G2A Admits to Selling Stolen Games

G2A has admitted that it has sold stolen games on its marketplace. In a blog post on the G2A website, the company has admitted to selling 198 illegally-obtained copies of Factorio, a management sim created by developer Wube Software. As compensation, G2A has agreed to pay Wube Software "ten times the value of any bank-initiated refund costs that Factorio paid in relation to each of the 198 illegitimate keys sold via its Marketplace." [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/04/21/the-first-15-minutes-of-factorio"] The compensation of ten times the value of refund costs comes as part of a guarantee G2A made in the same blog post earlier last year, which the company posted as part of its attempts to fight back against accusations that the G2A marketplace was being used to sell illegally obtained games. G2A claimed it was happy to compensate developers, provided that they could actually prove that their games had been stolen. "To assure honesty and transparency, we will ask a reputable and independent auditing company to make an unbiased examination of both sides — the developer's store and G2A marketplace," the blog post reads. "The cost of the first three audits is on us, every next one will be split 50/50." Wube Software took G2A up on this offer. "After assessing a number of independent auditing companies and finding none that would meet our agreed requirements, Wube and G2A decided that G2A should proceed with an internal investigation," the latest blog post update from G2A reads. Wube Software claimed that 321 keys had been sold illegitimately. "This investigation confirmed that 198 of Wube's keys had been sold via its Marketplace between March 2016 - June 2016," said G2A. "It is assumed by both parties that the remaining 123 illegitimate keys were sold via other online marketplaces or other online stores." [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=igns-top-25-modern-pc-games&captions=true"] The blog post claims that the ten-times-value compensation was a "limited-time offer", and concludes with the company seemingly announcing the end of this offer, adjusting the promise to full compensation for charge-back fees incurred. "The gaming developer community has our solidarity and sympathies on this issues, and we want to continue building bridges," the blog post reads. "With our main point being made, about the seriousness of fraud in the industry, from now on we will compensate developers the full value of any chargeback fees they incurred for any keys sold via G2A Marketplace, if they are able to prove they were illegitimate." G2A has a history surrounding its marketplace. Back in 2017, G2A accused Gearbox of defamatory statements. Just last year, thousands signed a petition to stop selling indie games on the G2A marketplace. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.

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