Gearbox Software Partnership with G2A for Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition in Jeopardy

cageymaru

cageymaru

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Gearbox Software's distribution deal with G2A is in jeopardy after John "TotalBiscuit" Bain called the Bulletstorm publisher out for backing crooks on Twitter. After Mr. Bain opened "Pandora's Box" by threatening to not cover Bulletstorm or future Gearbox Software titles unless they cut ties with G2A, the publisher reached out to TotalBiscuit for proof of accusations against the game key reseller. Mr. Bain presented documentation to Gearbox Software of complaints from game industry veterans of fraudulent keys being sold on the service and negatively affecting the revenue streams of their businesses to the point that some have folded. After reading through the accusations, Gearbox Software issued a statement and made the following demands of G2A before Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition goes on sale today.

    • Within 30 days, G2A Shield (aka, customer fraud protection) is made free instead of a separate paid subscription service within terms offered by other major marketplaces. All customers who spend money deserve fraud protection from a storefront. To that end, all existing G2A Shield customers are notified by April 14th that fraud protection services are now free and they will no longer be charged for this.
    • Within 90 days, G2A will open up a web service or API to certified developers and publishers to search for and flag for immediate removal, keys that are fraudulent. This access will be free of charge and will not require payment by the content holders.
    • Within 60 days implement throttling for non-certified developers and publishers at the title, userid, and account payable levels for a fraud flagging process. This is to protect content providers from having large quantities of stolen goods flipped on G2A before they can be flagged.
    • Within 30 days, G2A restructures its payment system so that customers who wish to buy and sell legitimate keys are given a clear, simple fee-structure that is easy to understand and contains no hidden or obfuscated charges. Join the ranks of other major marketplaces.
If G2A doesn't agree to the above conditions by the time Bulletstorm launches today, then Gearbox Software will nullify the promotional deal with G2A by using a clause in the contract. As of the time of this writing, I can't find a statement from G2A addressing this issue. I think that every demand made by Gearbox Software on G2A is justified. G2A's model of requiring users to purchase protection to make a supposedly legitimate purchase just comes off as shady to me. I've never had to purchase buyer protection when purchasing games on Amazon for example. And there are just too many horror stories about them to justify their existence in my opinion. I hope that this causes enough awareness that hardware companies like AMD never partner with G2A again in the future.

Of course I included John "TotalBiscuit" Bain's video on the subject.
 
I'm surprised Gearbox jumped on G2A so fast. But I'd like to see them make those changes as well.

The reason I'm surprised is TB has been becoming less and less relevant daily for a LONG time now.

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rgMekanic said:
I'm surprised Gearbox jumped on G2A so fast. But I'd like to see them make those changes as well.

The reason I'm surprised is TB has been becoming less and less relevant daily for a LONG time now.

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Probably has something to do with him having cancer and putting out a fraction of the content that he used to. I'm surprised he did anything after 35 rounds of chemo, plus the mental stress of being told you have terminal cancer. I believe the last thing I read said that the tumor actually shrunk and he cancer had not spread, so there is actually a hope of beating it now. TB is an absolute fighter and has my respect.

On the topic of the article, I'm glad a big publisher is taking a stand against G2A. I've always thought G2A were a bunch of scumbags and hoped they would disappear. If they actually wan't to turn around and become legit, that's great. I don't think they will and I hope that this is the beginning of the end of them.
 
Cypher- said:
Probably has something to do with him having cancer and putting out a fraction of the content that he used to. I'm surprised he did anything after 35 rounds of chemo, plus the mental stress of being told you have terminal cancer. I believe the last thing I read said that the tumor actually shrunk and he cancer had not spread, so there is actually a hope of beating it now. TB is an absolute fighter and has my respect.

On the topic of the article, I'm glad a big publisher is taking a stand against G2A. I've always thought G2A were a bunch of scumbags and hoped they would disappear. If they actually wan't to turn around and become legit, that's great. I don't think they will and I hope that this is the beginning of the end of them.
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That's definitely the reason. I don't care much for TBs reviewing since I find it slow but most people love his videos. Cancer fucking sucks but he's been pretty positive on social media and the fact that he's still making videos like this shows how much he actually cares.
 
Gearbox probably needs G2A more than G2A needs Gearbox at this point. G2A is a pretty crap company but they usually provide good deals (regardless of whether they're legit keys) which is what most people want while Gearbox hasn't had a good game since the original Borderlands and everything since has been a barely changed rehash of that, a game that died immediately (Battleborn), or a total piece of crap ala Duke Nukem and that Alien game and now this $50 game reboot garbage.

The "fraudulent keys" statements seem vague as most publishers are going to take the angle that promotional keys are fraudulent (games from Nvidia/AMD/Samsung/etc bundles).
 
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Bankie said:
Gearbox probably needs G2A more than G2A needs Gearbox at this point. G2A is a pretty crap company but they usually provide good deals (regardless of whether they're legit keys) which is what most people want while Gearbox hasn't had a good game since the original Borderlands and everything since has been a barely changed rehash of that, a game that died immediately (Battleborn), or a total piece of crap ala Duke Nukem and that Alien game and now this $50 game reboot garbage.

The "fraudulent keys" statements seem vague as most publishers are going to take the angle that promotional keys are fraudulent (games from Nvidia/AMD/Samsung/etc bundles).
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I stopped buying stuff from them myself. My buddy bought a key from them and it was "used already" when he tried to input it into Steam 5 seconds after he purchased it. He thought the G2A protection was silly so he opted not to use it. He immediately contacted G2A about the issue and they never refunded him.

If that doesn't scream "scam alert", then nothing will. I will buy products from a turd on the ground if there is a 100% chance of me receiving what I paid for. I felt bad linking the G2A DOTA Pit page as I don't even glance at their website nowadays after my friend's experience. I avoid them like the plague.

Just my experience with G2A. Not trying to tell you what to do with your money.
 
I would also love to see g2a make those changes, if they did I may buy from them. But I dont see it happening, if gearbox told best buy "make these changes or we won't sell in your storea" I garuntee best buy would ignore them.
 
Bankie said:
Gearbox probably needs G2A more than G2A needs Gearbox at this point. G2A is a pretty crap company but they usually provide good deals (regardless of whether they're legit keys) which is what most people want while Gearbox hasn't had a good game since the original Borderlands and everything since has been a barely changed rehash of that, a game that died immediately (Battleborn), or a total piece of crap ala Duke Nukem and that Alien game and now this $50 game reboot garbage.

The "fraudulent keys" statements seem vague as most publishers are going to take the angle that promotional keys are fraudulent (games from Nvidia/AMD/Samsung/etc bundles).
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That's like saying "Why buy a new TV when I can get one off the back of a white van for half off." You're dealing with a shady guy who either ripped it off from a warehouse or someone. The keys actually fradulent, most of them are purchased with stolen credit cards. Last time a publisher tried to blacklist all the stolen keys they got a ton of bad PR for "Shutting off access to legitmate buyers." same happened to Ubisoft. G2A hurts publishers, big or independant. We shouldn't encourage sites like this.
 
Cypher- said:
Probably has something to do with him having cancer and putting out a fraction of the content that he used to. I'm surprised he did anything after 35 rounds of chemo, plus the mental stress of being told you have terminal cancer. I believe the last thing I read said that the tumor actually shrunk and he cancer had not spread, so there is actually a hope of beating it now. TB is an absolute fighter and has my respect.
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Hope so, but typically people with stage 4 cancers don't survive past 5 years of the original diagnosis. They can get their cancers into remission, but within 1-2 years it appears someplace else in the body (metastasis). Once it is in your lymph node system, you are screwed. Cancer is a nasty disease.
 
Yeah I stopped buying from G2a and Kinguin after I found out what kind scam they are running. Never personally had a problem with the keys I got and I always thought that they are like CDKeys who buy cheap foreign keys or bulk deals and sell them forward, but no. G2A/Kinguin is more like money laundering business who try to appear as a legit company with esports sponsorships and such as a front.
 
I see someone in here assuming that the dropoff of TB's content means he is losing relevance. Quite far from it, for the above mentioned reason. I watched his video yesterday and applaud him for informing a company that was pretty blind to the ways that G2A operates.
 
facts
1- bulletstorm is 6 year old, remaster generates zero hype, but cash grab for a flamy trend as overwatch fps/arena type of games.
2- gearbox not knowing what G.2.A is, simple BS
3- quick google of twitter gearbox and total biscuit, go back few years chatting and hanging out...biscuit clearly have friends in the studio.
4-the statement made public, wording over the top agressive and condescending, seem odly counter productive.
5-the follow up video of biscuit
conclusion :
gearbox needed to put their 6 years old game on the map, while chatting about hyping the game, G.2.A came up, the plan to create controversy began, knowing full well that offering a deal to G.2.A would be greated by a yes, planned then to make a public statement with a U turn on the deal with a sauce of SJW saving gaming, while making sure the ultimatum was hard to achieve, and even if it was to be more humiliating to G.2.A to accept than it is to reject, and the video follow up, was just there to guide you gently to the conclusion.
and don't get at me for defending G.2.A, i never bought anything from them nor do i care, i just don't like this " the end justify the means" they are as unethical as G.2.A
that's how i see it.
 
Never used G2A and never will. CDKeys and GMG are my go-to sites for cheap keys and quick, hassle-free ordering.
 
NickJames said:
That's like saying "Why buy a new TV when I can get one off the back of a white van for half off." You're dealing with a shady guy who either ripped it off from a warehouse or someone. The keys actually fradulent, most of them are purchased with stolen credit cards. Last time a publisher tried to blacklist all the stolen keys they got a ton of bad PR for "Shutting off access to legitmate buyers." same happened to Ubisoft. G2A hurts publishers, big or independant. We shouldn't encourage sites like this.
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I didn't say they weren't shady; in fact I said they weren't a good company. I was talking about the word "fraudulent" being unnecessarily vague. Stolen keys should not be allowed but software companies already want to limit the trading and selling of keys and will take any attempt they can to limit cheap keys by any source if they can.
 
alamox said:
facts
1- bulletstorm is 6 year old, remaster generates zero hype, but cash grab for a flamy trend as overwatch fps/arena type of games.
2- gearbox not knowing what G.2.A is, simple BS
3- quick google of twitter gearbox and total biscuit, go back few years chatting and hanging out...biscuit clearly have friends in the studio.
4-the statement made public, wording over the top agressive and condescending, seem odly counter productive.
5-the follow up video of biscuit
conclusion :
gearbox needed to put their 6 years old game on the map, while chatting about hyping the game, G.2.A came up, the plan to create controversy began, knowing full well that offering a deal to G.2.A would be greated by a yes, planned then to make a public statement with a U turn on the deal with a sauce of SJW saving gaming, while making sure the ultimatum was hard to achieve, and even if it was to be more humiliating to G.2.A to accept than it is to reject, and the video follow up, was just there to guide you gently to the conclusion.
and don't get at me for defending G.2.A, i never bought anything from them nor do i care, i just don't like this " the end justify the means" they are as unethical as G.2.A
that's how i see it.
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I think you went a bit too far with the tin foil hat. Assuming Gearbox not knowing about G2A's shadyness isn't that surprising. While it has been well documented in some circles, lots of people don't know about it. Assuming everyone knows how shady G2A is, but the fact that they still are able to sponsor all sorts of events (esports, streamers, etc.), doesn't really make sense. Unless you think all these people and events just don't care about their brand or controversy, it's much more likely they just aren't aware.
 
http://www.pcgamer.com/gearbox-dema...ens-to-scuttle-partnership-if-theyre-not-met/
Update: Gearbox has issued a statement saying that, in the absence of action on its demands, it has begun the process of walking away from the Bulletstorm deal with G2A.

"As there has been no public movement from G2A by the time Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition launched now on PC, Gearbox Publishing will be doing their part to not directly support a marketplace that did not make the new public commitment to protecting customers and developers requested by Gearbox Publishing," Gearbox Publishing chief Steve Gibson said. "We do not control G2A’s marketplace or where they may obtain keys from parties outside of Gearbox Publishing, but we can confirm that today we have begun executing on our extraction process.”

That's not quite the same as killing the deal outright, and it sounds to me like it leaves open the possibility of maintaining the arrangement if G2A responds appropriately in a reasonable amount of time. The Bulletstorm CE, for the record, remains available for purchase at G2A.com. We'll let you know if and when we hear more.
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Of course G2A wasn't going to abide by those rules, it would bankrupt them :ROFLMAO:
 
heads should roll and a few arses should be whipped at gearbox over this, everyone knew about the shady dealings by G2A why the hell would someone be dumb enough to make an announcement over this in the first place.
 
Yaka said:
heads should roll and a few arses should be whipped at gearbox over this, everyone knew about the shady dealings by G2A why the hell would someone be dumb enough to make an announcement over this in the first place.
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My guess is they're struggling and desperate for some marketing. Gearbox completely blew it with their last game and they haven't been relevant since Borderlands 2. Unfortunately someone at Gearbox did 0 research into it and probably just said "Oh hey a lot of gamers use G2A, they sponsor twitch streamers all the time, they must cool amongst the kids.".
 
Yet another brainless marketing team calling magazines clips. No wonder they fucked up by partnering with G2A.
 
Hold on a second ... if all this stuff has to happen to make G2A a "legit" company, why the hell is Gearbox even bothering with them? Do they have something to gain by putting their own reputation on the line to help this company "get legit"?
 
britjh22 said:
I think you went a bit too far with the tin foil hat. Assuming Gearbox not knowing about G2A's shadyness isn't that surprising. While it has been well documented in some circles, lots of people don't know about it. Assuming everyone knows how shady G2A is, but the fact that they still are able to sponsor all sorts of events (esports, streamers, etc.), doesn't really make sense. Unless you think all these people and events just don't care about their brand or controversy, it's much more likely they just aren't aware.
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seriously, when you read the statement from gearbox, it didn't strike you as over the top agressive, condescending, to me it felt like gearbox were going out of their way to get a negative response from G.2.A.
and yes it's unthinkable for a studio that has been around fo almost 2decades with dozens of games, doesn't know about G.2.A, they do not research stores they could sell their product at ? never had rejected credit cards? they dont have facebook and twitter ? they do not talk with other developers ? they came from another planet they never googled cheap borderland keys ? the degree of incompetence makes it hard to believe.
 
alamox said:
seriously, when you read the statement from gearbox, it didn't strike you as over the top agressive, condescending, to me it felt like gearbox were going out of their way to get a negative response from G.2.A.
and yes it's unthinkable for a studio that has been around fo almost 2decades with dozens of games, doesn't know about G.2.A, they do not research stores they could sell their product at ? never had rejected credit cards? they dont have facebook and twitter ? they do not talk with other developers ? they came from another planet they never googled cheap borderland keys ? the degree of incompetence makes it hard to believe.
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Agreed. It is hard to believe a game dev doesn't know about G2A. Hell, you just have to go to their website and their whole system looks shady. This isn't some wide eyed indy dev just dipping their feet in, a 1-3 man shop or something. Either TB called them out and they went with over the top demands to get out of the contract to avoid PR blow back from TB's hissy fit (he hates g2a) or for the more conspiratorial, its a great way to gin up PR for a re-release of an old game that few played. TB would likely stick to his word, given how well he has stuck to his Sega boycott (I think sega DMCA's him over some game footage).

boocake said:
TotalHalibut??
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The official name of his youtube account, I think from his WoW days.
 
Ranulfo said:
Agreed. It is hard to believe a game dev doesn't know about G2A. Hell, you just have to go to their website and their whole system looks shady. This isn't some wide eyed indy dev just dipping their feet in, a 1-3 man shop or something. Either TB called them out and they went with over the top demands to get out of the contract to avoid PR blow back from TB's hissy fit (he hates g2a) or for the more conspiratorial, its a great way to gin up PR for a re-release of an old game that few played. TB would likely stick to his word, given how well he has stuck to his Sega boycott (I think sega DMCA's him over some game footage).



The official name of his youtube account, I think from his WoW days.
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Lol so funny Google-Fu'ing I did. Came across this Reddit topic near the top search for TotalHalibut (thought it was a different guy).
Which linked to this image. http://i.imgur.com/TKw32.jpg

That 2nd to last twitter post. Woops.
 
I'm always surprised when I see G2A as big name sponsors for tournaments and stuff considering their shadiness. I would never support them.
 
Bulletstorm? You mean the game game created by a bunch of Painkiller guys that HAD NO FUCKING JUMPING?

I thought that was Epic, though, not that POS Randy.
 
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