Buying From G2A.COM

The Witches Cat

Hi. I sometimes buy games from G2a and have never had a problem adding them to my Steam account. At the moment im looking at a game and it can only be bought as a steam gift. Ive bought steam gifts before, again with no problem adding them to my account.
When i click on the game i want, there is a message saying: Bear in mind that after buying this product as a GIFT you will not be able to add it to your inventory.
Is this right??
If i buy this i cant add it to my account???
What am i supposed to do with it after buying???
Any info much appreciated.
Thanks

Shiminay

You don't buy from G2A cause they're gangsters :P

Didn't Steam introduce changes to prevent this exact thing some time ago? You can't receive gifts from people that aren't on your friends list for a certain amount of time?

johnny_ultimate

G2A is an immensely dubious site with many suspect business practices and has received lots of criticism from indie developers & publishers. The fact that you can purchase fraud protection says it all: completely legit, above board sites get on fine without that.

In other words: you really shouldn't buy from the site, no matter how much cheaper they're selling the game for.

https://twitter.com/devolverdigital/status/855470971804930048

EoinHef

Id say it means you cant add it to your inventory as a gift and then re gift it to someone else. I could be wrong but thats what it sounds like to me

TerrorFirmer

EoinHef wrote: »

Id say it means you cant add it to your inventory as a gift and then re gift it to someone else. I could be wrong but thats what it sounds like to me

Yes that is what it means.

As long as you buy from reputable sellers on G2A you'll be fine. I've never had an issue with any keys from them and the majority of my library came from there and Kinguin.

The Witches Cat

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Yes that is what it means.

As long as you buy from reputable sellers on G2A you'll be fine. I've never had an issue with any keys from them and the majority of my library came from there and Kinguin.

Yeah i have never had an issue either. So can i buy this and will it go in my library. No intention of gifting it to anyone else.
Thanks

The Witches Cat

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

G2A is an immensely dubious site with many suspect business practices and has received lots of criticism from indie developers & publishers. The fact that you can purchase fraud protection says it all: completely legit, above board sites get on fine without that.

In other words: you really shouldn't buy from the site, no matter how much cheaper they're selling the game for.

https://twitter.com/devolverdigital/status/855470971804930048

I have bought about 20 games from them. Never had an issue.

Icyseanfitz

dont know about g2a but i personally buy most of my games from g2play

EoinHef

Dont use G2A myself,that insurance thing is a scam and it puts me off.

I do use cdkeys and kinguin though.

johnny_ultimate

The Witches Cat wrote: »

I have bought about 20 games from them. Never had an issue.

That's cool, happy to hear, but the reality remains that they indulge in some undeniably iffy business practices (they themselves even admitted that their systems were not perfect this week alongside a whole lotta deflection and non-answers). For example, G2A Shield, a 'fraud protection' service they have the cheek to actually charge extra for. It should be 100% free as standard.

The mere existence of G2A Shield is effectively an admission that dubious or stolen keys make it onto their marketplace - perhaps unavoidable (you get equivalent in any marketplace) but to brazenly charge the customer to sort it out is pretty outrageous. They also embrace 'dark patterns' in web design, such as the infamously drawn-out, less-than-intuitive process to unsubscribe from the aforementioned G2A Shield. Not to mention the general uncertainty in any 'grey market' site of where the key came from and who exactly is selling it to you (seller profiles effectively offer up no info whatsoever).

Here's some prominent developers criticising the company:

https://twitter.com/tha_rami/status/850423566373974016

https://twitter.com/mode7games/status/855109047145705473

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmU4Zy_45gU

There was also the whole Gearbox vs G2A saga from a few weeks ago (although I do reckon Gearbox used the controversy to drum up some perhaps undeserved positive publicity for themselves).

This car-crash of an AMA is also worthwhile reading.

If you're happy to buy from them, I doubt I'm going to convince you otherwise and that's absolutely your own call. But when there are plenty of legitimate sources for games out there where I know the developers are properly in the loop - Humble and GOG to pick the two most admirable examples of sellers doing damn good work - I personally couldn't in good conscience support G2A. If you're looking for a game cheaper than RRP, thankfully sales on the authorised sellers are frequent and usually pretty good

Lone Stone

you might as well just pirate a game if your going to buy from g2a

Shiminay

Is it worth building a thread with reputable sites to buy from?

GoG, Green Man Gaming, Humble Store, Games Planet.

Lone Stone

what about cd keys are they ok ? some one showed me that a while ago.

SeantheMan

I used to buy from G2PLAY / Kinguin too.

I don't buy from G2A however. But isn't that hypocritical of me ? or are these other sites not as bad ?

the_syco

Lone Stone wrote: »

you might as well just pirate a game if your going to buy from g2a

Some of the developers would prefer you did this, as they wouldn't have to refund games bought by stolen credit cards...

JD1763

In the past I bought from Kinguin and G2A and never had any problems but now I only use Greenman, GOG or Steam.

TerrorFirmer

Lone Stone wrote: »

you might as well just pirate a game if your going to buy from g2a

Often said but totally nonsensical. Buying from G2A and you get a genuine, functional version of the game as it was intended.

Pirate it, and you get a game that's potentially infected, often non-functional, broken, buggy , et all - a version of the game with any number of potential issues, not to mention it's out of the question for the vast majority of online games in any case.

People can make the moral of choice of only buying from the likes of Steam but this line that 'you might as well pirate the games' is utter nonsense unless you're talking about small indie titles.

Notwithstanding that the vast, overwhelmingly majority of games sold on these sites are 100% legit - you'd swear from some reactions here every time the topic arises that everything sold there is a shady, black market item.

At the end of the day, G2A is also a marketplace. Just buy from reputable sellers with massive feedback.

I personally use Kinguin mostly but the sites all operate the same. I think they're great, the likes of Steam and to a similar extent Xbox Live Marketplace are a total joke.

Remember when they told us how digital platforms were going to improve prices? Except now Steam/XBL/PS4N are consistently more expensive then going into a shop and picking up a physical copy of a new release (and there's more than just the initial disparity - because you can trade in a physical copy at a later date, which adds back 50-70% of the games value in your pocket).

Maybe if digital prices generally weren't so unnecessarily inflated people wouldn't feel the need to go to places like G2A, Kinguin, etc.

johnny_ultimate

SeantheMan wrote: »

I used to buy from G2PLAY / Kinguin too.

I don't buy from G2A however. But isn't that hypocritical of me ? or are these other sites not as bad ?

They all adapt the same basic commercial model (I believe G2Play and Kinguin are owned by the same people?). At best, you're buying a game from a region with cheaper prices, or maybe keys that have been bought from bundles or the like. On the other end of the spectrum, you have stolen codes, or maybe review codes being sold on. The latter cases are likely a minority, it should be said.

G2A is a particular source of frustration for many because of some of the particularly grievous policies mentioned in posts above, and because of their often aggressive marketing strategy (sponsorship deals with YouTubers, for example).

Let's be honest: everyone's ethical stance on these matters will vary, and financial situations vary wildly too. Personally, I just like going through channels where I know (and I'm mostly talking indie here) developers or publishers get their fair share at a price they've agreed to - and I don't think that's something you can guarantee on a 'grey market' site. I should note that some developers do offer their keys directly through G2A alongside the resellers.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Remember when they told us how digital platforms were going to improve prices?

I actually fully believe they have

Are AAA games expensive at launch? Absolutely. But digital gaming has also opened up whole new price points that didn't really exist beforehand (there was some degree of budget pricing in the PS1-PS2 eras, but in a majority of cases that was for quality reasons). Now many legitimately great games launch for prices well below €20, which would have been a huge rarity in the past. It is extremely rare that a good indie game launches at anything other than a perfectly fair and reasonable price.

Then there's regular sales, bundles and the deep discounts which in terms of scale and depth are dramatic improvements over the sort of physical sales we used to see.

Even when it comes to AAA prices, the price cuts typically come quickly and are often quite significant. Hang on a few weeks/months, and you'll almost certainly get a game for 33-50% off the original price. Wait a bit longer and you'll often get it for 50%-75% cheaper. If you want a game immediately on launch, you'll pay a premium or use a grey/parallel site to get a discount. Or, you could always just wait a little

jcd5971

Shiminay wrote:

Is it worth building a thread with reputable sites to buy from?

Actually really good idea

K.O.Kiki

Shiminay wrote: »

Is it worth building a thread with reputable sites to buy from?

GoG, Green Man Gaming, Humble Store, Games Planet.

Lone Stone wrote: »

what about cd keys are they ok ? some one showed me that a while ago.

SeantheMan wrote: »

I used to buy from G2PLAY / Kinguin too.

I don't buy from G2A however. But isn't that hypocritical of me ? or are these other sites not as bad ?

the_syco wrote: »

Some of the developers would prefer you did this, as they wouldn't have to refund games bought by stolen credit cards...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99760162


**edit**
12'000th post

Shiminay

Yea, I thought G2A and Kinguin were one and the same, was really alarmed to see people saying they'd buy from one but not the other when Kinguin used to have a "powered by G2A" logo on their site which they've very quickly disappeared after the shadiness of their business started to unravel.

Sephiroth_dude

Are g2play dodgey?

gizmo

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Are g2play dodgey?

G2Play were actively reselling Humble Bundle keys on their own storefront, not the marketplace, until they were dragged over the coals for it.

It, amongst other stories, are outlined in the The Key Masters article also found in K.O.Kiki's link.