G2A and Grey Markets for game keys

Page 3 - Love gaming? Join the PC Gamer community to share that passion with gamers all around the world!
Have I misunderstood? I see references to Epic being worth over $32 Bn.
I was commenting on…
"distributers like Steam or Epic a very lucrative one"
The game distribution part of Epic is a major loss maker so far, but other parts of Epic are hugely profitable, mainly Fortnite.

what the general population think of as moral, is not related exactly to the morality of businesses
Businesses don't have morals, or feelings, or any other human traits. They are constructs, like office blocks or education systems, which we use to make the world work.

Of course, people in the businesses may have morals, principles, feelings etc—but expressing those in a large company's policies is very dangerous given that morals, principles, feelings etc vary so much by geography, culture, ideology etc.
 
I buy games from CDkeys. They have a fancy website so it feels legit and I've never had a problem with their keys but, to be honest, I don't know for 100% where they get keys from. I normally buy there if there are no Steam sales. For example, Final Fantasy 7 Remake was £70 on Steam and I got it for £50 on the website.

I know some people will think it's to be frowned upon and think I'm entitled but the latest prices for PC games are so expensive if you buy more than 3 games a year. I don't pirate.

I remember PC Gamer being anti key sites a long time ago but they would advertise key sites so it couldn't have affected them that badly.
The way I understand it is that CDKeys works a lot different than key sites, like G2A or Kinguin. Unless they've changed from what they used to be like, they sell the keys that are included on actual physical media. They buy up discs, sell the key that comes with them, then dispose of the discs. And from my understanding, they're buying discs in other countries that sell games much cheaper, and we get the savings.
 
I was commenting on…
"distributers like Steam or Epic a very lucrative one"
The game distribution part of Epic is a major loss maker so far, but other parts of Epic are hugely profitable, mainly Fortnite.


Businesses don't have morals, or feelings, or any other human traits. They are constructs, like office blocks or education systems, which we use to make the world work.

Of course, people in the businesses may have morals, principles, feelings etc—but expressing those in a large company's policies is very dangerous given that morals, principles, feelings etc vary so much by geography, culture, ideology etc.
Thanks, I see as it develops the Games Store, even though it's making about £20 M a year it won't recoup the total initial cost for several years.
 
There are no angels as @Brian Boru mentioned in a post. Let me emphasize on that a little:

If G2A is so innocent, why do they for example have several ads circulating that promote gold sellers, etc? Poor old G2A has no control over its ads? I also wonder why they work with Kinguin which is another gray company that sells particular deals (I don't want to name the game ) that once were bought through VPN and which increased the price of a particular product in that region by over 400% ending up making it very hard for people in that region to buy the pack for a reasonable price. That is just one small example, but it sure makes you wonder what kind of skeletons might be hiding in the closets... Oh, let's not forget that wonderful G2A shield that sucks onto your wallet like a leech or those cute transaction fees that gray sellers so valiantly serve themselves and that cuts a slice in any type of discount coupons because why not right?

I'm not forgetting the oh-so-innocent "legit" Fanatical! Once known for quite good deals when called Bundlestars and who changed their name and started selling tons of different mystery crates. Crates full of the same old games that have been circulated around for an eternity. These are now so heavily infested on the site you'll have to be blind not to see them. Obviously, they want you to see them because they want you to bloody gamble on BAD DEALS.

There are no angels in capitalism.
 
Last edited:
No Angels eh @Frindis?

izmWQB6.jpg
 
Honest Gabe, the only free-spirited angel. How could I ever forget! Whenever he shows his wonderful persona, people are in awe. He is the reincarnation of Alan Watts, a gentle giant in the midst of a battle looking for consumer tranquility - a little Steam of calm one might say. His beard is woven by the consumers, a giant lion's mane that needs no pomage, because it shines with each sale, each click, and each time the Steam bell strikes the passing of two hours. Long may he reign!
 
Businesses don't have morals, or feelings, or any other human traits. They are constructs, like office blocks or education systems, which we use to make the world work.

Of course, people in the businesses may have morals, principles, feelings etc—but expressing those in a large company's policies is very dangerous given that morals, principles, feelings etc vary so much by geography, culture, ideology etc.
It's a useful way to view businesses, as 'constucts', or 'systems'. I suppose what I was thinking is that many people think businesses should be moral, and sometimes they can be.

But in reality the history of business has often been about stealing(industrial espionage as it's called); designs, innovations and creations from other businesses. And of course there are patents(game patents, incl), copy rights, trademarks, etc to try and stop that and if that fails to protect, then legal action.

And of course there are financial benefits to just stealing a design or game patents in terms of no R & D costs. But it also means the competition can sometimes be undercut and driven out of the market.(I'm sure you can think of your own examples, but Japanese firms after the war, when rebuilding, successfully copied the designs of other motorcycle manufacturers and eventually took over the market).

The well known example is the Nemesis system which WB patented. Although Ubisoft's Procedural Generation Layer, 'Census' is similar. R* have patented innovations relating to NPC's for GTA6.

So there are obvious benefits to companies protecting their innovations, although some gamers believe that patents restrict innovation, and that say the Nemesis system should be freely available to be used in other games.
 
Aug 1, 2023
1
0
0
Visit site
pay attention to the billing on this issue, most sellers of eneba and g2a do not do billing.

here are some of the sites that do;

kinguin.net
tulpaar.com
gamivo.com

Make sure you receive an invoice, your account may be banned.
 
Last edited:

TRENDING THREADS