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We've had colourful discussions about G2A in our Telegram group, IRC, reddit and other places. Some people don't care and just want cheap games, but for those of you who want to support not only Linux, but gaming in general—read on.

I've written before about how IndieGameStand has to deal with fraud, and it's not pretty.

The developer tinyBuild originally had their own shop on their website, which they had to shut down due to chargebacks. They noticed that later G2A would suddenly get a bunch of keys to their games.

Here's the developer tinyBuild on how G2A has sold approximately $450,000 worth of their games without them being compensated.
Note: Seems their website is now suffering problems, here's a screen-grab of the article.

The developer emailed the store, and got a reply along the lines of "you won't get a penny from us, start selling your games on our store or we won't do anything about it".

tinybuildIn short, G2A claims that our distribution partners are scamming us and simply selling keys on G2A. They won’t help us unless we are willing to work with them. We are not going to get compensated, and they expect us to undercut our own retail partners (and Steam!) to compete with the unauthorized resellers.


Stores like G2A make me very angry, ripping off developers and gamers and by the looks of it they don't give a hoot, disgusting.

If you didn't know about this, fair enough, but I urge you to stop now. If you buy from G2A and you understand this, you're not helping developers at all. I implore you: if you use G2A just stop.

I should note, that I don't personally see anything wrong in selling on keys you legally own and haven't used to someone else. The problem is that stores like G2A built a business around it, which has obviously attracted the attention of a fair amount of scammers using stolen credit cards to buy keys and sell on. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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STiAT Jun 20, 2016
I just buy on Steam or GoG. For good reasons.
Ehvis Jun 20, 2016
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I agree that the whole G2A thing is extremely questionable. What I don't get is why they don't limit the cheap versions of the games sold in other countries. For instance, let the cheap Russian version only have the Russian language. Then they'd be instantly useless for the rest of the world.
leillo1975 Jun 20, 2016
What kind of Store is instantgaming?
I bought a couple of games on it two months ago with a increíble price.
Normally I buy games on Steam, humble Store and Bundlestars
wojtek88 Jun 20, 2016
When I started to collect games for my Steam library I used to buy games on Kinguin (polish reseller, same as G2A). I din't buy much, about 5 titles I guess. Then I started to follow this page and I understood, that it is very bad idea, and developers and publishers loose money, because of those resellers.

Currently, PC games I buy from:
- Steam,
- Humble Store (Humble Bundles)
- GoG.

For PS4 I buy games from store and sometimes Box versions of the games if deal is really good.

I guess we all would be happy if everyone were just ignoring resellers.
Gryxx Jun 20, 2016
Never heard of it. Thanks for warning.
DamonLinuxPL Jun 20, 2016
Im never buying on G2A... but Im buying on Steam, GOG or Huble only cheap games or in sale. Other game in full price more than 20 euro? I prefer buying in my local country stores, box or digital version (cdp.pl, gamesrepublic, techland store or muve.pl), because Steam price calculator is unreal for my country.

Simply in Poland for new game I pay 100 złoty (polish zloty) (~22 euro) for digital key or 120 złoty (28 euro) for BOX. If I buy it on Steam, I need to pay in euros, so this same game I should pay 49 euro, so this is about 215 polish zloty.
So until steam not provide support for my currency, many gamers in my country, not bying in Steam and buying only cheap games or only in Poland stores.

I hope you understand my opinion and why people in Poland skip steam?

So maybe anyone know, If steam plans to introduce a new currency?


Last edited by DamonLinuxPL on 20 June 2016 at 8:50 pm UTC
Styromaniac Jun 20, 2016
Um, get the FBI involved maybe?
hardpenguin Jun 20, 2016
Quoting: DamonLinuxPLIm buying on Steam, GOG or Huble only cheap games or in sale. Other game in full price more than 20 euro? I prefer buying in my local country stores, box or digital version (cdp.pl, gamesrepublic, techland store or muve.pl), because Steam price calculator is unreal for my country.

Simply in Poland for new game I pay 100 złoty (polish zloty) (~22 euro) for digital key or 120 złoty (28 euro) for BOX. If I buy it on Steam, I need to pay in euros, so this same game I should pay 49 euro, so this is about 215 polish zloty.
So until steam not provide support for my currency, many gamers in my country, not bying in Steam and buying only cheap games or only in Poland stores.

I hope you understand my opinion and why people in Poland skip steam?

So maybe anyone know, If steam plans to introduce a new currency?
And Allegro, don't forget Allegro :)

(For people not familiar with the brand, Allegro is our local Polish ebay)
acup48 Jun 20, 2016
Bought a game from G2A once - got scammed myself. Now I only buy games either from instant-gaming.com or steam itself
wojtek88 Jun 20, 2016
Quoting: hardpenguin
Quoting: DamonLinuxPLIm buying on Steam, GOG or Huble only cheap games or in sale. Other game in full price more than 20 euro? I prefer buying in my local country stores, box or digital version (cdp.pl, gamesrepublic, techland store or muve.pl), because Steam price calculator is unreal for my country.

Simply in Poland for new game I pay 100 złoty (polish zloty) (~22 euro) for digital key or 120 złoty (28 euro) for BOX. If I buy it on Steam, I need to pay in euros, so this same game I should pay 49 euro, so this is about 215 polish zloty.
So until steam not provide support for my currency, many gamers in my country, not bying in Steam and buying only cheap games or only in Poland stores.

I hope you understand my opinion and why people in Poland skip steam?

So maybe anyone know, If steam plans to introduce a new currency?
And Allegro, don't forget Allegro :)

(For people not familiar with the brand, Allegro is our local Polish ebay)
Btw guys I've bought my PS4 on Agito, they also count ;)
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