What are your thoughts on steam key sites? have you even bought a key from sites like g2a? are they a scam or are they cool, also do you have a story to share about steam keys.
i was planning on getting a mystery pack from g2a or whatever its called but im not sure if its a scam or not.
It has been said by many indie developers many times that purchasing games through key resellers is objectively more harmful for the developers than piracy entirely.
Key resellers tend to buy keys in bulk using credit cards. When the bank reports the card stolen, steam issues refunds. The developer of the game is responsible for these charge backs, not the storefront.
Basically, if you buy games from key resellers not only are you not giving developers money that they deserve, but you're literally taking it out of their pockets. Do not buy from key resellers, pirate instead.
Mike Rose talked about that specifically and it was nothing more than a PR stunt to sell games. When G2A had that "contest" to prove that stolen keys were sold on their site and they would pay you 10X what you lost we found out that G2A only sold 5 copies of Rose's game on their site. Not 5 stolen copies, 5 sold copies total. Then other devs like that Charlie Cleveland clown said that stolen games were sold on G2A before G2A even existed.
As a former indie dev, you also get innundated with scams. At least a couple of emails a day pretending to be moderately famous YouTubers or gaming sites.
It was a huge time sink to verify them but we couldn't just ignore them occasionally one of them was a moderately famous YouTuber.
It was a shitty feeling. If you can't afford the game, pirate it.
Stolen credit cards, buy legit keys, owner of card does chargeback, actual retailer is now out money and a key and can get penalised for the chargeback.
Might as well pirate it instead because the devs definitely don't get the money.
As a small game dev, I can tell you that I get a lot of emails from people impersonating content creators requesting keys for "review." They then turn around and sell those keys on sites like Kinguin to make a quick buck. If you buy from key reseller sites, that's who you are supporting. Developers don't see a cent.
I've only ever used Humble Bundle to buy steam games not on steam itself. I haven't had a single steam key issue in the 13 odd-years that they've been around. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Big difference, humble, like other stores, is a key seller. There are plenty of legit ways to get e.g. Steam keys from stores that have a partnership with Steam. Humble, Gog, and lots of others sell completely legit keys.
Sometimes indie even include a Steam key themselves if you purchase their game from elsewhere, like their own site (like Rimworld) or itch.io (like Dwarf Fortress).
The shady part with G2A etc, the resellers, is that they get their keys from... anywhere really. They buy and resell "second-hand" keys and don't care where they may come from, which is why some end up cancelled when the publisher discovers they were acquired illegally.
And especially among small publishers and indie, the resellers are a huge pain in the ass because in the end cancelling the keys is their decision, and they know it won't be popular. Most of the time the end user believes the game is being unjustly removed from their library because they have paid for it. Many don't even realize that it matters who is being paid.
g2a and similar websites are grey market websites. That means they're not literally illegal, but most of their keys are usually gotten illegally. Sometimes (it's rare, but it happens) people buy keys and they get revoked later if Steam confirms it was stolen. I wouldn't use them at all if you care about giving the developers their money, you might as well pirate it.
Meanwhile there are legit websites like Fanatical that do sell cheap mystery keys. Most of them are shovelware they're trying to get rid of, don't bother.
Keep in mind that even if some are scams, they might appear to work at first. The problem is that the key you get may be marked as stolen or purchased with a stolen credit card/etc, and then your key becomes invalid even if you've already redeemed it.
There are actual authorized key seller sites out there (Green Man Gaming, Fanatical, GamesPlanet, AllYouPlay, IndieGala, Voidu, etc.), you just need to make sure they're not selling ill-gotten keys. Basically, if the price seems like it's too good to be true (as it always will on grey market keyshops like G2A, Kinguin, etc.), that's because it is too good to be true.
As others have mentioned, use https://isthereanydeal.com/ to find the best prices. They don't let illegitimate sites into their listings.
I sell my Humble Bunlde choice keys - not everything is stolen. It's my thing, I bought it, I'm entitled to selling it and someone else is entitled to buying it.
Often times g2a keys are purchased with stolen credit cards or acquired through other sketchy means and the game risks becoming invalid days or weeks after purchase. Had it happen to a friend a while back with Civilization 5.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a key on G2A but you're asking to get ripped if you buy some mystery pack. Just buy the specific game you're looking for if it's the cheapest deal. I buy a lot of my games on there because many times it's the best price but I've never purchased those mystery bundles.
Even in a situation where you're relatively assured to get the game, it can still be damaging to foreign markets. Further use of sites like G2A can encourage publishers to pull out of markets where they'd set regional prices, denying lower-income countries access to those games, and ensuring no future low G2A prices.
They've also habitually been used as a way to launder money. If a pickpocket steals someone's credit card, they typically use it to quickly buy a large number of game keys to sell to sites like G2A before the card gets canceled, resulting in a situation that's difficult for the publisher to reverse without negative attention from a buyer that believes themselves legitimate. It's possible that those sites stopped allowing anonymous key purchases now, but it's still a bad mark on them historically.
This is the same parroting I saw on Reddit and it's not really based in reality. G2A is based in the Netherlands and therefore bound by EU law. If fraud was that rampant then there would be investigations out the ass. The reality is that there is fraud on G2A just like there is fraud on every single open marketplace on the internet and it's not nearly as prevalent you're making it out to be.
g2a is a legit site. their games are either heavily discounted older titles, or purchasing access to a shared account. I guess it all depends what type of games you're into. Steam is a no brainer for legit games. You could also try eBay for discounted steam keys. There are plenty of deals to be had. I also like fanatical games. they also have deals which are often better priced than Steam. Hope this helps, and happy gaming:)
G2a isn't a legit site, they have a market place for key sellers and who knows where those keys come from. I've used it in the past and had a couple of games pulled from my steam account.
Although these days Fantatical is the games retail arm of Fandom, who are the company that enshittified most of the video game wikis on the internet after they bought Wikia. So they're legit, but their parent company sucks.
I'm not going to delete this comment as some requested, but everyone should know that G2A is not a legit website. See the top comments, gives a great explanation.
I've used Eneba for a few things and I've only had 1 bad purchase that was refunded pretty fast. I really only check it when I'm looking for something that's kind of old, but is still full price or damn near full price on most storefronts. Like you can get Skyrim Anniversary Edition or Fallout 4 GOTY edition on any platform you want for like $3 instead of $50-60.
I used it to get Sims 4 and every expansion that was out at the time for $10 total.
I can only imagine you in a super shady trench coat sitting in some dark alley signaling people over. One side of your coat has G2a keys and the other side has bottles crudely labeled "snake oil". G2a is garbage and nobodies "but I get der gaems 4 cheep" anecdotes are going to change that.