G2A have developed somewhat of a reputation amongst gamers for being a shady storefront that allows people to resell their unused game keys. With questions raised about the legitimacy of the codes on their store, G2A has clashed with developers and is consistently mired in controversy. Many developers warn people away from the storefront with some indie developers asking potential customers to pirate their games rather than buy from G2A.
Following a clash with several indie developers and press outlets last year, G2A pledged to pay back developers tenfold for their stolen game keys to curb some controversy. Only a single developer took them up on their offer. Wube Software, developers of Factorio, had over 300 keys purchased with stolen credit cards during the game’s launch. Investigations conducted by G2A and Wube have found that 198 of those were sold on G2A’s marketplace between March and June 2016.
As a result, G2A have compensated Wube Software for their losses, which totals to $39,600. In an interview with Polygon, G2A admitted to the selling of stolen game keys and reconfirmed their commitment to tackling fraud on their storefront.
“We would be the first to admit that, in our formative years as a company, we took too long to recognize that a small number of individuals were abusing our Marketplace. . . However, the criticism we received was the wake-up call we needed, and over the last years we have been totally committed to tackling any incidents of fraud on our site. Today we use some of the most sophisticated proprietary anti-fraud AI technology of any online marketplace for digital products.”
Factorio is available on PC.
