Ubisoft is trying to wipe out key reselling with 'silent key activation'
The solution: nobody actually gets any keys.
www.pcgamer.com
News Ubisoft is trying to wipe out key reselling with 'silent key activation'
- Thread starter lashman
- Start date
www.pcgamer.com
This isn't just killing the "Grey Market" but will seriously hamper charitable give-aways and gifting as well. 
OP
- Thread Starter
- #5
thanks, ubi ...This isn't just killing the "Grey Market" but will seriously hamper charitable give-aways and gifting as well.
This would kill off sites like Steam Gifts if it is ever widely adopted.
So even further limiting agency over digital purchases. Great. As if limited licenses replacing physical medium ownership wasn't bad enough. Thanks Ubi.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #8
it's great that ubi continue to find new and creative ways to fuck over PC players
This reads like every publisher's wet dream. 2019 has been a shitshow for PC gaming so far...
OP
- Thread Starter
- #12
that's because it is ... right after streaming
yeah, no kidding ... it's getting worse and worse by the day
I guess I'll just come out and say it outright that I'm the Senior Editor of a (small) website that does video game reviews. Oftentimes, PR companies send us keys directly for reviews.
I wonder how this will impact us? Of course, we're too small for a company like Ubisoft to care about, but I do wonder about indies.
I wonder how this will impact us? Of course, we're too small for a company like Ubisoft to care about, but I do wonder about indies.
So true. Last thing missing is pc games being distributed as (unmoddable) encrypted UWP apps, and pc gaming has been turned into console gaming completely.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #16
it won't
at worst you'll have to activate them "the new way" ... not really a big deal as far as reviews go ... but a HUGE one when it comes to consumer rights
yes
that's the future publishers want
I don't think it's that easy. When I get a key, I can now assign it to my team via PM on an app like Slack.
When PR mails a retail copy, I always send it to my house first then I redirect across the US since we work remotely.
Using the method here, I suspect we would have to have some sort of "Master Steam Account" that is shared or something.
I don't like this at all....and that's before mourning sites like CDKeys (which, TBQH, hasn't been all that cheap or cost effective since Prey IMO).
I mean it makes complete sense for Ubi, but as customers it is worse This still means we can get discounted games on GMG/fanatical or whatever though, but other pubs will definitely start doing this too.
This still means we can get discounted games on GMG/fanatical or whatever though, but other pubs will definitely start doing this too.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #19
i mean - they might just stick to keys for reviews .... it would be even easier for them to track that stuff in case some of the reviewers end up selling their keys ... so it's a win-win for ubi
oh, they absolutely will ... you can be 100% sure of itI mean it makes complete sense for Ubi, but as customers it is worse
... and more importantly - i would also like to point out this one bit in that article:
Man, I like Ubisoft but this is a dick move. Will make giveaways awkward.
I blame Epic
OP
- Thread Starter
- #21
i'd say it'll make giveaways impossible
I'm sort of in the same position as I also run a small-ish gaming website. One that I can get the hears of some PR and companies, Ubisoft has not been on. Still, we have dealt with Epic Games Store and I'd imagine it would be similar. That PR would still have codes to provide, as in EGS's case, but they would be providing those codes to the public (stores) anymore.
Funny enough, I don't think this will do anything for companies like CDkeys and such sites since they just get their codes from physical boxes.
Is gray market key reselling really eating into their numbers that badly? Publishers are the ones who flood the market with cheap bundled keys in the first place.
Is gray market key reselling really eating into their numbers that badly? Publishers are the ones who flood the market with cheap bundled keys in the first place.
I have not had to deal with EGS yet. One reviewer bought Metro: Exodus out of pocket (I have not had a convo with them about EGS, but I was glad they were willing to take the "hit.") Another reviewer did Death's Gambit which was Discord timed exclusive or something. Maybe I'm thinking of a different game (not Salt and Sanctuary).
Anyway, all of this is a big headache. TBQH, I would be using Steam and Battle.net exclusively, but I only have Origin and Uplay because they require that I do even when I buy from Steam.
Double-post because I just thought about something else:
FREAKIN HUMBLE BUNDLES!!!!
What is (IGN?) gonna do as a business???
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It probably doesn't eat into their numbers in a significant way. But that's not the problem. Stock companies have one goal and one goal only: Make more money. Making a good profit just isn't good enough in our western economies, you have to make the most profit at all cost!
Taking 100% control over the digital market will let them dictate it even more, it will increase margins for them, give them more accurate sell numbers, allow them to control pricing even further and more detailed. This is probably something they are currently learning because of the epic deals: It is okay for their games to not be on as many stores as possible. Fewer supported key stores = tighter price ranges = more profit in the long run and they can control everything behind the scene.
I don't agree completely. I do see this removing the grey market, but nothing more. An example of this is Greenmangaming. They sell discounted Ubisoft games and they use SKA. I've heard rumors of this happening in the past and now it looks that many publishers are going to be going this route.
Not saying I agree with but publishers have been trying to kill off / restrict the grey market for a while now. Like what's been having with G2A. It's sadly, the only real alternative.
As for Epic Games, this has been in place long before EGS became a thing.+
Ubisoft Connect - Ubisoft's Automatic Game Redemption Process
September 19, 2018 04:22
Green Man Gaming has integrated with Ubisoft Connect allowing customers to automatically redeem and add games to their Uplay Account.
What is Uplay? click here to find out more.
Uplay PC keys bought from Green Man Gaming can be added to your Uplay PC library with a click of a button via the order confirmation page and 'Your Purchases’ section on Green Man Gaming as well as through the order confirmation email.
Customers will need to make sure they are logged in to their Uplay account, when prompted, to redeem their game. A history of all redeemed Uplay PC games is available in ‘Your Purchases’ within your Green Man Gaming account.
Uplay PC keys will no longer be provided for Uplay purchases.
Please note that refunds cannot be offered if a Uplay PC key has been allocated to your account. If a redemption button is present in ‘Your Purchases’ within your Green Man Gaming account then your key has already been allocated.
I don't really have much of an opinion on the Ubi thing specifically, but I just now read that article on PC Gamer, read another article on Ars Technica about some guy trying to make retro ROMs available for streaming, there's the Google streaming thing, bullshit games as a service, and the ongoing weird Steam backlash (for basically providing too many games and too much consumer choice)...
Lately it has indeed seemed like there's juuust enough assholes out there looking to somehow bring the Golden Age of PC gaming to an end, and turn it into just another walled in console war drama.
Lately it has indeed seemed like there's juuust enough assholes out there looking to somehow bring the Golden Age of PC gaming to an end, and turn it into just another walled in console war drama.
What? You don't like competition?
J/K.
I agree. But the issue is there's not enough places exposing this crap. Way too many people not caring and ultimately, the all mighty dollar outweighing anything else.
As for Steam, people are just stupid. Valve does it's own shit, people complain. They back down and listen, and it's your not doing enough. Valve has single handily made PC gaming and storefronts what they are today. Yet, many forget the crap that early Steam users had to go through. EGS, while I use it because I refuse to miss out on certain games, can kiss my ass. Crappy consumer service, crappy tactics (money hatting), Tim Sweeny is two-faced at times and I a poor feature set.
Argh.
Ubi did this with the Division codes from AMD products already. There was no key or anything to resell. When you got the game reward you had to log into your Uplay account and press a "Redeem" button.
Of course people just sold the AMD accounts that the game was tied to but you can't do that for everything.
Of course people just sold the AMD accounts that the game was tied to but you can't do that for everything.
Exactly my point. This isn't new, I suppose it's just not commonly know. That is until now.
They were paid for those keys that GMG was using though. Maybe I am misunderstanding something here, but they just want to cut out the middle man key distribution. Something that is, probably, already in contracts when buying those "lists of keys", just not effective or easy to enforce. It totally makes sense from their perspective, I agree on that. Destroying the middle man is not the sole purpose imo and companies taking more and tighter control over stores isn't optimal for us costumers. If Ubi can influence and dictate every single step of the selling process they are more likely to control the market and who is able to sell their product, at what price, quantity and margin. It gives them more power and leverage n the long run.
There is also the retail key market like over at CDkeys.com They buy keys from cheaper regions of the world and sell them to richer parts of the world for a highly reduced price. That's also a grey area that Ubisoft will stop one day in the future.
They are making good money, despite grey markets existing. They'll make even more money without them and we all will have to pay more because of it. But I'm also a pessimist, so... we'll see.
I don't know how to feel about this.
It's not like the keys we get now are all that different,
I don't like how this will essentially destroy gifting and giveaways - unless there is a backend in the system for Dev's and whatever Queen qualifies as to allow for keys to still exist for such things.
If gmg/humble/fanatical type resellers arent taken out by this, it shouldnt be too bad.
It's not like the keys we get now are all that different,
I don't like how this will essentially destroy gifting and giveaways - unless there is a backend in the system for Dev's and whatever Queen qualifies as to allow for keys to still exist for such things.
If gmg/humble/fanatical type resellers arent taken out by this, it shouldnt be too bad.
Yet another system of control explicitly designed to fuck over the people whom enjoy the most benefit: the customers.
The thread banner image is apt.
The thread banner image is apt.
This might be an option for Europe? It's certainly not an option for US/NA since the keys for Ubi games on CDKeys are region locked.
Their keys are only locked at activation, I believe. So if you have a VPN you could get around it. But with this new method, maybe that won't work either. A while ago, I tried activating a copy of AC Odyssey through a promotion but it turned out to be for NA and even though it activated successfully, it wasn't visible/playable in my account.This might be an option for Europe? It's certainly not an option for US/NA since the keys for Ubi games on CDKeys are region locked.
Well....there is always vpn >_>;;;This might be an option for Europe? It's certainly not an option for US/NA since the keys for Ubi games on CDKeys are region locked.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #43
thank you
ubi seem to be generally obsessed with fucking over PC players at every possible step ... have been for yearsAnother solution looking for a problem. Not sure why they're so obsessed with this.
remember that "93-95% are pirates" quote? i truly think they still actually believe that and are only selling their stuff on PC begrudgingly
they haven't done a SINGLE consumer-friendly thing that i can remember (i don't consider giving away "free" games as consumer-friendly)
oh, i don't even have to check to know there are TONNES of people posting stuff like that on reddit etc.
so like a week after release then?
possibly ... but previously when you got the key you could just give it to someone ... now they'd have to make a humble account (if they don't have one) to redeem it
Ah yeah, that can be an unneeded hassle. Though generally any gifted steam key doesn't require a humble account to redeem them.thank you
ubi seem to be generally obsessed with fucking over PC players at every possible step ... have been for years
remember that "93-95% are pirates" quote? i truly think they still actually believe that and are only selling their stuff on PC begrudgingly
they haven't done a SINGLE consumer-friendly thing that i can remember (i don't consider giving away "free" games as consumer-friendly)
oh, i don't even have to check to know there are TONNES of people posting stuff like that on reddit etc.
so like a week after release then?
possibly ... but previously when you got the key you could just give it to someone ... now they'd have to make a humble account (if they don't have one) to redeem it
OP
- Thread Starter
- #45
i see ... hmm ... maybe it'll be the same with udontplay games then ... guess we'll find out soon enough
It does seem like a lot work to give away games now, after legally purchasing them. Feeling less like a fan of this than I was earlier.thank you
ubi seem to be generally obsessed with fucking over PC players at every possible step ... have been for years
remember that "93-95% are pirates" quote? i truly think they still actually believe that and are only selling their stuff on PC begrudgingly
they haven't done a SINGLE consumer-friendly thing that i can remember (i don't consider giving away "free" games as consumer-friendly)
oh, i don't even have to check to know there are TONNES of people posting stuff like that on reddit etc.
so like a week after release then?
possibly ... but previously when you got the key you could just give it to someone ... now they'd have to make a humble account (if they don't have one) to redeem it
Plz base pc gaming gods, bring back small box retail for pc games
OP
Steep sales for Ubisoft games follow a very strict schedule,Fuck off with this shit Ubisoft. You already killed grey market prices and stopped selling physical copies in the US, now you are gonna pull this? I guess I am just gonna have to wait for steep sales from now on.
Like, from Far Cry 5 and New Dawn, you can see how the prices will not reach Primal or FC4 prices. FC3 and Blood Dragon are even cheaper, and FC2 and FC1 can be bought for free.
I have objections to this. Just off the top of my head, you can't buy the original PC version of Asssassin's Creed 3 on Steam anymore. Your only options are grey market keys-slash-old-physical-copies-with-keys-inside or piracy. You can't digitally buy Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow on Steam anymore. The grey key market has risks of abuse, but it also allows people to legally access games that have become unobtainable through normal channels. For example, Alan Wake wasn't available on any digital stores for a while, until MS gave Remedy some money to help them pay to get the music relicensed. During that period, the only way to get Alan Wake aside from piracy was old physical copies or grey market keys.
This is pervasive across the industry. Due to Activision and Bethesda not seeing eye to eye, you can't legally buy the excellent Wolfenstein 2009 on Steam anymore. But I'm sure there are grey market keys floating around.
Today it's Assassin's Creed 3. (Bear in mind they do appear to be working on fixes for the rather borked AC3 Remaster, but the fact remains...) What's next? What happens if Ubisoft decides to stop selling Far Cry 2 due to compatibility issues they're not interested in fixing.
For a long time, "find a grey market key" has been the go-to workaround for corporate bullshit. And we are going to see ever increasing amounts of corporate bullshit, I think.
This is pervasive across the industry. Due to Activision and Bethesda not seeing eye to eye, you can't legally buy the excellent Wolfenstein 2009 on Steam anymore. But I'm sure there are grey market keys floating around.
Today it's Assassin's Creed 3. (Bear in mind they do appear to be working on fixes for the rather borked AC3 Remaster, but the fact remains...) What's next? What happens if Ubisoft decides to stop selling Far Cry 2 due to compatibility issues they're not interested in fixing.
For a long time, "find a grey market key" has been the go-to workaround for corporate bullshit. And we are going to see ever increasing amounts of corporate bullshit, I think.