G2A Tries to Pay Off Media To Publish Positive Article In Light of Controversy, Backfires Epically

SOURCE 1: / 1144971664855371777
SOURCE 2: www.pcgamer.co...
SOURCE 3: www.g2a.com/ne...
SOURCE 4: / 1147079216846069760
SOURCE 5: / 1147115206184771590
SOURCE 6: / 1147163272954699777
SOURCE 7: / 1148229981513949184
SOURCE 8: kotaku.com/sha...
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[@YongYea]

"We want to dispel notions that we're shady. Please allow us to shadily pay you to publish this positive pre-written BS article that we prepared about how great we are so you can pretend you wrote it. Leave our name out of it." - Ethically, G2A. Show your support on Patreon.com/YongYea or PayPal.me/YongYea or by clicking the JOIN button, and you can also follow me on Twitter.com/YongYea for the latest updates. TOP PATRONS [CIPHER] - Thelionsam [BIG BOSS] - FreedTerror - Michael Shuler - Vin Giorgio - BobaFett912 [BOSS] - Joe Hunt - Peter Vrba - Time Dragonlord - Zach Ansley - Jonathan Ball - Alex Moretti - Michael Redmond - Kyle Crawford - Alaryyn - Mitchell Mason [LEGENDARY] - Michael P. Reid - Jake Betts - PrismatDragoon - Darien Cunningham - Mark Taylor - Nezzalonius - BattleBrit - Theron Webb - Abdulaziz al Senaidi - Gerardo Andrade - Phoenix X Maximus - D Kurtti - David Doty - BattleBladeWar

[@noegonzalez4918]

Is Yong in?

[@shawnskwierczynski9003]

Why is Yong acting like he cares about the developer?... He favors steam over epic, enough said.

[@MattandSadieBug]

Never heard of G2A before this. Hope they pay heavily for their deceit.

[@reader111089]

@@MarceloVeronezzi nope, if you slide it to the left to turn it off, it instsntly slides back to the right.

[@Ashtonloollife]

Saying the email was fake puts them in a dilemma. If it was fake and they follow up on their punishment, then the employee would complain on social media most likely. If they don’t, then they admit that he did nothing wrong in their eyes, meaning that they wanted him to send the email. On the other hand, if it was truly fake then f me and he had it coming, but that’s hard to believe.

[@FourFourSeven]

Devs: "We'd rather you **pirate our games** before ever buying them from G2A!" Now, THAT'S some savage hatred right there.

[@0LoneTech]

You mean rational self defense?

[@captainmega6310]

@@0LoneTech it can be both

[@AnonEyeMouse]

It's not even hatred. Piracy doesn't actively cost them money, but dealing with the fallout of a stolen key can.

[@arnox4554]

The problem with pirating though is some aspects of a game may not be available in the pirated version. For example, Serious Sam Fusion 2017 pirated has no editor capabilities.

[@AWZool]

Piracy doesn't cost the dev money, it's costing them "potential profits", which is nothing.

[@chickendrawsdogs3343]

"Spoken like a true EA executive there, G2A." BURN...Oh wait, no, it's "surprise social infliction of damage".

[@caluba8688]

G2EA

[@w0rstart1st5]

Noice *thumbs up*

[@weepop8291]

*apply cold water to burned area*

[@sleepyguy4237]

Your meme will make a fine addition to my "EA suprise meme" collection.

[@masterzoroark6664]

"surprise self harm by words"

[@thegreatcalvinio]

Every video game company seems to be playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded pistol...

[@Macgyverthehero5957]

More like using a fully loaded AK74 set on full-auto.

[@BrianHamil]

Seems like it.

[@BrianHamil]

@@xavier8951 You should fix your comment.

[@Macgyverthehero5957]

*Drum.*

[@jc13sec]

Nah, they're playing hot potato with a live Grenade

[@hkkobayashi7657]

These boys really just pulled the "Sorry, that was not me! That was my friend!"

[@kingvik2135]

r/oopsdidntmeanto

[@karl9854]

@@kingvik2135 this is not reddit f off

[@edwhatshisname3562]

DOOR KNOB!

[@brianlewolfhunt]

"Please pirate our game instead of buying it at G2A" Damn, that's gotta be the nastiest thing I've ever heard a game developer say.

[@niceworldbtw]

if hes gonna say that he might aswell go f2p

[@AlexandeRSciswoR]

When devs prefer piracy over G2A, you know something is really bad with G2A.

[@igodreamer7096]

hahahah

[@swanclipper]

No Time To Explain had a specifically pirated version of their game which did nothing to the game except remove the hats. that kind of respect forced me to buy the game. i've pirated a lot of games and i only play them if i like them and i only buy them if i complete them. most of my games were initially stolen. the lack of good demo versions is why i pirate them. Kinguin. Fanatical. Humble Bundle. Bundle Stars. great sites to use around special offer times and even more so for subscribing if you can afford it.

[@acewolfgang276]

@@swanclipper I can back Humble Bundle and Fanatical. Favorite deals were getting 50 games for $50 (including MGS V GZ and MGS V PP) and video editing software for $60

[@kastaway-mtx]

Or Valve can stop using CD keys and stop 90% of the business from G2A.

[@frogsshadow4189]

@@kastaway-mtx how do you think digital distribution works? Whenever you buy an online game you get a key for that game and that key designates that game as yours. Often linked to your account in a long list of keys. If there's an online requirement for the game then when you start the game there's often a check to see if they key is real and if it belongs to your account. When you launch games through things like steam or Uplay or any other launcher like that they also do the check. Most of not all digital distribution is done this way. They key is a code to confirm you purchased the game. Let's just say that they decide to get rid of the key, how do you think they will check if someone actually purchased the game?

[@Phhase]

"Spoken like a true EA executive." Hello, I'd like to report a murder.

[@akaiyoru2681]

"What was the cause of death?" "Got burned..."

[@justincase9650]

*Surprise funeral

[@Thund3rDrag0n12]

Alex Coarfa Surprise cremation*

[@ALBATROZZ98]

@@Thund3rDrag0n12 press alt+f4 for respect

[@DetectiveBarricade]

It's not murder! It's surprising their insides with sunshine!

[@davidcrimson3768]

"Don't Pirate!" Me: Alright. *G2A slides in* "Okay Just pirate!" Me: Alright.

[@michaellorah9051]

*YAR HAR FIDDLDEEDEE DO WHAT YOU WANT CUZ A PIRATE IS FREE*

[@Mr-Ad-196]

Sooo do we pirate or not?

[@toankhau7442]

Yes

[@frenchfry9370]

I always buy games I Pirate when I get the funds to do so (I like to believe most people do) so a pirating I shall continue to do

[@letsbegin-nerdbunker]

@@frenchfry9370 I don't buy games I can't pirate. :p that being said I've purchased many games and I also pirate lots too. If I like a game and wanna support the company I'll buy it. If the game sucks I'll be glad I didn't waste my money

[@hhjk377]

Mike Rose came to that fist fight with nukes taped to his knuckles.

[@snuffles6592]

Pretty much lol 😂

[@ST-zn3fj]

Nah man not nukes. Antimatter warheads

[@brianjensen5661]

@@ST-zn3fj well nukes are real. Antimatter warheads are make believe

[@ST-zn3fj]

@@brianjensen5661 Antimatter's expensive sadly

[@playstationarusu]

@@brianjensen5661We already know how antimatter can be used as a weapon, we just can't do it yet

[@Spacew12]

We have written an unbiased article about ourselves. That is not how this works.

[@curleywurley9634]

Ronny Wathne anything that says is unbiased is not true unless it was written by a robot and even that could be biased to the people that made it. Everyone is biased wether they like it or not

[@JD-od6jh]

@@curleywurley9634 true, but there still is objectiveness. Even though everyone has a bias, there are people able to put that aside to do a fair, objective investigation. I'm not saying that's the case here don't get me wrong 😂.. It's just sad that this kind of shit actually reinforces the notion of no such thing as objectivity.

[@igodreamer7096]

"Please pirate our games" - Strange times we're living, kids!

[@logandeathrage6945]

CDPR did that with the Witcher 3, so not really a new thing.

[@Black-Re4per]

well Pirating is only good if its singleplayer

[@Black-Re4per]

@Jeffrey Foster that's why I buy keys cheap and up to date

[@GaryKertopermono]

2009: You wouldn't download a car. 2019: We'd rather you download a car.

[@YouDonkeyfu]

well, G2A keys are usually brought via stolen credit card info. So, if you bought a copy from G2A and the previous own cancel his card and did a chargeback, the devs are the one who have to suffer the extra charge back fee.

[@TheChach]

"My little brother sent that email, I swear." -G2A

[@Hunterhunter1122]

@Kent Arnold lol dude he just made a simple joke, chill

[@noalb3108]

@Kent Arnold No, it's not at all possible that a rouge employee at G2A loves the company so much, that they wrote a whole article protecting G2A and then tried to pass it around gaming outlets to get it published. No employee would be so loyal and dedicated to a company like this to do such a thing. That would be some bushido level shit.

[@nowonmetube]

"my evil twin"

[@revolvingworld2676]

nesznoe2 OR they hate the company so much that they created these situations to sabotage the company knowing the outlets weren't going to take getting payed off.

[@archfxt3619]

@@revolvingworld2676 well that took a turn

[@RhinoBarbarian]

'G' is the 7th letter of the alphabet. If you subtract 2 from 7, you get 5. 'E' is the fifth letter of the alphabet. G-2+A=EA. G2A=EA! You heard it here first!

[@pvshka]

This needs more upvotes

[@arbitrationengine803]

It all makes sense now.

[@robmitch4085]

See I want to agree but that is assuming EA is smart enough to do that.

[@sirnubless]

The paper was ture

[@racineg33]

Illuminati confirmed.

[@devcrom3]

So we should only buy EA and Activision games on G2A?

[@solotaughtme]

Astonishment of Africa that was my plan😂

[@YThates]

I think they would prefer if we pirated their games, especially since they beg us not to. You know EA speaks in opposites so 'dont pirate our games' really means "DO IT PIRATE THEM TODAY"

[@otterfire4712]

Better yet, don't play them. Inactivity of their games hurts EA too

[@JigglyBooties]

@flamn ottor Nah, I have to play the sims.

[@Standoffmuffin]

Just pirate them don’t give these scumbags money

[@boe.jiden6808]

The worst part is, EA will probably see this as a good idea now.

[@darencolby1916]

How would EA do this? That doesn’t make much sense

[@chickenjimmy6552]

I don't think that even EA is dumb enough to follow G2A. EA is shady, but they're snakes, and snakes are pretty damn smart.

[@LAHFaust]

@@darencolby1916 they wouldn't, OPs just an idiot.

[@TheKiroshi]

EA makes (Publishes/Forces?) people to make games for them. They want the most money they can from their sales. Selling their games for cheap, is the worst thing EA would ever have to do. Hooking up with G2A is (like the video pointed out) harmful to their own sales G2A and EA have a lot in common in their mindset though. Yes

[@Nosidda]

Yeah.... EA might be shady as fuck, but not even they would stoop to G2A's level.

[@georgie-jp]

Plot twist: Epic payed off the media to put G2A in the controversy spotlight.

[@jaffarebellion292]

Robot Chicken Shyamalan: WHAT A TWIST!!!

[@Rot8erConeX]

@unsteddie music ... Do you not know about the Epic Games Store

[@WolfyboiRTCT]

@@Rot8erConeX that isn't illegal but still pretty bad

[@CBRN-115]

@unsteddie music WOOP WOOP, WE HAVE A SHILL, WOOP WOOP

[@Sennzho]

Fortnite detected ^

[@amazingbilly9995]

In my opinion, the attempt at a cover-up from G2A makes the whole thing 10x worse, as they basically threw an employee under the bus and probably ruined his career for doing something they made him do.

[@dplocksmith91]

Or "Adrian" is someone's pseudonym, and they are lying. I wouldn't put it past them.

[@noalb3108]

Nah, they never said anything specific about the employee, so they don't really have to fire anyone. An anonym employee went rouge, he will be "fired" (they won't fire anyone) and it ends there.

[@Circka1]

If something does actually happen to him though, can't feel too sorry. He does, after all, willingly work for g2a.

[@JexporDiamonds]

@@Circka1 so much you can do in this current age when looking for a job is almost as hard as finding a decently made game from AAA companies

[@Circka1]

Y'all are taking what I said way too seriously. Besides, you all are talking like it was some minimum wage grunt who put the emails together. Whoever it is exactly, he would have to have some prominence in their PR. His job, as shown in the email, was literally to lie and bribe. That makes him either as corrupt as g2a itself, or a coward for not standing against it. "Just following orders," only goes so far, especially when they are knowingly working to cover up fraudulent and illegal transaction.

[@LordBaktor]

From "who's this guy?" to one of my favorite gaming related channels in just a couple months. That's what honest content gets you.

[@aroddo2953]

Ok, I'm convinced. I'll only buy Electronic arts games from G2A from now on.

[@WolfLykaios]

That's genius xD

[@QunMang]

Electronic Arts was a *good* company. But once they dropped the rest of the letters to become just EA- well, have at it.

[@rolan5948]

Aroddo you realise your still supporting a scummy company which in this case is G2A while fuckin EA over?

[@9628-y8r]

Mr that's just your opinion man Anything to hurt EA

[@AJFresh69]

Those keys will probably be sold illegitimately and your access revoked. G2a will win on that deal while you and the publisher you don't care about both lose.

[@sij748]

Plot twist: EA paid off Mike Rose to direct the media heat onto another shady company 😂

[@liam6550]

It's okay, EA. there's plenty of backlash to go around so you won't be left out

[@fr34k09]

U right 😂😂😂

[@kyotheman69]

You always be bad guys EA, doesn't matter whoever else you try put the blame or pin another crappy company

[@e.b9996]

More like Epic paid them off, atleast EA don't go around buying up the rights to every triple A game so that you're forced to use their launcher, if you don't want to buy EA products then you have a choice unlike with epic

[@mizuro13]

Plot twist: this is true

[@LucifyLunacy]

"We would never pay anyone off this is deplorable" -Todd Howard.

[@madcourier6217]

Well they couldn't pay off people when it came to Fallout 76. Unless it was Oxhorn...

[@BrianHamil]

Did he really say that? If so, bravo!

[@BrianHamil]

@@madcourier6217 I like Oxhorn and 76. Playing it right now in fact. Sure it's buggy, but it's still fun.

[@GOD-nx1yo]

16 times the detail

[@danner253]

Here, come to our Fallout themed event and get a lovely canvas bag and PLEASE love the game, because we're buddies right? Right?

[@KalilIllinois]

This is obviously biased, this man knows nothing of what he's talking about, G2A is the most ethical company in the gaming industry and provide a good service for a cheap price. *This comment was not sponsored in any way shape or form by the great G2A*

[@SomeOne1121]

This but unironically

[@Koreanspree]

Had me in the first half not gonna lie

[@kingbuch9745]

Think about it guys u relly think the big game seller dont do the same thing look at all the not finish game came out last year no game dev should be geting help.

[@TheGauges420]

@@kingbuch9745 yeah devs think it's ok now to sell us $60 half-finished games, as long as they finish it over the next year, or sometimes not at all even. It's pretty despicable honestly, I'm tired of supporting AAA garbage, and sites like this. I buy directly from Steam or I just buy my games physical for other systems when they're on sale.

[@chaython]

G2A is pretty good compared to Kinguin, who Kinguin has only ever had good press.

[@CidGuerreiro1234]

"unbiased" article... *You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.*

[@CompTechMordecai]

Ah, princess bride reference.

[@jb34304]

Their article sounds just like the Sinclair Broadcasting Group forcing Anchors to read a prepared statement by corporate. Backfired big-time when the show "Last Week Tonight, with John Oliver" investigated it.

[@JD-od6jh]

@@jb34304 Haha that was the exact same thing I was thinking of when hearing about this shady shit 😂

[@onup1475]

G2A: Exist EA: Finally a worthy appointment our battle will be legendary!

[@Bjorick]

opponent?

[@TheBLT883]

opponent.....but somehow appointment works too

[@Luis-Torres]

I read this as "worthy opponent" automatically cus I get the reference. Then I saw the replies...

[@jorgemigueltavares6041]

Activision: “Am I a joke to you?”

[@darnit1944]

Epic store: Am i a joke to you?

[@Leon-169]

G2A: "This is gonna be a fool proof way of making money!" Mike Rose: "That's where you're wrong, kiddo."

[@CaptainSpycrab]

Mike Rose: "I'm 'boutta end this man's whole career."

[@guicaldo7164]

Mike Rose: "Oh I don't think so"

[@Unformed8]

I can't wait for something along the lines of: G2A: "I struggle with the perception that we're just a bunch of bad guys"

[@NatrajChaturvedi]

call me evil or maybe naive but I don't get the hate for G2A. We have a problem in the gaming community and that is that we rush to believe devs and defend them and fight for them every single time on every single thing without even thinking. I don't get that mentality. If G2A was so bad and was causing such massive losses for game devs/publishers then why don't the biggies like Valve, EA, Ubishit, Activision, Bugthesda etc etc who all have massive teams of lawyers go after G2A and shut them down. Hell Nintendo has finally even clamped down on emulation! And before anybody says it I know nintendo games aren't being sold on G2A, I am just talking of the corporate mindset. Look at Ubishit, they still to this day put out games that have upto 4 different drms despite the massive backlash this causes!! Its been proved that piracy has actually been beneficial to many of these companies and that 99% of people who pirate games weren't going to buy the game anyway!! You think these companies that go to such extents to protect their properties wouldn't do anything about G2A if they were taking losses because of them?? I don't think so. Irresponsible indie devs who throw around keys before releasing games to build hype are the only ones crying foul because those keys find their way onto reseller sites and its nobody else's fault but their own! As for keys bought with stolen credit cards or credit card charback, I think G2A is 100% right when they say that even if G2A or other reseller sites weren't around, these keys would have been sold throuhg ebay or craigslist or whatever instead so you really can't blame G2A for this! They are great for customers because you can get great deals on those sites and anything that is good for the consumer, I stand for it!

[@NatrajChaturvedi]

@@sirapple589 let me reply to the last thing you said, if the problem is so big then why are only the indie darlings of the media so upset? If it's a real problem it should be affecting bigwigs like EA, Valve, Activision Blizzard etc etc too because keys for their platforms and games are also sold on g2a and other reseller websites and infact, they make up the bulk of sales. So what's your guess? Why do companies like EA and ubishit who love money not upset with g2a?

[@NatrajChaturvedi]

@@sirapple589 btw in case you are not aware if there is a chargeback on your cc, your origin and uplay account immediately gets banned (don't know about steam) because it's considered fraud. So that's how seriously they take credit card chrgebacks. I am speaking from anecdotal experience here.

[@nobleneed]

natty_the_great the reason indie devs are so concerned is because for them every cent counts, they don’t usually sell 10s of millions of copies of a game mainly because they usually don’t have much money for advertising and/or they don’t have a publisher. Compared to the “big wigs” they make significantly less on their games (especially because a lot of indie games aren’t laced with micro-transactions), so they care a lot more about their customers and exposure, potentially so they can make more games and improve their existing ones (which is something that not all AAA companies do btw) overall my point is that the meager loss in sales/inconvenience of fake reports aren’t nearly as big of a deal to huge companies who have teams of people to deal with said reports and millions to billions of dollars of profit as it is to an indie dev or dev team. G2A isn’t annoying big developers because they can easily deal with it and they have bigger issues than a few fake keys whereas indie devs have a much harder time dealing with all the shit G2A does/causes for them.

[@DivineKnight_115]

"Slander is spoken, in print it's liable." - J. Jonah Jameson

[@fi4re]

I'm probably getting wooshed here, but shouldn't it be "libel"?

[@matthewfitzpatrick2225]

And according to the law, it’s not slander if it’s true.

[@sirchby]

Somehow my KZbin caption gives Yong's pronounciation of Gee-Two-A as Cheat-Away.

[@Nicole7073.]

I mean they are cheating indie devs outta money they could use for making games and many want them to go away

[@Never_heart]

You mean that isn't their business model?

[@ripghotihook]

That's not a bug, that's a feature.

[@alfreddominguezlll5417]

Nope they updated the caption

[@LordBaktor]

Now I can't unhear it... Thanks...

[@codu.]

This is incredible. The way they're treating the public like they're children is hilarious and honestly feels like an April 1st article

[@CidGuerreiro1234]

Pretty much, and just like EA behaves like a child claiming ignorance on their acts.

[@darkop3191]

Hey, remember when Gearbox was gonna work with G2A and TB had to do their job for them?

[@VanTesla]

TB deserved better. G2A should have ended instead of everyone losing TB. Also Randy pretended to be oblivious even when TB initial warned him before being more publicly vocal. Randy is a dishonest snake so him wanting to originally work with G2A makes sense...

[@bigfutus]

Birds of a feather flock together.

[@kagenotatsumaki]

TB?

[@Silburific]

@@kagenotatsumaki TotalBiscuit, if I'm not mistaken.

[@NekoKujo6785]

@@Silburific How did TB die again?

[@brazilian733]

in the past; we go towards the store, buy a physical CD game for computer dystopian future; game devs beg consumers to pirate games, EA's "Surprise Mechanics" and etc the future is bright, ain't it?

[@lonewolf5238]

It's so bright, I gotta wear shades.

[@michaellorah9051]

So bright I think I might gouge out my eyes to avoid seeing it

[@somenerd3515]

It ain't the end of the world, but you can see it from here.

[@ceecee6521]

If this is bright, then what's the dark future like?!

[@Blutwind]

G2A: We can get everyone via their bank account Scammer: *has multiple accounts that linked to no one in praticular* G2A: *suprised Pikachu face*

[@Direkin]

"They asked media outlets to break any semblance of journalistic integrity and ethics for extra cash". I just had to quote that line because it's so damn funny. It's 2019... journalistic integrity and ethics...

[@favourites144]

Direkin t😂😂😂

[@3Guys1Video]

;o

[@TheKrossRoads]

Honestly, I'm more shocked that the media outlets DID NOT take the deal at this point. It makes me think that there might actually be some journalists with integrity in the gaming industry still.

[@altnova6643]

@@TheKrossRoads They're diamonds in the rough unfortunately. Those guys do game news instead of game reviews, the thing most people go to a gaming website for.

[@Sonichero151]

A game journalist is who informed us about how Anthem got so fucked up......... People seem to forget that

[@LikeAGentlemanPlease]

The gaming world is becoming a damn cesspool! Whatever happened to games just being fun!

[@custom-r]

And thus we have to look harder and harder for positives. These guys have to get better. Preferrably today

[@warriorcrab1319]

I get the feeling it was always this way, we just didn't have the internet to tell us.

[@FuriousGorge]

Did you know there was a period of time where you could pay for a game, play it whenever you wanted, and own it forever?

[@Zathren]

They started making millions. Now most of these corporate people just want more money. Not to make a worthwhile game.

[@redcobra6016]

When it comes to pay2win micro transactions in fully priced games, GTA Online started all of that.

[@HyggeState]

Props to the literal wall of sources in the description, Yong.

[@MrMundo3d]

That money back guarantee. Is a" insurance" for 2.99 at the end of purchase

[@gamehighlights2276]

The 2.99 is an upsell, it does not do anything if you read their tos, you have to file a police report for a refund

[@cecollins68]

I wish they hadn't said anything on Twitter, it would have been interesting to see who would have actually published it lol 😂😂😂

[@Turbofurby]

$20 says it would of been IGN

[@Igneeka]

I'm split between IGN and Kotaku

[@practicallyfamous]

[@isakwennstig6471]

2018 is what AAA companies where saying 2019 is indie devs

[@NivMizzet89]

In fairness, Piracy IS still illegal and hurting developers. G2A is just so much worse that even Piracy is preferable.

[@rubeniscool]

@@NivMizzet89 indeed, Piracy only hurts developers in the sense that it is stopping potential profit. G2A on the other hand *costs* developers money as the developers have to reimburse non-working keys. No real problem for large AAA developers, but a real killer of indie devs.

[@Luis-Torres]

What a time to be alive

[@randomquestion7592]

I only know of people in IT that pirate games XD

[@DivinityOfBLaze]

I think I understand why G2A chose to previously just stfu and not say a word.

[@casedistorted]

Btw when Paypal will refund your g2a transaction that same day over a shady sale barely any questions asked, you know that company is shady

[@asdzxcz1360]

That has nothing to do with anything... You can also refund any transaction from Steam, because that's Paypal policy, but Valve will ban your account ASAP.

[@casedistorted]

asd zxcz Hmm.. Random letters for a name with no picture seemingly trying to make G2A not look as bad replying... seems legit. Lol all jokes aside Valve used to do that but they don’t anymore, they just remove the associated game from your account if you chargeback now. PayPal usually takes a while to put a dispute through so you get a refund for a transaction. My point was when I needed a refund for a disputed transaction I had made with g2a they did it almost instantly with barely any questions asked. I had never seen PayPal issue a refund for a company so quickly when I needed it (I don’t need them often but I conduct all my business through PayPal so I have many transactions on there for actual work that isn’t horribly shady like G2A), if they will give a refund that fast for a company like G2A, that means something is wrong with that company and even PayPal knows it.

[@asdzxcz1360]

​@@casedistorted I'm not sure if it's correct, Valve would still probably punish for that. Anyone would buy games on Steam via Paypal, exceed time of their refund policy and just get back money from Paypal. I don't care much about G2A, I bought only few games from the site, my friends constantly are buying games from there and I never heard about any problems. Demonizing them is really stupid, most people doing that didn't even buy a single game from the site, but are repeating some nonsense about stolen keys. It might happen, but it's probably extremely rare situation, and it happens in every market. Yeah some indie games, that are not popular anyway, are massively bought from stolen cards and put on G2A, this is BS. It's all battle for money, and those stupid devs that are crying sold their keys in retail to anyone, so when people are buying them from G2A they get nothing, because they already get paid for it ... You won't find cheap games on G2A from companies that are protective of their keys and don't sell them to anyone ...

[@JC-ms2rz]

Buying a EA game super cheap via G2A hurts the company and I do not risk getting in trouble for torrant crimes nor any virus infections? WOW thanks for letting me know!

[@DOMbeyondtheblackwall]

Epic has got to be happy that G2A is taking attention and heat away from them right now

[@spiffygonzales5899]

For a second I was like "why would GTA need to pay for good reviews?" Then I re read tge title

[@redcobra6016]

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that did happen with any Rockstar published games because I think IGN gave Red Dead Online a 8.5/10.

[@redcobra6016]

ArcTic exactly, but they were too generous with Red Dead Online.

[@sc0ttishnutj0b75]

It's because during the review week they played it together with groups of friends, other KZbinrs and squads from different articles all in one server. So they would have definitely had more fun than what we had

[@tikatuwa]

12:00 That is amazing. "Hey, everybody's gotta die some day. Might as well let us kill them!"

[@Arrakiz666]

Someone else might do it instead and that would be horrible! People would die!

[@Bryan_K_27435]

I remember the whole G2A controversy a few years back then it suddenly died down. I'm glad it's brought back to the spotlight again. We'll on a no nonsense gaming industry purge, gotta ride the momentum while we can.

[@StarlightFromAbyss]

Amazing. Pay money AND hurt the developers. What a deal, G2A. Pirate or buy it properly, people.

[@gamehighlights2276]

They're great for developers, just not idiots without good charge-back protection.

[@9628-y8r]

Game Highlights false, how are small indie devs supposed to have that kind of protection? They’re not AAA with money and resources.

[@Chizuru94]

@Islam is cancer Why do people use unsafe torrents if there are save and faster (even ones where one doesn't need premium to DL fast) One-Click-Hoster? Just saying.

[@dannejoon]

As long as EA sells game for such outragerous prices, I’ll keep buying on G2A 😏

[@Gooong]

Of course. Big publishers can suck it.

[@rage8010]

Get a VPN and torrent

[@dannejoon]

Solar oh yeah? And what about the game being connected to online to even play it? Git outta here lmao

[@rage8010]

@@dannejoon I guess that makes sense. You win this round LOL

[@shadowpeople89]

Dude fuck that, just straight-up pirate it. Why give anybody your money for a shitty game by EA anyway? At least then they can't take the game away from you when the key happens to be stolen.

[@danner253]

It goes to show this is true: "If you are so right, why are you lying about parts of it?" It ends up making you look worse than being upfront about it, after all, they want you to pirate instead, that says a lot lol.

[@danner253]

Mike Rose legit did many times more journalism in his spare time on Twitter than several journos combined right there on real corruption in the gaming industry lol.

[@bearbrand6626]

I like how G2A said, "the public does not understand our business model"... All I could think was, "Nah, seems like Mr. Rose summed that up pretty well."

[@danner253]

@Greed1914 because a spicy poster in Cyberpunk 2077 is CLEARLY more important

[@RyuuHou22]

Polish-owned company, based in Hong Kong. Yeah. Nothing sketchy there at all.

[@neonnwave1]

G2A: "Let's give them evidence of our shady tactics to misinform the public." *Journalist who has morals publicly shows off the email* G2A: "Oh, shit. They out smarted us."

[@DAXminer-g1g]

I only use G2A to buy, EA games, Bethesda games, and some Activision games. Oh yeah, and now Epic games!

[@arturovillarreal2129]

Considering a lot of games use UE4, you are going to buy a lot of stuff on g2a

[@DAXminer-g1g]

TrueGamerOpinion But MCC is gud :’( it deserves moneh.

[@rift1067]

The prices for their games are still too high for their crappy standards. Anthem is $20, but it's barely worth 5.

[@fders938]

G2A: Why fix this issue when were making so much money? Mike Rose: I'm about to end this mans whole career.

[@racky2]

"Spoken like a true EA executive." XD

[@grantforester1864]

I got so invested in the video that I was surprised when it switched back to Yong around 19:00 Like it was a great audiobook or something.

[@leadedeagle4169]

Wow what a horrible rogue employee who risked his job to improve the image of the company he works for,soo selfish

[@the9657]

Rouge is a color

[@rubssi8741]

Thank you! For putting sources in description :)

[@maximumpotato2505]

even torrented games with main executable files classified as malware by my antivirus are more trustable than G2A rn

[@ALBATROZZ98]

mind.exe blowing

[@EN4ORC3R]

...words never spoken so true

[@codylaighton9023]

There are so many rogue employees out there willing to get thrown under a bus by doing a sketchy thing to help their company. So many dumb theoretical people...

[@favourites144]

Cody Laighton “theoretical person” isn’t a real term.

[@bickflick]

@@favourites144 Persona?

[@maximumpotato2505]

@@favourites144 theoretically technically true but also theoretically technically false

[@natecw4164]

G2A is the "It fell off the truck" type of pricing where the buyer should know better. No you didn't steal anything but you know a car stereo costs more than $50.

[@dsandoval9396]

Or the guy trying to sell you "gold" chains in the supermarket parking lot.

[@kanuh]

like bullets in STALKER lol.

[@jacobyullman5005]

Well yes and no. Technically theres a case for plausable deniability on the buyers end. While its usually obvious that something is stolen, there is no way to know if the buyer truly knew that without turning back time and reading their thoughts in that moment, anything other than that is an assumption. Thats why people who buy stolen goods are rarely prosecuted, and why its much more effective to go after the person/people distributing the stolen goods. Similar to piracy, you cant really get in trouble for downloading pirated media, but should you be caught distributing it, you can and likely will be prosecuted.

[@ott1186]

@F in my case g2a sellers would have got my game through the humble bundle Christmas charity bundle. What is the effect of this? It hugely impacts my sales and therefore my ability to pay rent. It also makes me less likely to do a charity bundle in future. I knew that I wouldn't make a penny from the charity bundle but I was too naive to realise that meant my game would be undercut 90% until the end of time. Someone is making a lot of money with my game judging by activations, but not me. So I can't justify any further updates on the game. I don't know why you're defending g2a so much, I'm guessing you work for them or something. Either that or you're morally bankrupt.

[@Noglegz]

G2A gift links are clearly flagged as gift links. Negative comments from receiving 'weird links' isn't uncommon, because most people don't pay attention. The search results even show 'Steam GIFT' or something as I recall. There are multiple reasons why one would mass sell steam gifts. Though I'm curious as to whom would purchase such a large qty, unless the seller had great FB. I've purchased 1000 keys at once before, but this is only possible via the bulk panel, regular cart limits you to 5.

[@Noglegz]

G2A does engage in a lot of scummy business practices, mostly from the seller side (hidden currency conversion fees on withdrawal & also even on listing and selling product, e.g. fees are assessed in euros, if you have $5000 in account but no more euros, you'll then start eating currency conversion fees on any other fee -- you're also charged the full amount for when not so bright people use the 'selected offer' button as a 'fee' that then takes 8 days to recover) -- as long as the buyer is intelligent enough not to click the large blue button at the top right, to avoid clicking on any and all extra fees it suggests (G2A Plus?), and buy from sellers with good feedback & in particular, ones that contain nothing about product revocations. The new 'money back guarantee' is even worse than the old system -- alas. But, really, this 'indie dev' you highlight is blowing just about as much smoke as G2A is, and you've given him a ton of free publicity for this game of his. I'm sure he enjoys it.

[@Legitti]

Don't forget how G2A charges fee if your account is inactive for couple of months.

[@Infernape7890]

Sad how G2A is one of the two legal ways to legally get the original Prey from 2006. Second method is buying a physical copy for PC or Xbox 360. Shame it'll never get a rerelease.

[@Othermage]

Never heard of it.

[@DolusVulpes]

@@Othermage now you have.

[@DolusVulpes]

"Legal"

[@acewolfgang276]

That is a shame, hope it does at the least get a remaster

[@weiwu1442]

It's about as legal as buying a stolen car

[@DANLi_]

Wouldn’t be surprised if G2A was run by EA... it’s like surprise mechanics, for devs, but you never win.

[@northstar6920]

What are you talking about you never win anyway...

[@hayoudead9877]

EA is actually a managed company as far as treating their employees properly. They suck at customer service but they won’t abuse their employees to do something so stupid.

[@TallicaMan1986]

@@hayoudead9877 At another EA branch not even by the name of EA. I'm not too sure. EA if given the chance would operate like a sweatshop if they could.

[@SnowBall7148]

Piracy is franchise that companies should take over before others do. After the fame of their products has expired they should be more generous with the public instead of practicing usury at all times.

[@porakiyadraekojin3390]

EA + G2A + Epic = ......I don't think we really want to go down that route

[@jacobyrassilon]

The 9th Circle of Hell, most likely.

[@cattrucker8257]

The final boss of the game industry

[@ITAndroMedian]

They are not to be combined, they are to be put against each other. If G2A authorize a 1000 key for an EA game being sold on EGS, how mad will both EA and EGS get at G2A?

[@FitzgeraldKrox]

The Axis of Evil.

[@-LastStand-]

@@jacobyrassilon it's a secret 10th level of hell. People believe beating the 9th was the end of the game.

[@eduardoortiz747]

Unbiased voices like yours are desperately needed in this day and age. Keep up the great content and news coverage, Yong.

[@tzovlask]

as a person who lives in Australia, Steam sell a US $60 game for $90 which is not the comparative rate otherwise the game would sell at $77 AUD. So the issue is not really how or why G2A takes advantage of this, but why Steam/publishes increases the price of the game in different regions around the world? Why cant we purchase 'a key to download the game' at the same price as Americans? Our domestic retailers sell physical new release console titles $69 - $79 so what gives? I think there is greed, and G2A found a way to profit from it.

[@StudioADcomics]

We have the same problem here in South Africa , games cost almost double the price of what they should be , EA exclusive titles via origin even charges more .

[@Beastudios]

People have so little faith in games journalism now that even if G2A _wasn't_ exposed, their strategy still wouldn't have worked.

[@notahuman369]

but, yongyea is a... games journalist...

[@Beastudios]

@@notahuman369 YongYea pretty much does the work of a journalist, but he's a youtuber. I'm talking about the official games journalism outlets, like Kotaku.

[@notahuman369]

@@Beastudios .... Kotaku has a KZbin channel as well? Does that mean they're KZbinrs instead of games journalists? For all intents and purposes, Yongyea is a games journalist. It doesn't matter how you try to spin it. ALL he does is report on "gaming news". That's, by definition, games journalism.

[@Beastudios]

@@notahuman369 Kotaku's youtube channel is just a supplement to their news site. You can consider YongYea a journalist if you want, but he's not a professional journalist, meaning he would have to have a career writing or reporting for news publishers.

[@Sonichero151]

@@Beastudios Kotaku has Jason schrier..... The man behind the "How Anthem Went Wrong" Article.... The "Rockstar vp who committed sexual assault against an employed" article, and many hard hitting factual articles that almost every time, are right on the money on what happened

[@KingRay11111]

TBH I brought %90 of my PC games from G2A and I never had a problem with any of the keys to this day, but I'm glad you shared this info

[@Kier4n99]

I bought minecraft and have no regrets.

[@DeanSmith84]

Same

[@Gooong]

Big publishers can suck it so G2A is a fine option. Indie devs don't put DRM of their games so pirating is easier.

[@316whatupz]

Game Devs: Just pirate our games. G2A: wait, that's illegal also G2A: oh wait, an employee wrote that. We will punish him by doing absolutely nothing.

[@Lethaltail]

this resulted in some pretty effective PR (whether Mike wanted it or not) for Descenders, because i can assure you i had never heard of this game until this whole thing started.

[@mauriciofreitas3384]

In the end, there's a ship at the dock ready to set sail for treasure hunting. Get in fellow pirates, let us set sail!

[@Linkfan450]

Yong respect for always telling it like it is.

[@binsoku6]

yes....a rogue employee wrote an ENTIRE ARTICLE.... as for the strict punishment, going to guess he's going to get promoted.

[@Virtualblueart]

A rogue fictional employee more likely.

[@MikJ132]

Can I get a link to that article, pls?

[@TheFaintofHearts2113]

G2A made the mistake of going to a publication with some measure of integrity. They should have gone to Rock, Paper, Shotgun instead.

[@TheBloodRedDane]

Ok, they stated they were going to explain where those 3 people got hundreds of keys like 3 times. But didn't actually explain where those keys materialized from. Did anyone get where they come from? Did I miss something?

[@masatoindou1759]

I find it funny that the "Adrian Email" sounds like something a casino site would send to influencers to try and get them to run ads Just remembered this from a Jimquisition I watched

[@traplover6357]

Buy AAA games by EA from G2A. Then SUE EA FOR THEIR MONEY!!! Don't do it for indie developers, just shitty developers.

[@mjonesarts]

Wow, they actually pulled out an Atari/Driv3rgate........wow.

[@meowwoof7387]

I can recall LevelCap denouncing G2A some time ago. Give or take, two years or so ago - around the time between BF1 and BF4. He already covered the shady shit that G2A has done. While it took some time to catch up, I'm glad the community know for sure now.

[@johndoe-wd9fh]

Yeah G2A tried making KZbin delete the video.but luckily KZbin grew some balls for once.

[@MrMoofisAwesome]

@@johndoe-wd9fh yeah, that was a pretty ducked up action at the time. I didn't realize that was so long ago though.

[@Kekeripo]

I assumed g2a got crushed with TotalBiscuit having called them out and fkn destroyed them. How did people forget that?

[@gamehighlights2276]

Well they were partnered with pewdiepie for many years

[@Pwnstared]

You assume John had that kind of power. He may have called them out but they weren't destroyed.

[@SirBrucie]

@@gamehighlights2276 and that idiot KSI.

[@rahuld918]

Tbh, I purchase EA titles on G2A.

[@DemonicAkumi]

You would give any form of money to get an EA game?

[@Fallen_Ninja]

Although I feel for the Indies, as an aspiring developer myself. Part of the problem is AAA pricing pushing customers to find better deals and the customer sticking with those sites that present the better deal. For example the other week Black ops 2 (CoD2012) was brought up in price to $60 dollars.... G2A had it for $10... It was a key too, not a steam gift. I gave the key to my younger brother.

[@doyoulikejazz9516]

Actually I think that pirating keys is even more profitable in the long run. I know a lot of ppl who pirate games to then buy them if they think the game is good/want to play the DLC.

[@allmightygod100]

I love this channel. Thank you so much for the hard work. Ever sense i found your channel i loved the gaming news and information. Plus you got a great voice. Much love.

[@wesleyscott1633]

Oh come on these vids are informative but not hard work. It was 20 minutes of reading tweets

[@UnchainedZebra]

Wow, companies doing whatever they can to make maximum profit? Weird....... 🤔

[@DarkRipper117]

There were so many KZbinrs endorsing this site....even giving out discount codes....I can name a few but I feel many people know about them by now....lol

[@HazielBlack]

remember kids, only buy AAA games on g2a support your indie developers

[@majorBearsky]

Naw to shady, pirate AAA and support indie devs through steam

[@NotRealAkira]

AAA online games tho

[@MrDaylight]

And even then only if you need a feature of the purchasd version over the cracked one.

[@majorBearsky]

@@NotRealAkira Forgot bout that, well most AAA online games nowadays be booty anyways

[@kiwakoo2674]

Remember kids, pay for games you want to play. Of course if you can afford them. If not, wait for sale. Do not pirate games if you don't want to be a thief. Also do not buy them on G2A cause it sucks. Support developers.

[@nobodyfromnowwhere7510]

Smells like someone needs a class action suit filed against them for dishonest practices and loss of income.

[@erasablefallen7223]

YES! That site needs to be shut down, period, it's only hurting the gaming industry.

[@unknownguy50]

They've been trying for years but nothing so far.

[@erasablefallen7223]

unknownguy50 it’ll happen I’m sure of it

[@TheFlipsterGoodfella]

The games are cheaper why would you want ruin it for consumers 😂

[@SteamDeckGameplay]

They're in Poland, good luck with that

[@casedistorted]

You are doing gods work yongyea, thank you for covering this story

[@XOSKELENTON]

You know what the worst part is this is probably relatively common place for games/companies to do pay websites to sway public opinion godamn how did gaming become so corrupt

[@rasdan1192]

G2A is a good site! I buy all my EA game keys from there.

[@starfireix8207]

I'd rather buy games from the EA store than G2A tbh. Fuck G2A

[@MrDjtronfeo]

I guess I gonna pass my sleep for the next 20 minutes.

[@yellowspider9627]

I did not know that G2A was a thing, until today.

[@SomeOne1121]

You're welcome ;)

[@charlesprichard5235]

Can you buy Epic Game Store exclusive games on G2A? Cause then you definitely should buy those from G2A

[@Rgbartocci]

The Crimsoness I would prefer to pirate

[@Jmandude5]

only issue is you'd still have to download their launcher full of Chinese spyware to play it.

[@xXSilentAgent47Xx]

And people believed this company for years. I remember when people were recommending GTA 5 g2a over Steam because it's cheaper and because of promotion codes (which YTers were promoting their site with their codes for % off). Tables turned and truth came on the light.

[@DarthShadie]

I used to shop there and had an affiliate link. When I found out about the fraud, I terminated my account immediately after finding out.

[@MrNavvy69]

lets not forget the army of streamers that sold out to G2A when they knew how dodgy they where.

[@fluffieBread]

I never know much about G2A because my anti virus block that site and never ever let me check it out on any browser. Weird.

[@fluffieBread]

@Dahn IKR, i'm glad i support dev by buying their game in official stores