In July of last year, grey market game key reseller G2A posted an interesting deal: they would offer up to 10x the cashback on any chargebacks to the developer over illegally-acquired keys. Now, the G2A Factorio dispute has been settled with the reseller paying out just under $40,000 to the Czech developer.
If you're unfamiliar with G2A, the simple explanation is that it's like an eBay for video game serial keys. Ideally, people would sell keys via the site, deliver them to the purchaser, and take a cut of the transaction.
Unfortunately, several issues have arisen with G2A over the years. Some keys were alleged to be acquired illicitly and hurting the business of game developers, especially indie game devs who might not have millions of dollars in the bank.
One particular issue is chargebacks. Keys that may have been purchased with stolen credit cards could end up being resold on G2A. As a consequence, a developer would be left with a chargeback fee from a credit card company.
G2A promised to resolve this issue by posting an article where it said that it would give indie developers 10 times the cashback on any money lost via chargebacks. Now, it seems that Factorio developer Wube Software has finally received its promised payout after taking G2A up on this offer.
The G2A Factorio Dispute, Resolved
As GamesIndustry.biz reports, G2A did an internal audit of Factorio sales and provided the data to Wube Software. This data was then used to calculate the money that Wube Software would receive as compensation for any chargebacks.
"[G2A] produced quite a detailed report of the keys, who sold them, what dates and times they were sold," explained Scott Klonan, the PR, community, and support manager for Wube Software. "I thought they probably wouldn't fake it, especially since it's still over half of the keys we sent. We are satisfied with the results."
The audit showed that 61% of the illicit Factorio serial keys were sold through G2A over the course of a couple of months. G2A, for its part, pointed out that this was a tiny fraction of its overall sales.
"Data and facts massively confirmed what we were sure about — that out of over 10 million transactions annually, we only have 198 [illegally obtained] keys sold through our site," said G2A CEO Bartosz Skwarczek. "That's like zero point zero zero zero something [percent]. That's exactly what we wanted to prove, that this is a super safe and transparent platform."
Ultimately, the G2A Factorio dispute found that 198 keys sold through G2A led to chargebacks, resulting in a $39,600 payment to Wube Software (which has stated that it received payment).
G2A may still have some rough waters to navigate in the future. As for Factorio, the best place to get it is on Steam at the price of $29.99 or your regional equivalent.
What do you think of the dispute between G2A and Wube Software coming to an end? Do you think other game developers will take G2A up on its offer? Let us know in the comments below!
