Green Man Gaming Fails To Deliver Witcher 3 Codes On Launch Day

[Conrad Zimmerman]

Green Man Gaming Fails To Deliver Witcher 3 Codes On Launch Day

Following a controversial sale, Green Man Gaming leaves many waiting to play.

Earlier this month, we reported on a pre-sale promotion offered by online reseller Green Man Gaming for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt which the game's developer, CD Projekt Red, warned consumers not to participate [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140719-Witcher-3-Fraudulent-Codes-Green-Man-Gaming] in. That warning appears to have been well founded, as the retailer struggled to fulfill orders, leaving many users waiting as long as 48 hours to receive their download code. Some users did get their e-mail, only to discover that the code was omitted.

Green Man Gaming attributes the rocky launch to unprecedented demand for the new role-playing game and a glitch in their automated system which failed to attach product keys to e-mails. According to a post on their blog, all customers should now have been sent their keys, though all is not yet rosy. Several users have reported issues with redeeming the keys [https://forums.playfire.com/gmg/thread/123869] they purchased from Green Man Gaming at GOG.com, the digital distribution system operated by CD Projekt, claiming that the site has determined their codes to be invalid.

In an attempt to smooth things over, Green Man Gaming is offering a 40% discount on a subsequent purchase [https://forums.playfire.com/gmg/thread/123646?page=36#post-4085032] for customers who purchased The Witcher 3, provided they did not opt to request a refund instead of waiting through the delay.

When word of a Green Man Gaming promotion offering The Witcher 3 at 35% off began to spread, CD Projekt Red made it known that the reseller had not acquired the product codes they were offering directly from the publisher, raising concerns about their legitimacy. In response, Green Man Gaming claimed that their codes were purchased from unnamed retailers authorized by CD Projekt Red after they were unable to come to an agreement with the publisher, saying that they (and other retailers) had been shut out in order to give more support to GOG.com.

Source: Playfire Blog [http://blog.playfire.com/2015/05/update-witcher-3-keys-now-going-out.html]

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[Erttheking]

Didn't Projket RED flat out say Greenman gaming wasn't allowed to be selling those codes?

 

[Janaschi]

Didn't Projket RED flat out say Greenman gaming wasn't allowed to be selling those codes?

Unless someone provides a source; no. Try and not to make assumptions - no reason to create sensationalism.

 

[Erttheking]

Didn't Projket RED flat out say Greenman gaming wasn't allowed to be selling those codes?

Unless someone provides a source; no. Try and not to make assumptions - no reason to create sensationalism.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140719-Witcher-3-Fraudulent-Codes-Green-Man-Gaming

There we go. A source. No sensationalism here.

 

[Janaschi]

Didn't Projket RED flat out say Greenman gaming wasn't allowed to be selling those codes?

Unless someone provides a source; no. Try and not to make assumptions - no reason to create sensationalism.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140719-Witcher-3-Fraudulent-Codes-Green-Man-Gaming

There we go. A source. No sensationalism here.

That link proves nothing of your claim. It was only stated, that the source of their codes was dubious, and that it was advised not to purchase from GMG. Nowhere in that link, did they outright say that GMG were not allowed to sell their acquired codes.

 

[Erttheking]

Didn't Projket RED flat out say Greenman gaming wasn't allowed to be selling those codes?

Unless someone provides a source; no. Try and not to make assumptions - no reason to create sensationalism.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140719-Witcher-3-Fraudulent-Codes-Green-Man-Gaming

There we go. A source. No sensationalism here.

That link proves nothing of your claim. It was only stated, that the source of their codes was dubious, and that it was advised not to purchase from GMG. Nowhere in that link, did they outright say that GMG were not allowed to sell their acquired codes.

Ah. My bad then. Just skimmed the article.

 

[Janaschi]

Didn't Projket RED flat out say Greenman gaming wasn't allowed to be selling those codes?

Unless someone provides a source; no. Try and not to make assumptions - no reason to create sensationalism.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140719-Witcher-3-Fraudulent-Codes-Green-Man-Gaming

There we go. A source. No sensationalism here.

That link proves nothing of your claim. It was only stated, that the source of their codes was dubious, and that it was advised not to purchase from GMG. Nowhere in that link, did they outright say that GMG were not allowed to sell their acquired codes.

Ah. My bad then. Just skimmed the article.

Personally, I trust GMG - they have gotten so big, because they respect their clients/community, and provide solid products. I have found myself to trust GMG more than GoG these days, simply because GMG does not improperly sell as many games as GoG does, which do not run properly on modern computers (such as with Deus Ex: IW). Would not be so bad, if GoG put up disclaimers - but they typically do not.

With that example, GMG clearly has on its page that modern graphics cards are not supported.

 

[fix-the-spade]

So, buying the suspiciously cheap game code from the skeevy re-seller who gets their games from don't ask don't tell is likely to lead to disappointment.

Gotcha.

 

[Worgen]

Didn't Projket RED flat out say Greenman gaming wasn't allowed to be selling those codes?

Unless someone provides a source; no. Try and not to make assumptions - no reason to create sensationalism.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140719-Witcher-3-Fraudulent-Codes-Green-Man-Gaming

There we go. A source. No sensationalism here.

That link proves nothing of your claim. It was only stated, that the source of their codes was dubious, and that it was advised not to purchase from GMG. Nowhere in that link, did they outright say that GMG were not allowed to sell their acquired codes.

Ah. My bad then. Just skimmed the article.

Personally, I trust GMG - they have gotten so big, because they respect their clients/community, and provide solid products. I have found myself to trust GMG more than GoG these days, simply because GMG does not improperly sell as many games as GoG does, which do not run properly on modern computers (such as with Deus Ex: IW). Would not be so bad, if GoG put up disclaimers - but they typically do not.

With that example, GMG clearly has on its page that modern graphics cards are not supported.

Hence why gog has a 30 day money back guarantee. Because most of the games that gog sells are old ones that have to be Frankensteined to work on newer operating systems.

 

[Rednog]

So, buying the suspiciously cheap game code from the skeevy re-seller who gets their games from don't ask don't tell is likely to lead to disappointment.

Gotcha.

I cannot find any information on them being a skeevy re-seller. Could you please point out where you got your information from?

 

[fix-the-spade]

I cannot find any information on them being a skeevy re-seller. Could you please point out where you got your information from?

The entire business model of sites like GMG is skeevy.

Buy keys at knock down prices from unverifiable sources and hope they're not stolen and/or the publisher/developer doesn't throw a hissy fit (or the keys don't turn out to be region locked). When they come out and say where they magically get all these cheap keys from it'll be less skeevy, but 'you can totally trust us guys they're from a completely legit guy we know' is not what I consider a good answer.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Again with the sketchy excuses from GMG. It just makes it look like they're trying to cover something up they don't want people to know, although I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because from the looks of things GOG has invalidated GMG's keys because they simply don't know where they came from (just the impression I've got so far, not gospel).

More information is needed here before anyone can form an proper opinion.

 

[SilverHunter]

Again with the sketchy excuses from GMG. It just makes it look like they're trying to cover something up they don't want people to know, although I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because from the looks of things GOG has invalidated GMG's keys because they simply don't know where they came from (just the impression I've got so far, not gospel).

More information is needed here before anyone can form an proper opinion.

GOG wouldn't be able to invalidate the keys because, as said by them, they don't know where the keys are from in the first place. Nor would they know if the keys are from GMG when a user tries to redeem it. GMG is a key reseller, not a retailer. Hence why CD Projekt warned about using them to obtain the game.

As for people saying GMG isn't sketchy? How ignorant are you, really? They are resellers. Just because the retailers were fine, doesn't mean they were also given permission to scalp them off to third party sites. I said this in the first news topic, but there is a little thing called "NOT FOR RESALE" that used to get plastered onto game cartridges from certain stores. Not every game had them, and not every store did this, but it essentially was a restriction to the retailer. There are likely clauses in agreements made when retailers order their supplies, and one of them is likely about resales. As in "don't do it.", hence why GMG refuses to reveal their sources. While not every company has demanded to know where GMG gets the keys from, if even ONE store was leaked, guess what would happen. Give up?

They'd be blacklisted harder than Konami struck Jim Sterling with. We are talking about support for the store drying up quicker than a a rain store hitting the sun. They'd lose out on a large, if not all, of their suppliers. If they didn't close shop immediately, they'd die an agonizing death while they lose games and thus customers, thus losing more support and then more customers, until they eventually die off.

These keys aren't obtained in entirely legitimate ways. The fact they refuse to disclose retailers means it's all under the table, seeing as the retailer just sold off their stock before the game was even available or meant to be sold. Retailer buys games for, say 20 a game. They sell to reseller for 25, who turns and sells it for 30. Retailer isn't going to just sit on a lessened stock, so they likely order more and sell of a chunk of that to a reseller again. It creates excess, and that conflates figures for the developers because now they don't know how many games were "sold"(preordered might be one way of saying it too) for legitimate sales and how many were sold just to stuff a reseller's supply.

 

[Laughing Man]

So after hearing good things about GMG from the general community I thought I would give them a try for my purchase of Watchdogs, on top of them also doing some knock down price and me not wanting to give the full whack to Ubisoft, anyway day or release rocks up, I get a code and it doesn't work it then took 3 days of back and forth via emails to get to a stage where I could finally play the game.... yeah I actually spent more time writing emails than I did playing the game (PS it was shite) but that's besides the point, after that non sense I closed my GMG account and opted to steer clear of them. Now with Steam going down the money grubbing route, 2015 is the first time for five years that I've opted to buy in box DVD versions of games.

 

[EndlessSporadic]

Got mine from GMG just fine and on time, and it is still accessible in my GOG account.

GMG has gotten their reputation for, well, being a reputable key reseller. If they did anything sketchy that is the same thing as throwing away their entire business. I'm not saying it hasn't happened, but I think both sides are hiding something, not necessarily illegal, from the public either due to legal reasons or PR reasons. I get the impression that GOG doesn't like GMG, so it is pretty stupid to think that GOG is the "do no evil" in this case.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

GMG is reputable. Nothing I've ever bought from them has ever been sketchy at all. They've always been fair and upfront. I've a feeling GOG is just not happy they're being undercut by a reseller and tried to pull the rug out from them. Its business and sometimes in business people do dirty things, even GOG. When it comes to business, I don't trust anyone beyond people I've known for years to be ethical. I don't know anyone personally at GOG so I can't say if they're ethical or not, neither can I say for certain GMG is ethical, but certainly if they buy keys legit and resell them discounted, as long as there isn't a mandate from the publisher saying you can't do that specifically, then they can.
Its not sketchy, its just business.

 

[Janaschi]

Didn't Projket RED flat out say Greenman gaming wasn't allowed to be selling those codes?

Unless someone provides a source; no. Try and not to make assumptions - no reason to create sensationalism.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/140719-Witcher-3-Fraudulent-Codes-Green-Man-Gaming

There we go. A source. No sensationalism here.

That link proves nothing of your claim. It was only stated, that the source of their codes was dubious, and that it was advised not to purchase from GMG. Nowhere in that link, did they outright say that GMG were not allowed to sell their acquired codes.

Ah. My bad then. Just skimmed the article.

Personally, I trust GMG - they have gotten so big, because they respect their clients/community, and provide solid products. I have found myself to trust GMG more than GoG these days, simply because GMG does not improperly sell as many games as GoG does, which do not run properly on modern computers (such as with Deus Ex: IW). Would not be so bad, if GoG put up disclaimers - but they typically do not.

With that example, GMG clearly has on its page that modern graphics cards are not supported.

Hence why gog has a 30 day money back guarantee. Because most of the games that gog sells are old ones that have to be Frankensteined to work on newer operating systems.

They say that, but they refused to refund the following broken games:

1. Indigo Prophecy - Version I received, did not allow key rebinding, making it impossible to get through even the first 10 minutes of the game, without the use of a controller adapter.

2. Jade Prophecy - When you are going up against the pirates, the game has a game-breaking bug where an enemy blocks an exit while you are forced out of combat. Since you are out of combat, he can never be moved.

3. Deus Ex: Invisible War - the Ion Launcher crashes due to my GPU.

Their reasoning is that I should have done more research, first - even though they are the ones selling broken games. Fixed the first two by getting a Xbox controller for the PC, and using a mod to fix the JP bug. But SE:IW is still sitting there, unplayable.

 

[SecondPrize]

Man, your last sentence should be the meat for the story you wrote today. "Launch issues for Game." is something we've read all too often but "CDPR stiffs secondary market to promote GoG," would be interesting to read about.

 

[Krantos]

So, essentially, it's a he said, she said situation.

Though, it is interesting to see the various camps here duke it out insisting their respective favorite company is being 100% ethical and it's all an evil scheme by the other one.

*continues to eat popcorn and laugh manically*

 

[flying_whimsy]

snip because it's really long.

That was probably the best explanation I've heard of how the reselling business works. It also shows why CDPR would be so pissed about it.

I feel like the easiest way for CDPR to verify which of their authorized distributors stabbed them in the back would be to buy a few keys off GMG and then check their records for which distributor had it. They could also check in relation to people reporting invalid keys through gog, but that wouldn't be as reliable.

The whole thing seems like a bunch of sour grapes on GMG's part (not to mention sketchy as hell): they didn't get the game at the price they wanted from CDPR, so they tried to undercut them with some less than legit keys. I would say I'm surprised that so many people are leaping to GMG's defense (especially since so many of these same people probably hate gamestop when they use pretty much identical business models), but I know I used to jump to valve's defense once upon a time out of loyalty.

It's just a shame some consumers got caught up in what is pretty obviously a dispute between GMG and CDPR.