G2A says it already meets Gearbox’s demands

The public spat between Gearbox and key reseller G2A has taken another twist.

Gearbox recently got itself into a pickle by teaming up with G2A for the promotion of Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition. It was only after going public that Gearbox seemed to become aware of G2A’s controversial background. It attempted to fix this by laying out a list of demands, saying that if G2A did not amend its procedures to adhere by them, it would withdraw from the partnership.

And when nothing happened, withdraw it did.

Now G2A has in a long statement argued that the changes demanded by Gearbox were unnecessary.

In it G2A argues that the only reason it has a bad rep is because of targeted criticism from members of the YouTube community: This is an excellent example that rash actions, without full knowledge of the facts, can be harmful to both the developer and the marketplace.

Most of the allegations levied against us are based on both a lack of knowledge, and a lack of desire to learn the other side of the story.

"Some developers, and a few influential YouTubers… would like to spread an image of G2A.com as a place which exists from being an intermediary in selling illegally acquired keys. This depiction is far removed from reality.”

Of the specific demand that its G2A Shield buyer protection be offered to all user and not just those who pay, G2A said: "The main purpose and function of G2A Shield is to provide buyers with immense convenience and comfort, as well as additional features such as ten per cent cashback (which actually ensures that the Shield subscription cost and more is refunded to each person that buys games more than once every few months)."

It also argued that it refunds buyers who are sold dodgy keys out of the goodness of its own heart even though it is under no legal obligation to do so: "Our marketplace only loses due to fraud, as G2A.com refunds buyer’s(sic) out of our own pocket for keys that stop working, even though we have no legal obligation to do so. We even issue refunds for keys that stop working a year and a half later, regardless if the buyer had a G2A Shield subscription or not.”

G2A refused to open its flagging system to developers, claiming that such a move would be open to abuse.