Ubisoft Restores Some of Those Deactivated Far Cry 4 Keys

Steven Bogos

The Taco Man
Jan 17, 2013
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Ubisoft Restores Some of Those Deactivated Far Cry 4 Keys


Good news! If you've played your copy of Far Cry 4 in some capacity, Ubisoft will restore the key.

Last month, we ran a story about Ubisoft deactivating a bunch of Far Cry 4 CD Keys [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/139604-Ubisoft-Revokes-Far-Cry-4-CD-Keys-Bought-From-Resellers] that turned out to be purchased using stolen credit cards, and then re-sold to third party retailers. Widely regarded as a "dick move", the real losers in this scenario were the customers, who had no way of knowing that the keys they were buying were stolen. Well now there's some good news, as Ubisoft has graciously decided to re-activate any deactivated copies of the game that have been played in some way.

"After further investigation into the matter of keys that were fraudulently purchased on EA's Origin store, we are reinstating keys for consumers who already had successfully activated and started playing the games," an Ubisoft representative told Game Informer [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/02/02/ubisoft-reinstating-fraudulent-far-cry-4-keys-for-customers-already-playing.aspx]. "Any remaining fraudulently obtained and resold keys have been deactivated."

"We are working with EA to prevent situations like this from happening again, and we will continue to deactivate keys that are found to be fraudulently obtained and resold," the representative continued. "We strongly recommend that players purchase keys and downloadable games only from the Uplay shop or trusted retailers."

So, if you had your key yanked from you after already having booted up the game, you can probably expect it to be re-instated in the near future, but if you'd bought a key and hadn't gotten around to playing the game yet, you're out of luck.

It's nice to see Ubisoft come to its senses on this one, though it may be another case of "too little, too late".

Source: Game Informer [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/02/02/ubisoft-reinstating-fraudulent-far-cry-4-keys-for-customers-already-playing.aspx]

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shintakie10

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Sep 3, 2008
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This really should have been the policy from the start.

Though I guess I should give them kudos for not stickin with their original bad plan.
 

truckspond

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Oct 26, 2013
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This didn't really affect me (I bought physical retail due to crappy internet) but it's nice to know that those people who purchased from a seller using keys obtained via stolen credit cards essentially ended up getting the game for free anyway.
 

suitepee7

I can smell sausage rolls
Dec 6, 2010
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shintakie10 said:
This really should have been the policy from the start.

Though I guess I should give them kudos for not stickin with their original bad plan.
putting my conspiracy hat on for a second, maybe this was the plan anyway? Basically a way for them to flex their muscles, letting consumers that they 'CAN' deactivate keys, but just this once we'll let it slide...

regardless, I'm glad that this was the outcome anyway, and I hope that Ubi does continue to investigate to track down the people that stole in the first place so they don't do it again. I'm all for punishment of theft, just so long as they punish the thieves >_>
 

Hairless Mammoth

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Jan 23, 2013
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Well, I guess this is better than saying "tough shit" to the players and letting the resellers take care of the refunds, but what about any players that haven't had a chance to play, yet? I've had many games that I haven't played or installed for weeks while finishing others or I just am not in the right mindset for them when I do have the time. I just grab them when they were at a decent price and had good reason to believe the price would not go lower then that before I'd play them. I guess it at least is good that the people who invested time in the game will get it back. Hopefully, everyone that didn't get their key reactivated will get their money back from whoever took it.

Ubisoft should have really sent out a notices saying that the third party resellers can be shady and Ubi will start voiding keys, in the future, bought directly from them through fraudulent means before being resold to the end user. They instead just treated everyone involved like a villain and are now backpedaling from another round of treating PC users like the absolute scum of the earth.
suitepee7 said:
putting my conspiracy hat on for a second, maybe this was the plan anyway? Basically a way for them to flex their muscles, letting consumers that they 'CAN' deactivate keys, but just this once we'll let it slide...
That is actually pretty plausible. Ubi's PR and sales departments are either staffed my monkeys or has execs with monkey brains micro-managing them. They could really think this will make people stop buying resold keys and other behavior Ubi doesn't like, when, in reality, it just shows the world once again how horrible they are at handling the PC gaming market
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
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SO i guess the plan now is to buy a key that is bought by stolen credit card. install the game, run it overnight and when chargebacks come you wont loose the game.

Please dont do this people. This is much more "Theft" than piracy. except its theft where the end user is being robbed too.
 

Quellist

Migratory coconut
Oct 7, 2010
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I don't like Ubisoft much but they were well within their rights to deactivate keys that were bought fraudulently. This is a really nice move on their behalf, equivalent to giving those games away.

Its not cool to blame Ubisoft when someone sells you stolen goods, whether you knew they were stolen or not.
 

waj9876

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Jan 14, 2012
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IceStar100 said:
For once every body wins
Except the people who bought the game thinking it was from a legitimate source, and put off playing it for a while.
 

Mromson

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Jun 24, 2007
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I'm sorry, but what? Someone bought your game with a fraudulent credit card, then sold it (ie. made a profit), and the person he sold it to is still able to play the game? How the f**k is this a "good on you Ubisoft"? If you're buying your keys from illegitimate sources, then you SHOULD get shafted.
 

Svarr

New member
Nov 2, 2011
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Mromson said:
I'm sorry, but what? Someone bought your game with a fraudulent credit card, then sold it (ie. made a profit), and the person he sold it to is still able to play the game? How the f**k is this a "good on you Ubisoft"? If you're buying your keys from illegitimate sources, then you SHOULD get shafted.
I agree, they wanted good press even at the loss of money.

Shame on those who think Ubisoft are jerks for trying to do the right thing the first time around, buy from legitimate sources or expect the worst.


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