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Thread: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

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    PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    The install codes are taken from cheaper markets' boxed copies and sold on in the west.
    Read more.

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    *** edit *** The link is working now.

    In the article it says:
    The widespread PC code stripping means that some consumers are being stung by region-locked game codes that do not work whilst publishers and retailers are losing money. These factors combine to have a negative effect on the gaming industry.
    This to me, sounds a lot like they are blaming the symptoms and not considering the cause. Take a look at the Game.co.uk website and this week's top PC downloads.

    The average game price comes to £32.34 and it is hard to understand why games released 12 months ago are still retailing at £39.99 when they still have bugs that were present on day one of release, or even why games would retail at very specific price points. Clearly the pricing is completely arbitrarily decided and is no reflection on development time or costs, or even quality.

    At the end of the day the people that are looking for cheaper keys are people that feel that they are not getting a good return on their money when they buy games at full price, it would be great to see a publisher start to release AAA titles at more affordable price points to see if that has any impact on sales figures. I know I am very tempted to get Gauntlet at that price and I most likely wouldn't be looking for cheap keys should I decide to get it.
    Last edited by KeyboardDemon; 22-09-2014 at 04:07 PM.

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    Though I haven't used such services as far as I am aware, I think that there should be global pricing and not region-specific, so as a result everywhere should be able to get the lower price.

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    My mate picked up the new Need for Speed: Most Wanted on a re-seller site, and after installing, found out the key was Russian, which meant Russian-language only (something that wasn't mentioned at the point of sale). He spoke to Origin CS, and the guy he spoke to explained what had happened.

    As the CS agent put it, "At least vroom vroom is the same in any language!".

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    Output (22-09-2014)

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    Quote Originally Posted by MaverickWill View Post
    As the CS agent put it, "At least vroom vroom is the same in any language!".
    Now I've got coke all over my works laptop! You shouldn't be funny over peoples dinner times!

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    Wow, this is news?

    Pretty much every game I have bought outside of steam sales and humblebundle in the last 3 years has been from key sellers and with the issue of "Russian keys" it isn't hard to figure out the keys are from cheaper regions.

    It's how you buy pre-orders for £20 (most recent was Dead Rising 3 pre-order for £16!). I am surprised more people aren't clued in as the sites and prices are mentioned quite often all over the internet.

    Check out the indexer allkeyshop.com to get an idea of how many are selling them and they don't even index everyone.
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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    I've bought a few games via this method including Elder Scrolls Online. Considering that sometimes this may work out nearly half the price of buying in the UK what do they expect to happen?

    If EA etc are happy to make a profit from a game at the price they charge the Far East then perhaps they shouldn't be fleecing the rest of the world then? I can understand some differences due to local taxes but the 'base cost' of the game should be same/similar worldwide.

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    Quote Originally Posted by MaverickWill View Post
    My mate picked up the new Need for Speed: Most Wanted on a re-seller site, and after installing, found out the key was Russian, which meant Russian-language only (something that wasn't mentioned at the point of sale). He spoke to Origin CS, and the guy he spoke to explained what had happened.

    As the CS agent put it, "At least vroom vroom is the same in any language!".

    Any legitimate cd key site would specify is one is region locked or not so hopefully your mate looked more closely next time .

    I use cdkey resellers, I refuse to pay £35 on amazon or £40+ on steam for a pc game port or a basic pc game.... it should be back to the old days of £20.
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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    Quote Originally Posted by shaithis View Post
    Wow, this is news?
    Alas, as someone who rarely buys/plays games this is in fact news to me! Glad to see the "global economy" working it's magic

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    Another example of how big business fail to keep pace with a changing world, to some extent the internet has broken down borders yet big business still cling onto outdated thinking to protect their revenue.

    Different pricing and different release dates are a throw back to the days before digital media, it's about time they wake up to the fact that people aren't going to pay different prices or wait until something is available in their country just because that model works for them.

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    To be fair if i was to buy from a local game store or online and have it delivered a new game would cost around £40-50 i have used these websites occasionally and paid anything from £25-30 for a brand new game your just not getting the disk and case but why pay more ?

    If they are that worried about it maybe they should as somebody has already said have a single GLOBAL price!

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    Hmm my last reply vanished (or is in some other phantom thread of the same title).

    I'm surprised this is news as well - there have been several threads discussing it on Hexus over the last few years. Consensus seems to be that most resellers refund if the game is region locked, but also Hexus users are aware of the possible long-term impact (publishers moving to consoles) but don't care because most people are only concerned about short-term.

    Single global price is hard because purchasing power of different regions varies greatly - a high price has a lower relative affordability barrier in the west than poorer parts for example. Pricing games according to market affordability is in line with how every other product is priced more or less - they are a business after all. But if the market becomes globalised then it's more or less inevitable that we'll end up with a global price - which means a cheaper game for us, and more expensive for asia regions - that means games will end up being tailored more for those regions (who have more numbers after all) and we'll bemoan the lack of traditional (western) PC games.

    And the answer to that is of course kickstarted games where users fund the development up front. That comes with it's own drawbacks, such as possibly having to accept a quite different quality of game than we're used to, but a lot of people are OK with that.

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    It's utter rubbish to claim that this is harming the gaming industry. It's the same tired old argument they always use about piracy. But the reality is, the prices they're asking in the UK are too high and people aren't willing to pay them. Only a few of the people who use these cdkey reseller sites would have paid full price for the product. Most simply wouldn't have bought the game at all.

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    I Went to buy Sims 4 on launch upon logging into Origin Store the basic version was £49.99 (...? WTH), so i went down Asda to buy the retail edition and it was £37.99 so begrudgingly i picked it up went to the counter and was told it was out of stock. So after i got home I checked the prices on amazon, Play etc and in the end found a CD key site and ended up buying the limited edition version for £26. I received the key instantly, punched it into my origin account and downloaded the game. Ignoring the fact that i went to all this hassle for the Sims...i walked away with a much better deal because of: a) EA's Greed and b) Luck with Asda being out of stock.

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    Quote Originally Posted by Numenor View Post
    It's utter rubbish to claim that this is harming the gaming industry. It's the same tired old argument they always use about piracy.
    Well depends what you mean by harm. If deciding to focus on consoles rather than PCs is harm then it might be, but I agree with your point below.

    But the reality is, the prices they're asking in the UK are too high and people aren't willing to pay them.
    The latter part of that is certainly true. I don't know where the recent expectation of value has come from - possibly linked to the 'people buy games in sales' shocker but in the past, games were more expensive in real terms than they are today still.

    Only a few of the people who use these cdkey reseller sites would have paid full price for the product. Most simply wouldn't have bought the game at all.
    I think that's the relevant point - yes, it does screw up their sales intelligence (wow - lots of people in asia like our games, lets ask them what they want in our next game.) but like the sales thing, they need to work out what it's actually saying.

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    Re: PC game code stripping is widespread says report

    Quote Originally Posted by Numenor View Post
    It's utter rubbish to claim that this is harming the gaming industry. It's the same tired old argument they always use about piracy. But the reality is, the prices they're asking in the UK are too high and people aren't willing to pay them. Only a few of the people who use these cdkey reseller sites would have paid full price for the product. Most simply wouldn't have bought the game at all.
    But how many people pirate your game, where do they live and how much are you charging in their region?
    If you're charging £50 over and above everywhere else, there's all the data EA and whoever else needs to combat most piracy!!

    Knowing so little about it beyond their existence, I've never used key sites myself (though I would be interested if it's actually legal and cheaper and fits my region), but I did get bought Titanfall and the purchaser used a key site. My game was in Russian and I had to use the seller's instructions to hax it into Angliyskiy, whereupon it worked until the next game update and I haven't played TF since... it being a crap game also didn't help!!

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