Devs: Better Pirate Games than Use G2A

Is this some kind of a trick?

Apparently the end times are nigh, as video game developers are asking us for things that no one would expect. All this thanks to G2A, a popular website selling video game keys. Developers Mike Rose and Rami Ismail talked on Twitter about the company's practices and it's hard to ignore them.

Related:Baldur's Gate 3 actress criticized RPG devs who are creating a „spiritual heir” to Disco Elysium

Everything seems to indicate that it started with G2A buying ads (that cannot be disabled), which affected the positioning of results in Google. After entering Rose's game Descenders into the search engine, the promo offer of the G2A was displayed before the official game website. Such practices have an obvious impact on developers' revenues. So they made a request: instead of buying keys, download our games from illegal sources. I'm serious. A shot in the knee? Not necessarily - this way the creators do not earn money from it, but neither does G2A.

It's not just about the money. Developers not only lose revenue from sales, they also waste time on servicing (dissatisfied) customers. As Rami Ismail says, if the game suddenly stops working or the key is out of date, players often contact their creators - not G2A. And it is from them that they expect things like refunds.

Other developers have also joined the boycott, including Mode 7 and Stray Bombay. According to them, despite previous declarations, G2A has not made any changes in its practices. The only group that can make a difference are the players.

• Descenders official website

• piracy
• scandals and controversies
• digital distribution
• G2A.com
• unauthorised distribution
• Rami Ismail