FYI, Gamersgate doesn't have the power to revoke activated keys, or even invalidate keys provided that have not been activated yet. They can only remove games from your shelf on their website. They would have to go to the publisher and the publisher would have to agree to request that Valve invalidate keys. It's almost never done on a large scale. 2K and Bethesda aren't going to do that. Why? A couple big reasons:
- Because GG screwed up, not them. GG owes them money, and revoking the keys from customers doesn't directly fix that problem in any way.
- Because it's horrible PR and bad business, and thus not only does it not directly solve the fact that GG owes them a lot of money, it works against them by voluntarily seeking blame that no one is currently putting upon them! Everyone is hating on GG right now, and the publishers (who have done nothing wrong) would have to like GG a whole lot to be willing to fall on their swords by asking Valve to revoke activated keys. They'd basically be saying, "Ooh, I want some of that bad PR that Gamersgate is getting!"
Even in prominent cases of
actual stolen or leaked keys in the past, the publishers haven't sought to revoke most keys. Dirt 3, Dead Island, A Valley Without Wind, IGN free trial abuse, etc. Most people who got those compromised keys still have the games on their accounts.
And from past incidents of actual theft, why are most of those compromised key activations still on people's accounts, while some were in fact removed? It's because Steam also has a process to allow
individual users to request a reset of retail CD-keys they purchased but turned out to be used. So AFAIK to get a stolen game removed, someone would have had to buy that key legitimately later, as in retail box, complain to Steam and/or the publisher, at which point the key is reset. Otherwise they just let it slide, since it's easier to write those off.
That explains why
some compromised keys did get revoked, but also that it wasn't a mass action on the part of the publisher to revoke all those keys. And those were downright
stolen (or close to it).
This is simply a retail pricing error. There's basically zero chance they're going to do that here.
So if you were lucky enough to get an actual alphanumeric key from Gamersgate (and not simply a promise of a key in the future), then the key is valid. Even if Gamersgate decides to remove the game from your shelf, the key is still valid, because it was generated by Valve at the request of the publisher, then provided to the retailer by the publisher. GG simply distributes them, it doesn't create or revoke them.
My two cents, anyhow.
[Various edits made to expand/clarify.]