Credit to G2A, they move fast. In the weeks following allegations from TinyBuild and others that they were profiting from illegally obtained keys, the reseller has implemented not only a full developer support program but today announced a verification process for sellers that should help to cut down on fraud. This new system requires social media accounts, telephone numbers and other forms of identification before large numbers of keys can be sold.
In case you missed it: one developer said he’d rather you torrent his game than buy it on G2A.
Here’s how the new system works, as tested by us:
- To sell on G2A, you create an account as normal. Then, when you go to actually sell an item, you need to provide more information.
- The first is a telephone number. You’re then sent a text message with a verification code to check it’s legitimate.
- Next is a social media login. We were given the choice between Facebook, which needed only access to public profile information with the option to disable revealing the attached e-mail address, or VK, a Russia-based European social site.
- After this we were returned to the selling interface and could start putting up auctions for keys.
According to a press release, if you want to sell more than 10 items in total, a “further form of identification” will be required, though this wasn’t detailed. Presumably, it’s some sort of photo id.
Good additions, and ones that should cut down on the number of unidentifiable parties vendoring keys. It’s fairly incredible that these basic measures weren’t in place beforehand, considering how useful they must be for gathering user data for the site, nevermind legal and moral implications of unregulated sales.
G2A have also announced that Microsoft has been working with them to remove fraudulently obtained keys, saying that “in June 2016 Microsoft approached G2A and supplied over 550 game codes that they believed were purchased on a third party site with stolen credit cards. G2A was able to assist in the identification of the keys and immediately remove them from auction. G2A has offered its full support to Microsoft and the authorities with reference to the ongoing case against the seller.”