At a legitimate website, the developer(s) and publisher(s) make money for each key purchased and every key is legal to own, so there is little chance of a key being revoked and your account banned on your chosen storefront. At a grey market seller like G2A, they can sometimes get their keys illegally (credit card theft, stolen accounts, etc.). So because GMG, Fanatical, Humble, IndiaGala, etc. are all legitimate resellers, they buy their keys directly from the source (usually the publisher or storefront where they are redeemed, but that’s just my guess). Apologies if that’s not what you were asking.
So perfectly fine in the common case where people give keys away for free.
Like this one.
THE LONG DARK is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies – only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.
Pee See Pee Aych En - Nine Why Ay Eee Double You - Vee Eight Pee Em Vee
Please don’t take it unless you actually want to play it.
At first I thought I was having a stroke, then I realized it was a key. If I may ask, why spell everything out instead of just posting a copy and paste able code? Only thing I could come up with was to prevent bots from scraping codes out of comments, but I think it would still be pretty easy to parse it into a regular game code.
It’s probably not as bad here; But if you posted a game code on reddit without some kind of obfuscation, a bot would grab it in seconds. I was mostly just copying the person I was replying to.
Yeah, it’s really just an old habit from Reddit. No idea if it’s necessary here, but really, if someone wants a free game and can’t be fussed to decode that, they probably don’t want that free game too badly anyway.
That’s also where most other key sites get their keys from (mostly from bundles). It has been shown time and time again that keys being purchased with stolen credit cards is mostly a myth. Just look at the fact that Factorio, which never had a sale and never sold a single key in a bundle, is just as expensive on key sites as on Steam (Source. That wouldn’t be the case if criminals where purchasing licenses with stolen credit cards and then selling them for cheap as a form of money laundering.
Where are criminals even supposed to purchase those keys? Only the developer (and publisher) themselves can generate keys. You can’t obtain them through Steam.
I wonder where sites like GreenManGaming, Fanatical, Humble and IndieGala fit into the mix as I understand it are legit keysellers?
the listed ones have contracts with publisher to get legit keys where the developer gets it share too
At a legitimate website, the developer(s) and publisher(s) make money for each key purchased and every key is legal to own, so there is little chance of a key being revoked and your account banned on your chosen storefront. At a grey market seller like G2A, they can sometimes get their keys illegally (credit card theft, stolen accounts, etc.). So because GMG, Fanatical, Humble, IndiaGala, etc. are all legitimate resellers, they buy their keys directly from the source (usually the publisher or storefront where they are redeemed, but that’s just my guess). Apologies if that’s not what you were asking.
I wonder if Humble Bundle has any stance on the giveaways people do with their unused Humble Choice keys
It’s against the TOS unless you are actually giving it away as a gift with no promotional value. https://support.humblebundle.com/hc/en-us/articles/202712380-Can-I-sell-trade-or-use-my-keys-for-promotional-purposes-i-e-Stream-Social-Media-giveaways-
So perfectly fine in the common case where people give keys away for free.
Like this one.
Pee See Pee Aych En - Nine Why Ay Eee Double You - Vee Eight Pee Em Vee
Please don’t take it unless you actually want to play it.
Yeah exactly like that. Damn that’s a good one.
Here’s another: Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
Ex Seven Pee Ex Jay - Four Gee Bee Gee Bee - Too In Eye Eee Tee
At first I thought I was having a stroke, then I realized it was a key. If I may ask, why spell everything out instead of just posting a copy and paste able code? Only thing I could come up with was to prevent bots from scraping codes out of comments, but I think it would still be pretty easy to parse it into a regular game code.
It’s probably not as bad here; But if you posted a game code on reddit without some kind of obfuscation, a bot would grab it in seconds. I was mostly just copying the person I was replying to.
Yeah, it’s really just an old habit from Reddit. No idea if it’s necessary here, but really, if someone wants a free game and can’t be fussed to decode that, they probably don’t want that free game too badly anyway.
Great game. Spent over 50 hours not even playing the campaign just exploring with a majority of the hazards turned off.
It sounds like the typical Reddit giveaways would be fine under their TOS but they would understandably not provide support for them.
Those are all official seller stores.
They’d fall under Steam.
G2A would technically fall under Steam too, except they have a history of buying stolen keys and reselling them (over and over again).
That’s also where most other key sites get their keys from (mostly from bundles). It has been shown time and time again that keys being purchased with stolen credit cards is mostly a myth. Just look at the fact that Factorio, which never had a sale and never sold a single key in a bundle, is just as expensive on key sites as on Steam (Source. That wouldn’t be the case if criminals where purchasing licenses with stolen credit cards and then selling them for cheap as a form of money laundering.
Where are criminals even supposed to purchase those keys? Only the developer (and publisher) themselves can generate keys. You can’t obtain them through Steam.