[UPDATE] G2A vows to pay devs ’10 times’ the money lost from chargebacks – if they can prove that it happened

[UPDATE] G2A vows to pay devs ’10 times’ the money lost from chargebacks – if they can prove that it happened

A few days ago, we reported on how several indie game developers banded together to oppose the resale site G2A, saying that they’d rather that players pirated their games instead of purchasing them through the site.

The situation arose after Mike Rose tweeted about how G2A had taken out premium sponsored ads on Google. The ads appear before the devs’ own links and can’t be turned off.

Other game devs echoed Mike’s sentiment, with Rami Ismail pointing out how much time and effort it takes to do things such as investigate fake key requests and figure out credit card chargebacks.

However, G2A have now issued a statement that says that they’ll “pay developers 10 times the money they lose on chargebacks” as long as game devs can prove that such a thing actually happened.

You can find the first part of the official statement below:

Let’s lay all cards on the table. We will pay developers 10 times the money they lost on chargebacks after their illegally obtained keys were sold on G2A. The idea is simple: developers just need to prove such a thing actually happened on their stores.

To assure honesty and transparency, we will ask a reputable and independent auditing company to make an unbiased examination of both sides – the developer’s store and G2A Marketplace. The cost of the first three audits is on us, every next one will be split 50/50.

The auditing company will check if any game keys sold on G2A were obtained using stolen credit cards on a developer’s store compliant with card scheme rules from Visa and Master Card/payment provider rules. If so, G2A guarantees it’ll pay all the money the developer lost on chargebacks… multiplied by 10. 

We want this process to be transparent, so we will publicly report every step of the procedure. Meaning, you will get information such as who came forward, and what the verdict was, all of which will be published for everyone to see. 

If you’re a developer willing to cooperate, contact the G2A Direct team

G2A also say that they ‘are and always were open for discussion, but a real one, not empty accusations and catchy slogans’.

They also say that the Google ads were an error on the client’s side, as ‘nobody can impact the way that Google Ads work on default and there is no setting to make ads un-skippable’.

You can read the statement in full (including what G2A have called the ‘Wall of Text Edition™’) here.

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Original article continues below:

Several game developers have banded together to say that they’d rather players pirated their games instead of giving any sort of payment to G2A.

The pro-piracy-in-certain-situations sentiment arose after Mike Rose, ‘the No More Robots guy’, tweeted that G2A had taken out premium sponsored ads on Google.

The ads can’t be deactivated and show up above the developers’ own links. It’s important to note that devs get no revenue from games purchased via adverts.

G2A is a digital marketplace that specialises in selling videogames and game keys, often at a cheaper price.

However, G2A also has a habit of getting into trouble after it’s turned out on several occasions that some keys have been acquired either illegally or through morally dubious means.

Mass-selling these sorts of keys has an incredible negative impact on smaller developers, who miss out on potential sale revenue.

Devs forced into such a situation also have to spend time sorting out the mess and tracking down and deactivating stolen keys, amongst other things.

Descenders developer RageSquid was one of the first to quote Mike’s tweet and plead with playersto just torrent games instead of buying them on G2A

These sites cost us so much potential dev time in customer service, investigating fake key requests, figuring out credit card chargebacks, and more.” Ismail added.

What do you think? Would you rather buy a game legally at full price or risk going with a key resale site? Let us know in the comments below.