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Indie developers would rather consumers pirate their games than buy keys from G2A

Indie developers would rather consumers pirate their games than buy keys from G2A

Some high profile independent studios and publishers have said they'd rather consumers stole their games than bought them from G2A.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Descenders publisher No More Robots and developer Rage Squid, as well as Vlambeer's Rami Ismail, have taken to Twitter in response to the key marketplace buying Google ads when users search for games directing them to G2A.

No More Robots' Mike Rose first raised the issue, showing what happens when he searched for the publisher's debut title Descenders and saying that neither the indie label nor its developers would receive a penny if consumers bought from the key reseller.

It was Rage Squid who first said that it would rather gamers pirate their titles, something that was echoed by Ismail from Vlambeer.

Rose has also claimed that G2A had several of its affiliated streamers defend the company explaining that "they're not evil".

G2A has long had a bad reputation within the games industry. While consumers seem to love the marketplace for its cheap prices and deals, those making and publishing games have criticised the reseller for not really checking where keys are coming from. There have been reports in the past of people buying keys legitimately with stolen credit cards, which end up being refunded and game creators being out of pocket while the scammers sell the keys on.

The company has responded to criticism, introducing G2A Direct in 2016 with the aim of allowing developers and publishers to make some money from the platform as well as having priority placement.

We caught up with G2A at Gamescom last year to learn how the Eastern European key marketplace has been trying to win over the industry.

We've reached out to G2A for comment for this story and will update if we hear anything back 


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.