this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2026
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So if a person who received a key sells it to someone who might have bought it from the official channels then the devs do not receive that money but the so called “content creator” gets it. The content creator was supposed to make a video or whatever of the game in exchange for the key. It’s also a breach of trust. Basically “content creator” begs for a key and says it’s for video or a stream, but then sells it is just a dick move.
The devs can easily revoke the keys and burn the content creator, they're choosing to be victims here.
This right here is why I never believed the claims either.
I get the claim of they buy the key in lesser off regions for cheaper to sell at a higher price but, steam dashboard allows you to individually disable keys for any reason you like. I wouldn't imagine anyone actually daring to try to resell those(review keys), they would be blacklisting themselves from the industry.
There's the argument that the publisher/dev might be new to it and didn't log who got what key but, I wouldn't bet access to games on that.
It was a gift, no?
Who are you to tell me what to do with a gift. Its mine after you give it.
Software industry understands neither property nor consent.
I think that's stretching the definition of "gift" a bit far, no? A gift doesn't come with strings attached (even if unenforceable).
Then I don't think you've ever received or given a gift? A Faustian bargain is not a gift.
If these streamers aren't being contracted, then it is basically the same as a gift. Selling the key is still perhaps morally dubious if there was an expectation of promotion, but that's as far as it goes.
These streamers are a business expense to drive their marketing department. They could time-limit the keys or limit them to a beta just for the streamers, but they just blindly issue fat tranches of keys and get upset when people use the copies of the game they minted.
The CD key is conceptually the same as a game cartridge. Why would I -not- give away my review copies of a Nintendo 64 title?
Ya'll cooked if you can't see it. You're all jumping infront of the bullet for companies who's purpose is to make money, like Apu.
If your justification is "it's not a crime" you're well aware it should be.
Why should it be a crime? Spell it out for us.
The property becomes mine, I resell it. Nothing here is illegal.
My justification for what exactly? I wasn't justifying anything.
And what do you believe should be a crime? Giving out free keys, or selling keys that you got for free?
If theres no formal agreement and no contract between the dev and the recipient of the key, where/what is the crime??
Selling keys you were gifted to play in order to raise the games profile. See your previous comment if you're still confused as to what's being talked about.
As I literally just said, if your justification is that it isn't a crime, you already know it should be. Seeing as you seem genuinely confused, verbal contracts and agreements in writing (e.g email exchanges) are still contracts, even if not formal.
Okay but then you are still a liar if you pretend to be a content creator so you can source free keys to flip. Why is a dev not allowed to be upset when they got duped by a liar?
Because they should be angry at their incompetent marketing people who didn't vet the keys they sent.
Each key they send has a cost, and this is part of it. There are technical solutions to their problems, in the form of running a beta for the streamers, and releasing beta-only keys
This is a fabricated story because the keys they're complaining about have no reason to exist. Its pure incompetence on the manufacturers marketing teams part.
Also, like, lol... that's entirely on the marketing people to do their job and vet.
I do not care, even in the slightest about a marketing departments "losses" from issuing CD keys.
Not even in the slightest. Its the cost of doing business.
No other industry, not even the software industry, gets to do this.
Unilever sends me some shit to review? They're not allowed to be upset about the eventual fate of those things.
CD keys are property, and property is tradable.
Just because the original intent is X or Y, doesn't mean dick for shit.
If they didn't like it, maybe they shouldn't issue so many free copies.
At some point they have to take responsibility for the keys they're minting. They can always issue time-limited keys.
There's so many technical solutions to it and so much crying over the resale that I just do not buy the story.