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G2A vs developer: marketplace detects fraud and compensates developers


Picture: G2A

Last year, indie studios had accused the G2A marketplace of benefiting from credit card fraud fraud. The provider therefore offered developers to reimburse the costs incurred ten times over in order to prove their own seriousness. A studio now receives almost $ 40,000.

Even illegal copying is better than a purchase from G2A and Co., developers had formulated last year, because the lack of action against fraud costs twice: firstly, through the time that must be invested in protecting against fraudsters, secondly, among other things, through chargeback fees for credit cards Providers. These chargeback costs are usually charged to the seller.

No audit but a result

According to the current status, only one of the critics has actually taken advantage of the G2A offer: Wube Software, the provider of the Factorio development simulation, has announced itself. According to information from Games Industry Both parties waived the audit procedure originally prescribed by G2A by an independent company. Potential partners did not want the results to be made public, G2A told the site. An independent testing agency was also only offered on the assumption that developers would have liked to consult it. It should therefore underline the transparency and seriousness of the offer.

Of 321 activation keys assigned by Wube Software fraud, 198 were sold via the G2A marketplace. The studio has therefore received $ 39,600. Both parties assume that all other keys have been sold in other ways. This proves, said a spokesman for G2A Games Industrythat out of over 10 million annual transactions, only a tiny part is processed with illegally acquired keys. The logic is compelling: since there are no other confirmed cases, there are no other fraudulent activities. The relationship between “legal” and “illegal” activation keys in the case of Factorio would be more meaningful. However, the provider did not want to reveal how many copies of the game G2A sold in total in the same period, the website asked.

G2A only acknowledges errors when asked. In a statement, among other things
Polygon , it is said that it has taken G2A too long to recognize that a “small number of individuals“Abused the market place. In a blog entry the campaign is also called “lesson“Which shows that fraud damages the entire industry and is a serious problem.

The amount of time it takes and administrative dealings to get this refund, it’s probably not worth the monetary compensation if it was not 10x.

Wube software

In the future, developers who can prove fraud will only receive the full chargeback fees instead of ten times as much. However, Wube Software made it clear that G2A had only been contacted because a ten-fold refund was offered. Otherwise, the effort and time would not have been worth it. If other developers make similar considerations, the market place’s balance remains clean: no confirmed cases are not cases. G2A also remains true to the previous communication strategy: The provider stands in line with developers as the injured party.

Developers are the source

However, the actual problem can be easily prevented, comments from Wube Software add Games Industry clear. The G2A offer “treat a symptom“According to the studio, it is better to switch off the source. And these are often developers. At Wube, the activation keys were sold on their own website. After switching to a Humble Bundle widget and generally foregoing giveaways, some of which were requested by fictional influencers, i.e. fraudsters, the problem was completely resolved.

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