Running With Scissors:
Key reselling websites hurt indie developers like us. There are many ways to obtain our games and we STILL prefer piracy over people buying from those websites.
Illegaly obtained keys are a source of money for scammers and it could even affect you as the customer in some cases.
NiX:
I love you guys and postal series, but I’m not made of money, if I can get a game for cheaper I’d rather pay less than more.
Running With Scissors:
Which is why we’re telling you to pirate our games instead of paying a scammer who will cost us money and probably even get your key revoked
Our games are cheap right now through official sites. Is saving a few cents worth lowering the chances for releasing another POSTAL game?
NiX:
Isn’t pirating illegal? You want your fans get fines and shit? Now they are on sale so I might pick up some but normally i still rather get the game of g2a for cheaper
Running With Scissors:
You can’t get fines if the owners of the IP give you permission to download.
Just know that by getting on G2A, we not only get no money, we also have to pay for the chargeback, that’s the core of the problem and it means no new games in the future and no more RWS
How does this work? How are the keysellers able to make keys that cost the developer money?
If I steal your credit card and buy a key to the new FNAF that costs $60, I can sell that key on G2A. Let’s say I make $50. That $50 is mine, the third person has the key and thus the game, the developers have your $60.
But your CC was stolen. You shouldn’t pay for that. So you contact your financial institution and are like “hey wtf I don’t wanna pay for this.” They respond “yes sir/ma’am, sorry sir/ma’am” and return the funds to your credit card.
Now your financial institution isn’t just gonna take the hit. So they’re like “well, this money is with the weird dude who made FNAF, so let’s take that money back.” They issue what’s called a chargeback, reclaiming the $60. But that’s not enough, right? Because “We don’t want them putting their products in sketchy places that might make us do this more, so we’re gonna add a punitive fee.” These punitive fees range from $30 to $100 depending on your institution.
So now, I have the G2A user’s $50, you have your $60 back, the third person has the key, and the FNAF developers? They had $60, but after the chargeback that turned to $0, and then there was a punitive fee. They now have -$30.
Epilogue:
After losing the money, and in fact paying for someone else to have the game consider their options. They’d be right to revoke the key as the person who used it didn’t actually pay them for it. But if they did, they’d get bad reviews, the G2A customer might be mad at the FNAF devs, and you may just go and buy another key from G2A. So in all likelihood they just cut their losses and let you keep the game as it causes less problems that way.