PSA about GreenManGaming

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vince_carter

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I know people around here myself included have been using them for years and years, but it looks like over the last 6 months or so they went full grey market. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/GameDealsMeta/comments/3t0p9m/rgamedeals_and_greenmangaming/

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It's shitty because their website claims they are buying all their keys directly from publishers, and they're official partners of all these companies.

http://www.greenmangaming.com/publishers-developers/?affsrc=1&utm_medium=affiliates#b

I guess they were feeling the pressure from g2a, kinguin, etc. I wouldn't even care if they they weren't flat out lying about the source of their keys. If mods think this doesn't belong here feel free to close or move it but I know a ton of people use the site as their go to site. I know I used to. 

 
My understanding of how GMG works is basically buying keys in different countries/parts of the world (where they are priced differently due to the market or exchange rate) and then selling them over here at a reduced rate that they saved from buying it elsewhere.

 
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Huh, interesting. I always figured the Witcher thing was on CDPR's end, as Greenman has always had a pretty good reputation. I haven't bought anything from them in the past few months except for Armikrog, I think, but I guess I definitely won't be doing it in the future.

So what's the other most reputable site that has good sales and isn't Steam? I don't want to give them money directly. Humble Store, I guess? Their sales are kinda lacking though.

E: Actually reading that thread, the reddit users seem like real dickheads (what a surprise!), and I can't entirely blame the GMG guy for not wanting to bow to their demands for "proof". I'll see how this shakes out.

 
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shrike4242 said:
Guess we can add GMG into the "Shitty site is still shitty" mantra now.
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I don't know. I plan to continue shopping from GMG when they've got the best deal on a game I want.

From what I've seen it appears their fail-to-pass ratio is extremely low. Actually, CoD and Witcher 3 are the only games where I've ever heard reports of problems from GMG, and even then it's been relatively few compared to the total number of units moved. I got my Witcher 3 GOG key from GMG and saved a decent chunk doing so.

It's worth noting that Humble has had minor key issues from time to time, too, but like them, GMG seems to fix problems that arise--such as processing refunds for Arkham Knight (including mine).

 
MisterAlexEsquire said:
It's worth noting that Humble has had minor key issues from time to time, too, but like them, GMG seems to fix problems that arise--such as processing refunds for Arkham Knight (including mine).
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Right, stuff like this makes me wonder if they're truly not authorized. It's impossible to tell if the posted emails are actually from someone who knows whats up, or just some drone going "I dunno, it's not Steam or Amazon, so probably not."

And as I said, I can't blame a customer service person for not wanting to send images of contracts to some Reddit jackholes.

 
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Not surprising since some of their big title sales lately (Anno 2205, Mad Max) have been suspiciously much closer to what CDkeys, G2A, Kinguin etc were selling for than even the sale prices at Steam, Amazon, Gamersgate etc.

Anyway I've been saying for a while they're part time Shady. The Indie stuff and probably some of the older publisher stuff is still direct from the source I believe.

But definitely any hot new releases with sale prices seemingly too good to be true for a non Grey Market site should be considered suspect at this point.
 
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isn't the recent steam pricing stuff (more local currency support etc) going to cut the knees off this kind of arbitrage between different country pricing?  I don't really keep up with it much, i just wait for PC games on bundles or steam summer/winter sales

which reminds me lets see what sadness indiegala has up for monday bundle

 
I thought this was going to be about GMG changing their credit system so all your existing credit on their site will expire on November 24th.

 
IF they are buying codes from other countries and reselling them, why would the local companies have anything to do with that?  I mean, wouldn't the partnering or whatever be with the actual suppliers in the countries where the keys are bought?

Granted I've never bought anything from GMG.  Nearly all of my steam library came from steam sales, indigala and humble bundle... but still, it seems like their claim could be true while still not being official suppliers in the USA.

 
[quote name="BlacKJesu5" post="13032695" timestamp="1447688411"]Am I supposed to feel bad about this? Obviously the codes would've gone unused ;)[/quote]
The issue is that sometimes the codes don't work at all, or they turn out to have been stolen and your account gets banned.
 
MisterAlexEsquire said:
Woah, [citation needed] on this one. I've not heard of this occurring. Please specify and elaborate.
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If the key has been stolen, the key will be revoked and that's usually it. I suppose if it happens enough it's possible that your account could be banned, but I've never heard of it happening.

 
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This all great and all, but wrong section, not a deal, etc.  

Also, the OP is wrong.  Even the redditor net nannies admitted that there were some companies who told them GMG WAS an official distributor so they have not gone full grey market.  Just the tip.  

 
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spoderman said:
If the key has been stolen, the key will be revoked and that's usually it. I suppose if it happens enough it's possible that your account could be banned, but I've never heard of it happening.
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That's my point and why I'm asking. Unless this is an actual problem with cited cases, it's detrimental to needlessly spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Also unclear is what is meant by a key being "stolen."

 
And it took you guys this long to be suspicious? I mean, they have discount vouchers for all games, especially pre-orders that nobody else (but Best Buy, but there's a PAID program for that) sells under MSRP, GMG magically pulls a 20% off or even more, so either they were being fools to operate on the red zone of profit, or they're buying keys from somewhere else (Brazil, Russia...) that become profitable even at 33%off on pre-order price.

 
This is pretty shocking. I remember greenmangaming being one of those sites that didnt get censored on SPUF. I thought the huge deals was just because they took smaller profit margins so publishers tried pushing better sales there over steam

CD-Keys for steam should just die. We should have to connect our steam account to third party sites and games we buy automatically activate. That way we dont need to worry about fishyness.

 
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DonaldBlank said:
CD-Keys for steam should just die. We should have to connect our steam account to third party sites and games we buy automatically activate. That way we dont need to worry about fishyness.
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Yeah we should just let that shit-ass company control literally everything and have an actual monopoly, not just a defacto one.

 
This regional price difference has been an issue for Steam too, they just benefit from it I think cause the Market stays in Steam.

 
Sielanas said:
Maybe they're partners with the European offices and they were asking the US branch?
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We do have to keep in mind that the redditor "research" consisted of them emailing some shill in customer service who probably has no clue except for give form response X. GMG responded and said they were an official partner for WB (which they have advertised on their website and I do believe). As for Uplay, I think they took down Uplay keys a while ago. I think they might have been an official partner at some point, but not anymore. Their current Uplay offerings are both games from the Nvidia GFX promo so that's where they are probably getting them. Not entirely shady and at least you have the CS of an established company vs. some random person on ebay or G2A "protection" you have to pay for.

The COD BO3 keys I have no clue about. Likely grey market? Who knows, they had other COD games on sale too recently.

Either way, I'm not really putting much faith in some guys on reddit with too much time on their hand getting their "sources" from some CS Rep in some third world country reading out of a manual with a flow chart and form response.

Zimmy said:
If GMG is going Grey Market, they certainly forgot about Grey Market pricing.
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Well, they are still authorized retailers for a fair number of companies so that's why their pricing isn't like G2A or CDKeys.

 
MisterAlexEsquire said:
That's my point and why I'm asking. Unless this is an actual problem with cited cases, it's detrimental to needlessly spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Also unclear is what is meant by a key being "stolen."
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I'm on mobile and have 5 minutes to respond, so no source. This did happen before. I can't remember what game it was but it involved G2A. If I had to guess, I think it might have been sniper elite 3? Try googling it.
 

ZabaZu said:
I'm on mobile and have 5 minutes to respond, so no source. This did happen before. I can't remember what game it was but it involved G2A. If I had to guess, I think it might have been sniper elite 3? Try googling it.
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In the case you're referencing (Sniper Elite), even the resellers were not even explicitly at fault. A bad actor in the middle pulled license keys that were not authorized for sale and substituted them to the sellers in place of keys that were marked for sale. That's why Rebellion didn't point the finger at the sellers. Also, this was an isolated incident that involved a specific title. It's related but not directly relevant to the rumors being brought up against GMG.

 
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