G2A announces new measures to appease game developers

Key-reseller marketplace G2A has revealed some improvements to its offering to keep game companies happy.

The firm has announced that studios and publishers can now make money from third-party auctions. One of the criticisms levelled at G2A by publishers was that they didn’t see a penny from some sales of their keys, as sometimes these have been stolen in the first place.

Note that publishers can only take up to a ten per cent slice of proceeds, and they have to apply to get it.

G2A is also opening its database to developers, meaning that companies are able to track a key’s history. This will help companies find out where stolen keys sold on G2A’s marketplace are coming from.

Furthermore, G2A is going to be giving priority placement first-party sellers, i.e. keys being sold directly by publishers. Developers are also able to customise their pages to list products and promotions. Meanwhile, consumers can also donate money to developers.

"As a leader in the digital gaming marketplace, we recognise our responsibility to serve the greater good for the entire gaming industry," G2A said in a blog post.

"Recent events have demonstrated that we need to move faster to introduce new benefits designed with developers in mind, and invite them to play an even bigger role in creating the marketplace of the future.

Thanks to all those who have provided input and feedback to improve the G2A marketplace – gamers, developers and influencers alike. You motivated G2A to climb the mountain and see the whole landscape for the good of the gaming industry. What we saw was an industry changing rapidly, and a need to support developers in new ways."

This new set of features follows a war of words between G2A and indie publisher TinyBuild. The latter claimed that the way in which the former was set-up had resulted in a loss of $450,000. TinyBuild claims that the majority of codes for its games sold on G2A by third-party sellers were the result of credit card fraud.

G2A responded to TinyBuild’s accusations, saying that it had suspended all sale of the indie publisher’s games and declared its demands ‘unjustified’.