OS Neutral whats the script with cheap game key sites? are they legit?

[madeirabhoy]

a few mentions on here and other sites about sites like g2play.net and cdkeys.com, and from looking at them they offer steam keys a lot cheaper than steam or greenmangaming, but don't seem completely cosher. even the good comments on the internet a lot of the time are along the lines of 'one of my games got banned by steam but the site gave me another key'

are they legal? do the games companies get paid? how do they get such cheap prices?

 

[Cougarcat]

They buy keys from cheap countries like Russia and other places in Eastern Europe, and sell them for a profit.

 

[madeirabhoy]

They buy keys from cheap countries like Russia and other places in Eastern Europe, and sell them for a profit.

so it is legit then? but i guess the companies factor in less money from those countries so buying the code from them deprives the developer? although i guess its no different to buying things in the steam sale then?


how come though, on every site, you find people on forums saying they had keys blocked, albeit generally the site gave them another one straight away?


dont mind getting a bargain, just wouldnt feel right if they were generating codes and the developer got nothing. id be as well to get it from piratebay and save paying the pirate.

 

[Cougarcat]

how come though, on every site, you find people on forums saying they had keys blocked, albeit generally the site gave them another one straight away?

Because it's technical against the steam TOS to use a key from another country. You'll probably be fine though.

They are "legit" in the sense that they won't steal your money but they aren't an official reseller and Valve doesn't like them.