That does happen, but they're not all stolen at all. A blanket claim like 'the keys are stolen' is no different than a claim that the goods in pawn shops are cheaper because they're stolen. You know, maybe some are. It's not impossible. It does happen. But is that a good enough reason to say 'Therefore never shop at pawn shops... unless Samsung says you can?'

By far the majority of keys sold on key sites are region free keys which were bought in cheaper regions, keys that were legitimately bought in bulk, or keys that have come from promotions or bundles. All of which are legitimate sources - yes, including buying cheaper keys from overseas.

Sure, the people making the games think you should buy the games in your own region and pay top dollar, but did you ever notice how globilisation only seems to go one way? If you're a consumer, pay full price. Meanwhile, we're manufacturing our limited edition box sets in Taiwan because it's cheaper. Sorry we're not hiring.

Stop using Hot UK Deals if you care about making sure that the people you are buying from are not being 'harmed' by the terrible evils of paying less for things than those saintly retailers would like you to pay.

Otherwise, perhaps you can explain why video games, for which there is pretty close to zero manufacturing cost, are more deserving of moral protection than that nice garden set you got from Argos in a misprice.

No they're not. They're grey market. They buy retail copies from poorer countries where they are cheaper and scan the codes in. It's the game equivalent of cdwow.

You're likely thinking more of marketplace style key selling sites, rather than ones where the company that owns the site is the company selling the games. But even then, most will have a legit origins even if not meant to be resold - from bundles, promotions, cheaper regions, review copies.

The odd one will slip through. Sniper Elite 3 famously. But even authorised sites can have similar issues, such as GMG with Witcher 3.

You are wrong, its the gamer who buys this key that is in trouble because devs will block the key. However it is devs fault for putting a £50 price on a game that is being split into pieces before release and then sold to gamers as DLC for extra money.

Price is now £27.54

Keep getting the message that the coupon code is not valid.

Anyone else getting that?

I don't know how old you are, but I've probably been playing video games longer than you've been alive, and I have heard variations of that argument all my life. And in that time, I've watched my niche geek hobby turn into a multi billion dollar industry. The home computer game industry could shrink to 1/10th of its current size and it would still be a bigger market than it was when I started playing. The message you're giving was false then and it is false now.

I absolutely mean manufacturing cost, not the cost of development.

except its £50 on steam not £40!!! that is overpriced!

Lol.

​I agreed with a lot of that, other than you saying there's next to zero manufacturing cost for games.
Seriously, do you know how many hours from so many different people go into designing a game?

​Let's not hope they die, otherwise I won't buy the games!

​The developer won't actually lose out in this case it is not their fault. They have no idea the card was stolen; It is the bank's duty to cover the cost.
The card holder does not lose money, nor does the developer; only the bank.

As has been mentioned by multiple others, ​can you please provide evidence that cdkeys are not legitimate sellers.

Steam is cheap, it's not overpriced at all... games are expensive to make and developers are finding the market hard. The problem is the mobile market has trained everyone to want something for nothing... it's not how AAA development works.

You can either buy the games legally or you can accept all this will die and you'll be playing crap designed to milk you like Candy Crush or Clash of Clans or whatever else.

I find it very weird that people spend billions on those games for consumables, games essentially with no gameplay, just designed for you to pay to bypass the wait..... but you wont pay a proper developer money for a real game with actual gameplay.

Pay £40 for CIV VI, you'll play the game for hundreds of hours.... you pay more than that for a night out at the Cinema that will last you 3 hours...

http://www.pcgamer.com/a-brazilian-hacker-explains-how-g2a-game-key-scams-work/

Just now


It's everywhere these key sites will be held accountable in the future and you will have your keys taken away from you when developers grow a pair and decide to deactivate them all.

Don't buy from them.

Evidence please.

£10 is a good price for Civ game. its not worth to buy civ game on release. unless you are desprate. just wait for GOTY edition with all dlcs and game fixes.

Clearly hot at the price. The question is whether the physical copy will come with the usual chunky civ manual and charts which look nice and I want even though I'll never look at them and they'll be out of date with the first patch! Likewise I'll probably wait for the deluxe version. This is still hot though.

Really doesnt help when this game is overpriced on steam though does it. Not to mention this is a deals site and CD keys are not G2A at all.

Stop using Hot UK Deals if you care about making sure that the people you are buying from are not being 'harmed' by the terrible evils of paying less for things than those saintly retailers would like you to pay.

Otherwise, perhaps you can explain why video games, for which there is pretty close to zero manufacturing cost, are more deserving of moral protection than that nice garden set you got from Argos in a misprice.

Hot price but Don't preorder games! It will be this price again soon after release

Still a pre-order, cold.

It's happening lots with G2A being the latest one with two high profile indie games in the past couple months.

Grey market keys exist, but they also harm the developer too as they have to sell their games for such tiny amounts in territories like Russia so people actually buy them. They're hoping to be propped up by other countries who pay more, they don't really make anything from these other countries, but they have to do this or they will just torrent their games.

Just buy the game from Steam or retail or gog.com... Avoid these sites and lets hope they die.

They can and they do sometimes, but you also run the risk of harming people who bought the game legitimately and it ends up with more bad press.

Posted a month ago at the same price

No they're not. They're grey market. They buy retail copies from poorer countries where they are cheaper and scan the codes in. It's the game equivalent of cdwow.

You're likely thinking more of marketplace style key selling sites, rather than ones where the company that owns the site is the company selling the games. But even then, most will have a legit origins even if not meant to be resold - from bundles, promotions, cheaper regions, review copies.

The odd one will slip through. Sniper Elite 3 famously. But even authorised sites can have similar issues, such as GMG with Witcher 3.

That does happen, but they're not all stolen at all. A blanket claim like 'the keys are stolen' is no different than a claim that the goods in pawn shops are cheaper because they're stolen. You know, maybe some are. It's not impossible. It does happen. But is that a good enough reason to say 'Therefore never shop at pawn shops... unless Samsung says you can?'

By far the majority of keys sold on key sites are region free keys which were bought in cheaper regions, keys that were legitimately bought in bulk, or keys that have come from promotions or bundles. All of which are legitimate sources - yes, including buying cheaper keys from overseas.

Sure, the people making the games think you should buy the games in your own region and pay top dollar, but did you ever notice how globilisation only seems to go one way? If you're a consumer, pay full price. Meanwhile, we're manufacturing our limited edition box sets in Taiwan because it's cheaper. Sorry we're not hiring.

Can the developer not identify the codes purchased in this manner and stop them?

just over half the price of the original price of £49.99, what are they thinking lol.

Great Price.

Any good?

Done

£25.64 with Facebook Like