Steam Revokes 7,000 Stolen Sniper Elite 3 Keys

[fix-the-spade]

As you mention at the start of your post: why would you buy from a third party? Especially if it's not a proper retailer.
That alone indicates that you weren't looking for legitimate business, which is a fault of noone but their own.

Most CD key sellers are legit, real addresses, real people, buying from publishers like everyone else does. If you're buying dodgy region locked keys from eastern Europe than no sympathy, but this is affecting the genuine stores too.

So far, seemingly all of Europe's big CD key sellers have been affected, including a number who (claim to) get their keys direct from Publishers. CJS have been particularly scathing whilst a couple of other sellers are openly accusing Rebellion of punishing sellers for negotiating better prices via regional publishers, instead of buying at marked. It hasn't gone unnoticed that the Steam option Rebellion are recommending is a lot more expensive than the pre-order price most of these 'stolen' keys were sold at.

Whether that's tin foil hat talk or not remains to be seen, but this is a company that sues people over the use of the word Rebellion (Tim Langdell style) so I wouldn't call implausible, merely improbable. It also begs the question where these keys came from and how they got 'stolen' since Rebellion controls the supply and these stores buy the keys from either the developer directly or the publisher.

 

[RicoADF]

It's not a small amount of cash even discounted to say $10 a copy right now that is a loss of $70,000. Full price it's around $350,000. I think the lesson here is simple, buyer beware. If you are buying from some unknown website that has only been around for a short period of time, maybe the couple of dollars saved isn't worth it. It sucks but I thing everyone has gone through this from time to time getting ripped off by criminals. It sucks but you hopefully learn from it and make better decision in the future.

From what I've read it sounds like it's not small time untrustworthy stores but rather larger ones like Green Man Gaming, ones that have a proven record as a reliable and trustworthy source for games. As such I would expect they would honor the refund and chase the theives themselves.

 

[Blaze the Dragon]

I don't see how this is up for debate as an issue really, at least to me Steam is perfectly in the right in doing this, it kinda sucks for the people who basically had their money stolen, but I wouldn't want to be mugged in the street either. Think of it like this to make it more personal:

You have a fancy watch, and your watch gets stolen. A day later the guy who stole your watch sells it to someone who doesn't know it's stolen, and pays $100 for it. Eventually everything is sorted out and the watch is found to be stolen, now:

1) Should the third person keep the watch they bought? No, it was your watch and it is still your property, the second person had no right to be selling it.
2) Should you pay the third man back for taking back your watch? No, why should you have to pay for the second person's crime?
3) Should the third person be compensated? Yes, the third person should be compensated, but not by the victim of the crime. If the second person is caught, he will be the one returning the money to the third party.

After all, if the first person, or steam in this case, had to pay back the cost of the product stolen from them, then the original crime might as well have still happened, they would still be losing the same amount of money equivalent, so that in no way fixes the problem of the original crime. And dealing with digital goods doesn't change anything in this case.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

There's nothing wrong with looking for a cheaper alternative.

But I do find it funny how absolutely no necessary information was provided about where these stolen keys were being sold from. Otherwise, we're just stabbing in the dark about whether this is ethical or not.

Bought it from somewhere reputable and trustworthy like GOG/D2D? You should be compensated by them for your trouble, unless they just want to alienate their customers.

Otherwise, you're just the moron who took the risk by getting that banana bread from the crooked fellow in the backstreet instead of just ponying up at an actual retailer. Stop being a dumb-dumb.

 

[Albino Boo]

From what I've read it sounds like it's not small time untrustworthy stores but rather larger ones like Green Man Gaming, ones that have a proven record as a reliable and trustworthy source for games. As such I would expect they would honor the refund and chase the theives themselves.

Before posting please try and check your facts. The article contains a link to a list of retailers unaffected by the theft and number 6 is Green Man Gaming.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/238090/discussions/0/540744936577983546/

 

[Britpoint]

It's hardly the customer's fault that the sites they trusted were hocking stolen goods?

This isn't a case of 'buyer beware' as most of the victims in this case bought the keys from legitimate sites...

If legitimate sites are selling stolen keys then they are not legitimate sites. That's kinda the definition of 'legitimate'.

You're correct in that in isn't the consumers fault that they got burned, or at least no entirely, but it isn't Rebellion or Steams fault either. If people want a refund they need to try and get it off the company that sold them the stolen key, not the company that had the key stolen from them.

"I'm sorry sir, that car you purchased from that dodgy dealer was stolen. We're taking it back to its rightful owner."
"What? That's outrageous! I demand the rightful owner buys his own car back from me!"

 

[TaboriHK]

"Get refunds from thieves" is about the most condescending advice Valve could give.

 

[webkilla]

Protip from someone with a cop in the family: (I'm sure I'm not the only one with that here)

If you buy stolen goods, without knowing that it was stolen - that is, you did so in good faith... not out of the trunk of drug-dealer steeve's buick... then you won't get prosecuted for doing so.

But you still have to surrender the stolen goods.

And you do NOT get a refund from the original manufacturer. At best you can try to get a refund from the black/grey market dealer you got the thing from. Indeed, get refunds from thieves - not a likely prospect.


I have no pity for the people who fell for this. Steam has dirt cheap sales as is, and if you want a game at launch you know that you'll have to pay more for that.

 

[TheAsterite]

It's hardly the customer's fault that the sites they trusted were hocking stolen goods?

This isn't a case of 'buyer beware' as most of the victims in this case bought the keys from legitimate sites...

If legitimate sites are selling stolen keys then they are not legitimate sites. That's kinda the definition of 'legitimate'.

You're correct in that in isn't the consumers fault that they got burned, or at least no entirely, but it isn't Rebellion or Steams fault either. If people want a refund they need to try and get it off the company that sold them the stolen key, not the company that had the key stolen from them.

"I'm sorry sir, that car you purchased from that dodgy dealer was stolen. We're taking it back to its rightful owner."
"What? That's outrageous! I demand the rightful owner buys his own car back from me!"

GMG isn't a legitimate site? News to me.

 

[CelestDaer]

I just don't get why people stole a game that was posted free on Steam a couple weeks ago... that's where I got my copy of it. I also don't see why Steam would be acting the way they are when it was free, even if for only a day...?
Edit: Never mind, I thought this was about Sniper 2...

 

[Hydrahunter]

It warms the cockles of my heart to see so many people who understand that the victim shouldn't be punished twice. (Rebellion is the primary victim here)

 

[Zeckt]

From what I've read it sounds like it's not small time untrustworthy stores but rather larger ones like Green Man Gaming, ones that have a proven record as a reliable and trustworthy source for games. As such I would expect they would honor the refund and chase the theives themselves.

Before posting please try and check your facts. The article contains a link to a list of retailers unaffected by the theft and number 6 is Green Man Gaming.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/238090/discussions/0/540744936577983546/

The fact is, if they bought from one of those sites they WILL get their refunds so that's invalid.

 

[Albino Boo]

From what I've read it sounds like it's not small time untrustworthy stores but rather larger ones like Green Man Gaming, ones that have a proven record as a reliable and trustworthy source for games. As such I would expect they would honor the refund and chase the theives themselves.

Before posting please try and check your facts. The article contains a link to a list of retailers unaffected by the theft and number 6 is Green Man Gaming.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/238090/discussions/0/540744936577983546/

The fact is, if they bought from one of those sites they WILL get their refunds so that's invalid.

No there is no legal duty to refund the money, end of story.

 

[Britpoint]

It's hardly the customer's fault that the sites they trusted were hocking stolen goods?

This isn't a case of 'buyer beware' as most of the victims in this case bought the keys from legitimate sites...

If legitimate sites are selling stolen keys then they are not legitimate sites. That's kinda the definition of 'legitimate'.

You're correct in that in isn't the consumers fault that they got burned, or at least no entirely, but it isn't Rebellion or Steams fault either. If people want a refund they need to try and get it off the company that sold them the stolen key, not the company that had the key stolen from them.

"I'm sorry sir, that car you purchased from that dodgy dealer was stolen. We're taking it back to its rightful owner."
"What? That's outrageous! I demand the rightful owner buys his own car back from me!"

GMG isn't a legitimate site? News to me.

Well GMG wasn't selling any stolen keys, as you can see here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/238090/discussions/0/540744936577983546/

 

[Karnesdorff]

Plus, I would imagine that, if any stolen keys were sold on legitimate websites, like GMG or others, they'd be pretty good about giving out refunds. Who'd buy from them again if they weren't?

However, I suspect the people affected by this aren't shouting at the sellers they got these keys from because, in all honesty, they may have suspected at the time that getting really big discount on a brand new game from 'www.ivanstotallynotstolensteamkeys.com' wasn't actually on the level to begin with, but decided to do it anyway. Or, in a moment of stupidity, didn't stop to think for a moment if this was really on the level. If I'm in the pub and someone offers to sell me an iPhone 5s for £50, there's a chance it's legit sure, but how likely is that really?

Buying online or buying in real life the same rule applies, if something looks too good to be true. It is.

K.

 

[antipunt]

Annnnd there is 7000 more people who will probably go pirate the game now. Good call Rebellion.

Truth. I bet that day 100s of 'new pirates' were freshly spawned out of rage and resentment. It's just the little push they need to justify their first act.

 

[J Tyran]

From what I've read it sounds like it's not small time untrustworthy stores but rather larger ones like Green Man Gaming, ones that have a proven record as a reliable and trustworthy source for games. As such I would expect they would honor the refund and chase the theives themselves.

Before posting please try and check your facts. The article contains a link to a list of retailers unaffected by the theft and number 6 is Green Man Gaming.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/238090/discussions/0/540744936577983546/

The fact is, if they bought from one of those sites they WILL get their refunds so that's invalid.

No there is no legal duty to refund the money, end of story.

Depends on how you paid, if you used a card of some kind and you inform them the retailer sold you stolen goods they will be more than happy to reverse the transaction so a "refund" doesn't need consent.