Online examples include Ebay, Amazon and Craigslist. Garage sales, pawn shops and even Gamestop’s used goods are all examples of grey markets. Grey markets circumvent authorized channels of distribution by getting their products from secondhand sources. I’ve run into quite a few people who think sites like G2A solely sell illicit goods when that’s clearly not the case. Hopefully this tidbit of obvious information opens the minds of people who have blindly accepted false information. I’m simply defining black and white before we dive into the sea of grey. Keep in mind we’re talking about legality, not morality. By definition, buying a game key from a grey market key reseller does not make you a criminal or an accessory to a crime. So I took a hard look at the issue myself and here’s what I found.Īccording to Webster, a grey market is “a market that legally circumvents authorized channels of distribution to sell goods at prices lower than those intended by the manufacturer.” The keyword here being “legally”.Īll the people who think getting keys from G2A, Kinguin or any other grey market key resellers is illegal were proven wrong right out the gate with the first, and simplest, piece of information I unturned about grey markets in general.
It’s hard to ignore their prices are too good to be true, but there had to be more to the story than what naysayers would have me believe. All their game keys come from third world countries and anyone who buys from them is hurting the industry at large.” If that’s true then how the hell are these sites still around, let alone thriving? How do they have a partnership with other big name corporate entities like Amazon and Google, or with developers like Hi-Rez Studios and Team 17? I looked into these grey market stores because I got tired of hearing ignorant, regurgitated answers whenever the topic came up. (Although I know they weren’t.) I didn’t steal it and, unlike some people who speak out against grey market sites, I don’t have the luxury of turning down $15,000 in advertising deals and still being able to live comfortably with a $5,000 PC gaming rig. You could show me proof positive that every game key I’ve ever gotten from grey markets was originally stolen and I wouldn’t care. To put this article into perspective, I didn’t look into G2A, Kinguin and grey market key sites in general to soothe some aching moral dilemma that keeps me up at night. Hell, over the last few months I’ve easily gotten 20 to 30 games from G2A, if not more. Those looking for confirmation bias one way or the other may want to look elsewhere.įull disclosure, I’ve purchased keys from G2A before. It looks at both sides of the issue and lays out the truth as presented by the facts of the matter. Disclaimer: This article is not one sided.
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