Saving money buying CD Keys. Anyone else ditch Steam Store for Cheaper PC CD Key sellers.

I been buying lots of games from legit cd key sellers to non authorized ones. The prices are just too good to beat. Not sure who in the world would be against buying games cheaper it certainly allowed me to play newer games at a lower price than if I bought from Steam Store. Don't think I bought a game directly from steam in ages. Funny how the people who are against this don't want others to get games at a cheaper price. Anyone else buy their games mostly from these key sellers as opposed to places like steam?

Usually I just use GMG.

Only hermits would be proud of buying games illegally.

Reeks of fakeboy, mate. Do one.

Buying cd keys aren't illegal bud. Don't know where you got this from because it isn't.

Last post besides this thread... 3 years ago.

@abtoxin: "Buying cd keys aren't illegal bud."

You admitted that you buy from "non authorized" sellers. That means illegal.

@dzimm: Its called the grey market even that isn't illegal either.

There's still nothing illegal about that, you're ignorant to the sourcing but that doesn't have any legal implications for you.

Bought a few games from some of those sites. Steam sales happen so often that I rarely feel tempted, though.

If I can find a game I want for like half the price Steam is asking for, I'm probably taking the deal, but when the price is like 5-10 euro less than Steam, it feels better to just buy directly from Steam.

I'll use key sellers for games no longer on the market.

I bought Driver: San Francisco on one of those sites recently, since it went off the market several years back. If Ubisoft doesn't want my money, someone else can have it.

Lots of pre-steam games are just straight up abandonware. The only way you can get them is on ebay, or pirate them.

Newly release games can be at least 20 dollars cheaper than Steam depending on title. Some site have pretty frequent deals as well.

ive bought a doom2016 cd key off ebay to unlock the game off steam, id like to know where other services you use to redeem these cd keys @ besides steam?

Used some in the past before I understood how they work. Not anymore.

Would rather spend the extra to support the games I like than (possibly) cost the devs to save a few bucks. Especially so when a lot of games I like aren't exactly massive sellers to begin with.

Personally, don't care. People do what they do, if you want to buy from these sites or even straight up pirate a game, none of my business.

Berating other gamers over that shit isn't gonna change anything.

Yeah I use them a bit, never had an issue and saved a lot over the years.

For tjose questioning their legality, I suggest some research.

they destroyed doom, turned it into some console game focused on quick time events that doesnt push graphics technology forward, while doom3 was a pc exclusive designed to push graphics technology forward, and eventually ported to rhe original xbox in downgraded form and then ps3/xbox360 years and years later.

that's why i didnt wanna support the developers they didnt make a true doom/pc game and i waited untill i could get a cd key cheap af off ebay.

That's what i got for preordering doom3 on pc @ bestbuy in 2004, i got shit on and gave a piece of shit console game focused on QTE's with the graphics of a 2007 ps3 game, they can suck my mother fucking dick.

Authorized Seller: Indiegala, fanatical, gamebillet, GMG, and newegg

Grey Market Seller: Eneba and cdkeys

Not a PC gamer myself but if I was I’d only purchase my games from authorized/legitimate places. They key sellers just seem too shady for my liking and I’d rather have peace of mind with the games I buy.

Not on G2A, or the such like Kinguin.

I do use Indiegala, GMG, Humble Bundle, the legal ones, from time to time, but ever since Steam introduced Regional Pricing, I used the other ones a lot less.

Better than buying 2nd hand console discs.

That regional pricing (not talking just Steam here) thing is sometimes pretty akward.
Digital stores are fixed to Euro, but because my country doesn't use Euro, it made quite a ridiculous situation when oftentimes buying a physical copy of a console or PC game is as much as 50% cheaper (including next-day delivery) than its digital "on sale" counterpart...

LMAO @ used games, though. Basically same shit as piracy (for the publishers/devs anyway) + some people are really sick fucks...😤

@WESTBLADE85: Regional pricing is a double-edged sword, yeah, I agree. Steam should have more regions, but I do understand that it maybe hard work. I've been hearing that Egypt still uses USD and they have like, what, 1/3 of wage over there. Probably even worse.

GMG or Fanatical....there's usually sales there.

I buy CD keys, might even try pirating some modern games. Who wants to pay more for the same thing?

I'm buying from G2A,CDKeys and GMG.

@jasonofa36: Yup, basically like that. Don't know how it's in Egypt, but "the Euro thing" affects literally everything in my country (let's say, for the lack of a better word, fixed pricing across Europe).
So basically, being one of the most expensive EU countries to live in by having one of the lowest average incomes. It's almost as if the whole EU was under ideology/leadership of one single country. Oh, wait, it's Germany...

"Grey market" is a myth. That's the term people use when they know something is probably illegal, but they want to pretend that their deliberate ignorance somehow makes it okay.

Nope its legal otherwise publisher would have done something about it long ago. No different than buying a used game from Game Stop.

...you might not be aware of that fact, but publishers themselves do sell their keys on said grey market.
It's more profitable in the long run and creates the illusion of lucrative deal + they save on the "Steam tax" and don't have to worry about refunding anything at all:
"So... you don't like the game or can't get it to run? Hmm, well, but there was no problem with activation, right? So **** off..."

No, I've always purchased my games from the client directly whether it's Steam, GOG, Origin, or Battle.net. I rarely buy things day-1, I buy them when they're on sale most of the time.

@abtoxin: "Nope its legal otherwise publisher would have done something about it long ago. No different than buying a used game from Game Stop."

Buying used games from GameStop is not "grey market", it's perfectly legal. Buying Steam keys from "non authorized" sellers, on the other hand, is not. Your argument here is like saying, "If piracy is illegal, then why don't publishers stop it?" If only it were that easy.

But seriously, if you're going to buy "grey market" keys then why don't you just go all the way and pirate your games? That would save you even more money, and publishers would make just as much profit from your "purchase".

@dzimm:

In order to have an activation key, the key must exist/be generated in the first place. The only "stolen key" is obviously a "steam gift". You can't buy the actual keys - unless you buy them on Humble Bundle, etc. - and then re-sell them/see people them trading on Steam forums, but then again, it's a legit key for which the publisher got money already.

The only ones who get rekt by this dirty practice are the developers (not cool), not the publishers. You always see some random developer telling you this - because they get screwed over by their own publisher, but can't tell you directly.

Jeez, at least use some common sense to see how this shill works. Just go ahead and try it for yourself, if you can buy an activation key directly from Steam, Origin, Uplay, GOG... - if you think I'm just talking outta my ass.

TL;DR: Stop spreading random shit, the truth of the actual developers (you know, the people who actually made the game) being screwed over by their own publishers is actually more encouraging and motivating to NOT go to a shady key resellers.

@dzimm: a authorized seller is someone who gets the key from the publisher. The other buy them from legit stores using currency exchange in cheaper regions which isn’t illegal. The publisher still get the money. That why publishers can’t do anything about the grey market. If it was than non of these sellers would exist.

Yep, the most common scam is to use stolen credit card numbers to buy keys in bulk and then resell them on the so-called "grey market" for pennies on the dollars. The more sophisticated operations will buy keys from insiders who generate legit keys at the source and sell them cheap to the "grey market" vendor who passes on the "savings" to you. Another tactic is to buy cheap keys from countries with terrible economies and resell them at a huge profit to countries with good economies, which in that case, the keys are legitimate, but the buying and selling violates all sorts of international trade laws.

Like I said, if you're okay with dealing in the "grey market" then why not go all the way and enjoy a 100% discount by simply pirating your games? There is no legal or ethical difference between the two.

If its bought by stolen credit card than of course it would be considered a crime the difference is there has to be proof that they were stolen. For indie developer it maybe a big deal when their games are sold cheaper online but big publisher haven't been able to do a thing because they know most of the time they can't prove how cd keys were obtained.

It's like buying high end camera gear on the cheap from a "grey market" vendor on a street corner and then deluding yourself by saying, "I don't know for sure that it's stolen, so I'm buying it in good faith. Maybe the guy selling a top of the line Nikkor lens for $25 just wants to give me a good deal!"

Used to trade TF2 and CSGO keys for cheap games years ago but Valve closed that loophole. Now I just wait for sales unless it's a game I really want.

Same as buying a used console or game on ebay.

Agreed. There's definitely some shady stuff that goes on at eBay, not just with the sellers but with the company itself. It's why I cancelled my account there 15-years ago.