UPDATE: A G2A spokesperson has reached out to Tech Times to clarify and provide more information about the issue, specifically on how they are working to stop stolen keys from being sold in the marketplace.
First off, the company made it clear that they do not hold or sell any key inventory, but it is only a marketplace where different sellers could offer their products, much like eBay.
Over the years, G2A has taken extensive steps to continue to beef up its seller verification process, leveraging proprietary AI technology and human expertise to protect all users.
They have also shared that only 0.02% of the game keys sold in their marketplace were illegally obtained. Still, the company is not satisfied and wishes to eradicate stolen game keys entirely from the marketplace.
Thus, the company is investing in developing new anti-fraud technology.
"We would be the first to admit that, in our formative years as a company, we took too long to recognize that a small number of individuals were abusing our Marketplace," a spokesperson told us. "However, the criticisms we received was the wake-up call we needed, and over the last years we have been totally committed to tackling any incidents of fraud in our site. Today, we have some of the most sophisticated anti-fraud AI technology of any online marketplace for digital products."
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Grey-market reseller G2A has long been suspected of selling stolen game keys, but they have been shrugging off the allegations for several years. Still, the tables have turned, and the company has finally admitted their actions.
G2A's Plan to Dispel the Accusations Gone Wrong
In a report by Eurogamer, G2A disclosed that they have been selling "illegally obtained" game keys after their plan of proving their innocence has backfired.
Not only were they forced to admit their wrongdoing, but they also have to spend $40,000.
In 2019, the reseller made headlines after saying they would pay ten times the cost to game developers that can prove that they were selling stolen keys for a certain game, in a way to dispel the accusations.
For the most part, many video game developers have ignored the offer, but one company took up the challenge of exposing G2A.
Wube Software, the developer of the game Factorio, took G2A's word, and after a full year, the latter had come forward to admit that yes, they have sold stolen game keys for Factorio.
In fact, they have sold 198 keys for the game alone.
Paying Ten Times the Costs
Since Wube Software was able to prove that keys for their game were stolen and had been sold via the reseller, G2A will now pay the game developer $39,600 as per the terms they have made.
The reseller published a blog post regarding the situation and said that the company held an internal investigation, which was supposed to be an independent one, and discovered that the majority of the suspected game keys for Factorio reported to it by the developer had been shifted by its own site.
In their blog, they wrote that when they launched the offer, they wanted to send a message to the community that "fraud hurts all parties."
"As we spell out in this blog, fraud directly hurts individuals who buy illegitimate keys, it hurts gaming developers, and it ultimately hurts G2A because we are forced - as the transaction facilitator - to cover costs related to the sale," they wrote.
That was apparently the reason why they pledged to pay ten times the amount of sales from stolen game keys.
Nevertheless, they emphasized that they will do it otherwise even though they "had nothing to do with the illegal acquisitions of these keys."
Eurogamer noted that the company did not offer any apologies and, most importantly, offered no plans to stop the stolen keys from being sold on their marketplace.
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Developer Would Rather You Pirate His Games
Last year, an indie game developer, No More Robots, observed that they have been paying Google for sponsored ads, which is why their link would come first when you're searching for Descenders--a game from the developer, G2A's link would go first.
The founder of No More Robots, Mike Rose, soon published a tweet saying he would rather players pirate their game than buy from G2A, according to gamesindustry.biz.
According to Rose, the developers won't gain a penny from sponsored ads. Since they won't be earning anything, they'd rather the reseller don't get anything either by players pirating the games.
