAs though?) - most definitely.
So (yes!) I go to G2A and start poking around. Pro Evolution Soccer 2017, with all fees (you pay an “insurance fee” and a Paypal convenience fee) comes in at $16.66 and there is a direct link to Paypal so that you don’t have to create an account. PES 2018 is only $29…so we aren’t talking a major savings here…but I’m curious. I go through the Paypal process because I don’t have to make a G2A account…submit payment, and 50 seconds later, my resold key (or maybe it is an original key bought in bulk?) arrives. I nervously activate it on Steam, thinking it will be rejected…but no…it goes through.
So a painless transaction, a bit of a cost savings, and am I an avowed criminal now? Is this a skirting of rules or is it a free market thing? I’m curious what people think?