Where you buy video games for PC

[cmdrdredd]

You got the cause wrong, though you're more or less spot-on for the effect. Many of the keys sold through these services are stolen or purchased with stolen credit cards (as a means of money laundering). So you're paying a middle-man to steal a game for you to play, while you pay the developers nothing. That is actually worse than piracy, because in the latter case at least no one is making any money off of the crime.

Though from my reading this isn't always the case so labeling them all this way is not correct either. Many of them are legit companies that aren't doing what you described.

CDkeys.com for example acquires keys from game bundles and buying bulk from other regions where it's cheaper but works worldwide. For example they may buy a game in Russia where their currency is valued less than US Dollars and they can sell a game for $40 and still profit. So while not necessarily illegal, it's a moral grey area. G2A and Kinguin are different because they have resellers on the site that can sell almost anything. These are the sites that have had keys that were purchased with stolen CC info etc and some have had keys revoked. The only issue I have ever heard of with cdkeys is elder scrolls online has blocked certain accounts who had keys from CDKeys.com that they purchased in bulk from a supplier that were purchased by that supplier with stolen credit card info. It took a month for the ESO team to realize and they just banned all the accounts. CDKeys refunded the purchase price immediately when contacted. In many cases they supplied a new code the user could enter and get back into the game. They aren't in the market of selling stolen keys and if they happen to get some they will refund if problems arise.

So again it's a moral grey area and yes there is some risk involved, especially for online games.

 

[ViRGE]

Though from my reading this isn't always the case so labeling them all this way is not correct either. Many of them are legit companies that aren't doing what you described.

The way it works is that a third party buys the keys and sells them to the reseller. That way the reseller can claim they're victims too because they got duped.

However the continued existence of their stores despite the fact that this is going on is tacit approval of the practice. It's like a pawn shop vendor that has Five Finger Freddy come in week after week and sell hot merchandise, then claiming that they had no idea.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The way it works is that a third party buys the keys and sells them to the reseller. That way the reseller can claim they're victims too because they got duped.

However the continued existence of their stores despite the fact that this is going on is tacit approval of the practice. It's like a pawn shop vendor that has Five Finger Freddy come in week after week and sell hot merchandise, then claiming that they had no idea.

Not always, read my expanded reply above. Often the are keys purchased directly in a region with a lower currency value so they can buy them cheap. I've seen pictures of one shipment of boxed games they got that they pull the steam key from. It was literally a thousand or so boxes stacked up. They buy the game, but they are not an authorized reseller for many publishers and you aren't necessarily buying it from the region you're supposed to.

 

[Smoblikat]

Well supposedly they are grey market keys which is why they are so cheap. Not necessarily illegal but they acquire the licenses through means other than how steam and others work and the devs don’t get paid for it. Personally I don’t care because so many devs and publishers feel it’s ok to sell you a $60 game and ask you to further pay $30 for dlc so buying the whole thing for way cheaper is beneficial for me. Not to mention companies who use pay to win schemes, loot boxes, and other forms of micro transactions in their games and I have no qualms about buying the game cheap from a site like this. I’d gladly support a developer who isn’t tied to greedy corporate entities who are a cancer on gaming but I’ll be damned if I’m willing to pay $100 for a game to get the complete edition only to be asked to buy loot crates or other such nonsense.

How were the keys generated in the first place if they didnt come from steam/ the devs? At some point somebody got the exact amount of money they were asking for a key.

 

[cmdrdredd]

How were the keys generated in the first place if they didnt come from steam/ the devs? At some point somebody got the exact amount of money they were asking for a key.

It can come from two sources.
1)Buying the boxed retail copy of the game and selling the key from that. Some places buy thousands of copies from the distributor or elsewhere and do it that way. Since 9 times out of 10 it's not purchased in your region there is not the same benefit to the publisher/dev as if you were to buy it in your region.
2) Using stolen CC info and selling the key they buy from steam or elsewhere. In this case nobody gets anything since the Bank goes through the motions to protect their customer and the retailer/publisher/dev doesn't get paid for that purchase.

Of course a case of boxed copies could be stolen as well, but I've never heard of this as a source for the stolen keys. It's always a stolen CC used to buy them that I've seen.


In a way I wish used games would come back for PC. At least that way I can buy a game that's been out a few months and someone finished without paying full price (many games simply don't drop in price). The whole locking a game to an account via a cdkey has caused some of the issues discussed in this thread. At least with a used game someone bought it and the publisher etc got legitimately paid for that copy. I wouldn't have to go to cdkeys and other sites at all to avoid paying $60 for a game that came out almost a year ago because the publisher does price fixing or it never goes on a steam sale.

 

[Smoblikat]

It can come from two sources.
1)Buying the boxed retail copy of the game and selling the key from that. Some places buy thousands of copies from the distributor or elsewhere and do it that way. Since 9 times out of 10 it's not purchased in your region there is not the same benefit to the publisher/dev as if you were to buy it in your region.
2) Using stolen CC info and selling the key they buy from steam or elsewhere. In this case nobody gets anything since the Bank goes through the motions to protect their customer and the retailer/publisher/dev doesn't get paid for that purchase.

Of course a case of boxed copies could be stolen as well, but I've never heard of this as a source for the stolen keys. It's always a stolen CC used to buy them that I've seen.

If they come from stolen CC info, then that is a very terrible practice and one I would condemn vehemently. But buying a bunch of retail boxes in another reigon because theyre cheaper is just smart capitalism. Buy low, sell.........really low?

In the case of stolen CC I see how devs would not get any of the profits, but buying boxed retail still gives them all the money it would have otherwise in that reigon. Maybe game prices could stop skyrocketing, and they could just set a global price on their games instead of charging less money for the same product because of where you live. Would seem to cut down on some of this grey-area stuff.

 

[cmdrdredd]

If they come from stolen CC info, then that is a very terrible practice and one I would condemn vehemently. But buying a bunch of retail boxes in another reigon because theyre cheaper is just smart capitalism. Buy low, sell.........really low?

In the case of stolen CC I see how devs would not get any of the profits, but buying boxed retail still gives them all the money it would have otherwise in that reigon. Maybe game prices could stop skyrocketing, and they could just set a global price on their games instead of charging less money for the same product because of where you live. Would seem to cut down on some of this grey-area stuff.

Yeah it's tough because as I mentioned in my edited post above (sorry about that), there is no used market anymore. There used to be 20 years ago or so, and some games never see a drop from the $60 price point even if they are almost a year old. It's tempting to pay ~$40 for the digital deluxe edition of a game you didn't play yet and isn't a new release than there is to buy it for ~$60. Hence why these sites can exist the way they do. Some developers engage in price fixing so their game never goes on sale unless you happen to find somewhere that still stocks the physical copy and they price it lower.

 

[Smoblikat]

Yeah it's tough because as I mentioned in my edited post above (sorry about that), there is no used market anymore. There used to be 20 years ago or so, and some games never see a drop from the $60 price point even if they are almost a year old. It's tempting to pay ~$40 for the digital deluxe edition of a game you didn't play yet and isn't a new release than there is to buy it for ~$60. Hence why these sites can exist the way they do. Some developers engage in price fixing so their game never goes on sale unless you happen to find somewhere that still stocks the physical copy and they price it lower.

I completely agree. Aside from theft, a lot of these "issues" could be avoided just by changing the business practices of how games are sold and exchanged.

 

[sweenish]

Then I saw all the BS involved with making and using a BattleNet account.

What are you talking about?

 

[DigDog]

define"buy"

i'm actually not talking piracy. i've spent money in F2P games, why not. i understand that people playing the game is an asset to a developer, and i have no shame playing a game for free, but then i do like to spend some petty cash for something "nice" ingame. i'm even ok with loot boxes, as long as the loot is reasonable fair.
i've spent five bucks on a extra pack in GitS: SAC-FAO (thats actually the name, Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex First Assault Online, i'm not making this up, google it), and i just dropped a whopping four Gbp (almost six bucks) on Duck Game. I spent e10 on Minecraft not more than 7 years ago. I paid full price, 10 euro, for Reflex FPS and at some point i dropped like 25 Gbp on Wasteland 2.

i dont buy games. i'm happy playing Quake until i come across something that's been designed in a way that doesn't suck and that is actually challenging.

 

[KMFJD]

From the publisher themselves if possible, Greenman Gaming or GoG and Steam if all other options fail.

 

[SMOGZINN]

So while not necessarily illegal, it's a moral grey area.

There is nothing morally grey about this. Companies have no moral issues using cheap labor from countries whose currency is valued less than the US Dollar. As long as they see no moral or ethical issues with using globalism to minimise their costs I can see no moral or ethical reason not to use it to minimise my costs.

 

[shortylickens]

thats nice and all but this really isnt the thread for discussing pirate rationale.

Unless thats what the OP wants.

 

[gammaray]

thats nice and all but this really isnt the thread for discussing pirate rationale.

Unless thats what the OP wants.

I don't really care, all i wanted to do was to help Anand tech community to get the best deals for black Friday and enjoy their hard won expensive computers. Gentlemen, to your...keyboards and mice!

 

[werepossum]

Pretty much exclusively Steam since I'm a lazy old bastard. The few times I've bought products from GoG or Greenman or Humble Bundles, I end up never installing them and soon I have no idea where they might be found. I also still have unopened hard copies, including a metal collector box of the original "Prey". I can't explain why that is worse than a Steam game not downloaded, but it is. Once I was dragged kicking and screaming to Steam, I never looked back.

 

[Nashemon]

I'd feel like a bot if all I wrote was the name of the site, so I'll add some text to my post beforehand. The website cheapdigitaldownloads provides a comparison of most all of the sites already mentioned. That's where I go to find the best price. Never had any issues with the keys I receive from whatever site I've selected for any particular purchase.

For collectible things, I buy from Best Buy with their Gamer's Club Unlocked which typically gives 20% off games.

 

[shortylickens]

Pretty much exclusively Steam since I'm a lazy old bastard. The few times I've bought products from GoG or Greenman or Humble Bundles, I end up never installing them and soon I have no idea where they might be found. I also still have unopened hard copies, including a metal collector box of the original "Prey". I can't explain why that is worse than a Steam game not downloaded, but it is. Once I was dragged kicking and screaming to Steam, I never looked back.

You can always redownload them. I made a special folder on my 3TB drive called "GOG Installs" and I always check there first.