Grey-market keyseller G2A has announced a new initiative with which it hopes to clamp down on key fraud, introducing a verification process to confirm new sellers' eligibility.
Most game publishers take local market conditions into account when pricing games: a game priced at £30 in a country where the average weekly salary is £500 is one thing, but pricing the title at the same £30 in a country where the average weekly salary is £50 isn't going to result in very many sales. Per-region pricing, though, opens up a grey market: people buying cheap keys from one region and selling them at a profit to players in other, more expensive, regions. Distribution platforms like Valve's Steam take various steps to stem the flow of grey market keys, from introducing limits on trades to locking some keys down per-region or per-language, but thousands of such keys are still traded each day.
G2A is a site which aims to partner grey marketeers with customers, but it is one which has suffered controversy in the past. From sellers using stolen credit cards to publishers pulling batches of keys, customers can sometimes be on the receiving end of a useless key - an issue G2A aims to address with its G2A Shield service, offering full refunds if the keys are not as described. Now, the site is taking further steps to bolster its reputation with the launch of new front-end verification steps for sellers.
'G2A has an open door for feedback from the gaming community, developers, publishers and media,' claimed Bartosz Skwarczek, G2A chief executive, at the launch. 'Following the announcement of the G2A Game Developer Support System in June 2016, it became clear that a further added value will be to extend G2A's front-end verification process for new sellers on our marketplace.'
The new verification steps will require new sellers to verify their social media profiles and telephone contact numbers, and will limit listings to ten products until further verification is provided. Following the launch, the site has also promised to add credit cart, PayPal, and address verification 'in the coming months.'
G2A has not indicated that the verification steps will apply to sellers already listed on the site.
Most game publishers take local market conditions into account when pricing games: a game priced at £30 in a country where the average weekly salary is £500 is one thing, but pricing the title at the same £30 in a country where the average weekly salary is £50 isn't going to result in very many sales. Per-region pricing, though, opens up a grey market: people buying cheap keys from one region and selling them at a profit to players in other, more expensive, regions. Distribution platforms like Valve's Steam take various steps to stem the flow of grey market keys, from introducing limits on trades to locking some keys down per-region or per-language, but thousands of such keys are still traded each day.
G2A is a site which aims to partner grey marketeers with customers, but it is one which has suffered controversy in the past. From sellers using stolen credit cards to publishers pulling batches of keys, customers can sometimes be on the receiving end of a useless key - an issue G2A aims to address with its G2A Shield service, offering full refunds if the keys are not as described. Now, the site is taking further steps to bolster its reputation with the launch of new front-end verification steps for sellers.
'G2A has an open door for feedback from the gaming community, developers, publishers and media,' claimed Bartosz Skwarczek, G2A chief executive, at the launch. 'Following the announcement of the G2A Game Developer Support System in June 2016, it became clear that a further added value will be to extend G2A's front-end verification process for new sellers on our marketplace.'
The new verification steps will require new sellers to verify their social media profiles and telephone contact numbers, and will limit listings to ten products until further verification is provided. Following the launch, the site has also promised to add credit cart, PayPal, and address verification 'in the coming months.'
G2A has not indicated that the verification steps will apply to sellers already listed on the site.
MSI MPG Velox 100R Chassis Review
October 14 2021 | 15:04
Want to comment? Please log in.