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Buying CD Keys online for PC Games

B

bardia

Member
Recently in the official Steam thread, someone posted a link to a polish website that was selling Orange box CD Keys for $10 and L4D CD Keys for $15. Valve doesn't seem to mind, the only action i have heard of them taking was that they disabled the games for people that bought their games from Thailand for cheaper, but no accounts were banned. So of course I went ahead and bought them, entered the keys into steam, and now I am enjoying both games immensly (L4D Rocks!)

That got me wondering though, so i searched around and found many websites that sold CD Keys to all the recent games for anywhere from $15-25USD. Now I know these websites have probably been around for a while but I had no idea, so it's new news to me.
Would buying these CD Keys, rather than going to store and paying $49 for the new game, be considered piracy/illegal? Considering you would have to acquire the game by some other means since the websites do not give you the game. I'd much rather buy keys like this since it would let me buy easily 2 to 3 times as many PC games due to the cheap prices, but I also don't want to be a pirate :lol Anyone have any thoughts?
 
S

Schwowsers

Member
bardia said:
Valve doesn't seem to mind, the only action i have heard of them taking was that they disabled the games for people that bought their games from Thailand for cheaper, but no accounts were banned.
Click to expand...

How exactly does Valve disabling the games show that Valve doesn't mind? Sure sounds like they mind to me. This sounds like an illegal operation. I wouldn't support it.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
bardia said:
Would buying these CD Keys, rather than going to store and paying $49 for the new game, be considered piracy/illegal? Considering you would have to acquire the game by some other means since the websites do not give you the game. I'd much rather buy keys like this since it would let me buy easily 2 to 3 times as many PC games due to the cheap prices, but I also don't want to be a pirate :lol Anyone have any thoughts?
Click to expand...

All of these web sites are operated in regions where the product pricing is lower than the the US pricing due to local market factors. PC Games are cheaper in Poland and Thailand, for example, because that's what the local economy will support. The catch now is that these versions are useful for anyone around the world, as the keys are not locked to a region, and they essentially "unlock" the game for people in places where the game sells for me.

Honestly, there are two sort of ethical stances you can take on this. The first is one of pure globalization and reimportation of goods-if I, as a consumer, can find a good cheaper overseas, why shouldn't I buy it directly from there? The other is the viewpoint that local sales in your region are more profitable and if you buy the game in your own country the creators of the game are going to see more royalties/proceeds than if you buy the CD KEY from overseas that is marked up 100% (and is still super cheap).

My personal take on this is that, as someone with a long-term interest in seeing the hobby and platform grow, I don't buy CD Keys lke this online and I do not import physical copies from regions where I know they are heavily discounted due to market immaturity. That's just my own personal ethics though , everyone has to set their own standard.

That being said, sometimes even the case that a physical UK PC release+Royal Mail to the USA is cheaper than what you would pay for if you bought the game from a retailer in the USA, and I have no qualms about importing the game in that situation. Especially for the slice of games that fall into that category that have no boxed copy US release at all.
 
C

Calidor

Member
It's the same as importing games from play.com or play-asia minus the shipping of the goods, so I don't think it's illegal. BTW what's the address of that polish site? I might be interested
 
F

FoxSpirit

Junior Member
Well, I did that once, bought Diablo 2+LoD keys when Blizzard released their online store.
Rebought, I might add, since I have no clue where my physical copy of D2 has gone :lol

I'md also guilty as charged of importing Red Alert 3 from Thailand.

Bu generally, I import from the US or UK for either language or release date (if ever) options. I don't want no German voiceovers -.-
 
B

bardia

Member
Schwowsers said:
How exactly does Valve disabling the games show that Valve doesn't mind? Sure sounds like they mind to me. This sounds like an illegal operation. I wouldn't support it.
Click to expand...

Valve says that you should be buying the games from your own region. So if you lived in Thailand and bought the game they don't care. But when someone from US or Canada buys it they care
 
D

Danj

Member
bardia said:
Valve says that you should be buying the games from your own region. So if you lived in Thailand and bought the game they don't care. But when someone from US or Canada buys it they care
Click to expand...

Wish they would let people in the UK buy Red Alert 3 on Steam.
 
S

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
bardia said:
Valve says that you should be buying the games from your own region. So if you lived in Thailand and bought the game they don't care. But when someone from US or Canada buys it they care
Click to expand...
What if they bought it while living in one region and moved to another?
 
wolfmat

wolfmat

Confirmed Asshole
Terms said:
Is this legal?

Yes. 100% legal. Each account set up through Steam Key Steam Steam is a standard account. COMPUTER GAMES SRL / DIGITAL WORKS sp o.o. Steam is an eligible distributor from Valve Software Keys for the 6 Eastern European countries. More detailed information can be obtained on the official website webowskiej www.dweurope.eu.
Click to expand...
Translation with the help of Google.
 
T

theultimo

Member
Well, technically Steam sells the CD Keys, as well as access to the software.


But this seems, while not illegal, like a lik-sang situation. I wouldn't trust my Steam account to this.
 
J

Johnas

Member
This thread seems like a good place to ask.

I'm new to PC gaming, and I'm looking at a used game on Ebay that comes with the CD key. If the key has been used before, does that mean if I buy it I can't play it? I've tried to google for the answer and I can't seem to find a clear answer, although I know the question is probably ancient and stupid to the majority of gamers.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
Johnas said:
This thread seems like a good place to ask.

I'm new to PC gaming, and I'm looking at a used game on Ebay that comes with the CD key. If the key has been used before, does that mean if I buy it I can't play it? I've tried to google for the answer and I can't seem to find a clear answer, although I know the question is probably ancient and stupid to the majority of gamers.
Click to expand...

There is no correct answer to this other than "it depends".

For example, if you are buying a used copy of, say, the Counter-Strike Source pack, you won't be able to use the CD KEY at all for anything. If you buy a copy of Supreme Commander where the owner used the key to create an online account, the game is useless online without that players account information since there is a hard one key=one account restriction on the game. The situation can get even trickier with newer games an their activation limits or games that have and require Steam activation (like Saint's Row 2 PC) that essentially kill any use in trading or reselling them.

Which game is it?
 
J

Johnas

Member
Fragamemnon said:
There is no correct answer to this other than "it depends".

For example, if you are buying a used copy of, say, the Counter-Strike Source pack, you won't be able to use the CD KEY at all for anything. If you buy a copy of Supreme Commander where the owner used the key to create an online account, the game is useless online without that players account information since there is a hard one key=one account restriction on the game. The situation can get even trickier with newer games an their activation limits or games that have and require Steam activation (like Saint's Row 2 PC) that essentially kill any use in trading or reselling them.

Which game is it?
Click to expand...

It's Half-Life (1) GOTY edition. (I know I could buy the game on Steam, but I want to own a physical copy.)
 
P

Proc

Member
Johnas said:
This thread seems like a good place to ask.

I'm new to PC gaming, and I'm looking at a used game on Ebay that comes with the CD key. If the key has been used before, does that mean if I buy it I can't play it? I've tried to google for the answer and I can't seem to find a clear answer, although I know the question is probably ancient and stupid to the majority of gamers.
Click to expand...

The paranoid side of me wouldn't buy a used pc game just because the old owner could have easily just copied down the cd key and burned a back up. If the reward is too good for the risk (out of print copy, ridiculous deal) then that will be your judgment. Just be careful.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
Johnas said:
It's Half-Life (1) GOTY edition. (I know I could buy the game on Steam, but I want to own a physical copy.)
Click to expand...

It'll always be able to play Half-Life in single player mode, as posted on the box. You might run into issues if you want to use it to play CS 1.6 or what not online since I believe everything online got moved to Steam after they closed down WON. This is assuming that the seller actually activated the CD KEY, which isn't a completely sure bet with old HL keys.
 
J

Johnas

Member
Fragamemnon said:
It'll always be able to play Half-Life in single player mode, as posted on the box. You might run into issues if you want to use it to play CS 1.6 or what not online since I believe everything online got moved to Steam after they closed down WON. This is assuming that the seller actually activated the CD KEY, which isn't a completely sure bet with old HL keys.
Click to expand...

Gotcha, thanks for the rundown.
 
B

bardia

Member
Good to hear insight from some people, I personally didn't think it was a big deal since technically the publishers have gotten their cut from selling the key/game already, these people are just reselling them at a very low price. Good to know, jeez I love PC gaming :D
 
jts

jts

...hate me...
Soo... exactly what sites are these we're talking about? I've been googling about buying steam cd keys and I all I could find was warez.

I'd kill to get a real bargain on FM 2009.
 
B

bardia

Member
TaKeRx said:
So this is for only EU people?
Click to expand...

Nope, I bought L4D and Orange Box from mentioned site above and I'm from Canada. Works fine on steam. Although it seems that websites have only the most popular games such as COD, Crysis, Mirrors edge, Fall out etc.
 
jts

jts

...hate me...
Thomper said:
No FM2009, but the site mentioned is http://www.g2play.pl
Click to expand...
Thank you, but yeah, I got L4D and The Orange Box from there :)

My question was more towards this quote on the OP:

so i searched around and found many websites that sold CD Keys to all the recent games for anywhere from $15-25USD
Click to expand...
Can you enlighten me, OP?
 
T

TaKeRx

Member
bardia said:
Nope, I bought L4D and Orange Box from mentioned site above and I'm from Canada. Works fine on steam. Although it seems that websites have only the most popular games such as COD, Crysis, Mirrors edge, Fall out etc.
Click to expand...

nice, I just bought L4D
 
P

Parallax Scroll

Banned
bardia said:
Recently in the official Steam thread, someone posted a link to a polish website that was selling Orange box CD Keys for $10 and L4D CD Keys for $15. Valve doesn't seem to mind, the only action i have heard of them taking was that they disabled the games for people that bought their games from Thailand for cheaper, but no accounts were banned. So of course I went ahead and bought them, entered the keys into steam, and now I am enjoying both games immensly (L4D Rocks!)

That got me wondering though, so i searched around and found many websites that sold CD Keys to all the recent games for anywhere from $15-25USD. Now I know these websites have probably been around for a while but I had no idea, so it's new news to me.
Would buying these CD Keys, rather than going to store and paying $49 for the new game, be considered piracy/illegal? Considering you would have to acquire the game by some other means since the websites do not give you the game. I'd much rather buy keys like this since it would let me buy easily 2 to 3 times as many PC games due to the cheap prices, but I also don't want to be a pirate :lol Anyone have any thoughts?
Click to expand...
They can tell what region the CD key comes from?
 
L

Lich_King

Member
Buying cd-keys is ok, I guess, but it works only for games like HL2 or L4D, which I'm ready to buy at full price anyway. Now, if it was a DD site with prices like that for all games...
 
B

bardia

Member
Parallax Scroll said:
They can tell what region the CD key comes from?
Click to expand...

Here's the story: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/49656

Original Story (published Oct 26): Some consumers who purchased Valve's Orange Box from vendors located outside of their home country--mainly in an attempt to save on cheaper products--have recently reported that their otherwise legally-obtained games have since been deactivated by Valve's Steam software for territory violation.

Talking with Shacknews, Valve's Doug Lombardi now says that the Steam software is merely carrying out this function by design.

"Valve uses Steam for territory control to make sure products authorized for use in certain territories are not being distributed and used outside of those territories," said Lombardi.

"In this case, a Thai website was selling retail box product keys for Thailand to people outside of Thailand. Since those keys are only for use in Thailand, people who purchased product keys from the Thai website are not able to use those product keys in other territories."

So are users who bought the game outside of their own country completely out of luck? It appears so, as Lombardi recommends purchasing a legal copy from a local shop in order to keep playing.

"Some of these users have subsequently purchased a legal copy after realizing the issue and were having difficulty removing the illegitimate keys from their Steam accounts," added Lombardi. "Anyone having this problem should contact Steam Support to have the Thai key removed from their Steam account."
Click to expand...
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
Anyone living in the EU is free to purchase anything within the EU. There are trade laws, as far as I am aware, so any Europeans buying products from another EU country should not be affected.
 
K

kamorra

Fuck Cancer
uhh... 9€ for the Orange Box. If Valve would mind if I purchase it would they disable the game only or my account with all my other games as well?
 
B

bardia

Member
kamorra said:
uhh... 9€ for the Orange Box. If Valve would mind if I purchase it would they disable the game only or my account with all my other games as well?
Click to expand...

As stated in the article they will only disable the game (orange box) and not alll your other games/account.
 
K

kamorra

Fuck Cancer
bardia said:
As stated in the article they will only disable the game (orange box) and not alll your other games/account.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right. It's late, I should go to bed.
Just bought it
 
G

Gabyskra

Banned
I was buying another key for a friend. The transaction went through and here is the msg I get:

Left 4 Dead Steam Key There are no codes to the product in the base at the moment. You will receive the appropriate code in an e-mail message.

Man. I hope it will be fast.
 
Interfectum

Interfectum

Member
From what I understand if the code is a legal EU code (ie not a pirated copy) it is completely legit to use it... you can't fault the online retailer for selling it for so little as long as they got a legal copy. Also from what I understand is it is okay for a US account to use a EU product as long as the EU product is released in the US. For other countries this is not the case but from what I've researched it seems EU <-> US is okay as long as both countries have the released the same game.
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
Also, if a game is released in a country without free trade agreements, as is the case within the EU, and the game box clearly states "Only to be sold this x country", as was the case example in the Shacknews links, you are are bummed so do not bother.
 
A

arstal

Whine Whine FADC Troll
I really don't think companies should have the right to price discriminate like this.

Factor Price Equalization is legal in any other industry. If you buy stuff in china, it's not like when you reach the US they make you grab ankle.

To me, this is nothing more then getting a sale, like when I got Mount and blade for $7.50 on the Steam deal, then used the Steam CD Key on the official game to get out of using Steam.

You are paying for it, so you are not a pirate. Buying used or cheaper does NOT make you a pirate, it makes you smart. (unless you're buying used at Gamestop) If the game is used, that means someone didn't get enough value from it to keep it.

And yes, this is the one area that I disagree with Stardock on as well.
 
I

Ikuu

Had his dog run over by Blizzard's CEO
Seems G2Play.pl has added a few more games recently, mainly by EA (using the EA Downloader, but at these prices it seems worth it). And you can get Burnout for €15 and Red Alert 3 for €11, and they also have Orange Box for €9.
 
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