G2A hits back at Gearbox over ‚list of ultimatums‘. Puts the blame on Bain.
G2A’s Grzegorz Mazowiecki has hit back at the ‚list of ultimatums‘ issued by Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition partner Gearbox, claiming his company already does everything required of it. Controversial key reselling marketplace G2A has hit back at Gearbox, the company’s partner on the Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition, claiming that it already meets or exceeds fraud-limiting demands made in the face of public outcry – apart from the biggest and most important: giving developers a means to find and de-list fraudulently obtained keys.
Best known for its key reselling market, despite recent moves into direct publishing, G2A is a controversial service which allows users to resell excess game keys – typically in direct contravention of publishers‘ stated terms and conditions for their use. While in theory this allows individuals to make use of their rights under the doctrine of first sale to convert unwanted gifts into cash or alternative games, the site is more commonly used as a grey market for resellers to buy up keys cheaply in one region then resell them at a profit in another – or to buy keys with stolen credit cards, or steal them directly from publishers or retailers, then sell as many on as possible before the publishers catch wind and cancel the keys.
Despite recent moves to reduce fraud on the platform , G2A remains troublesome in the eyes of many. There should be no surprise, then, that when Gearbox announced it had partnered with the site on the release of a physical collector’s version of Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition there was uproar – in particular from YouTube gaming personality John Bain, who declared a boycott on all Gearbox products as a result.
