G2A is digital storefront for games but instead of selling games as they are, the store simply resells game codes for redemption on other platforms such as Steam, Origin, and so on.

For the past few years, the website has been embroiled in a controversy because of its poor security measures that have allowed people to buy and sell game codes that were acquired through stolen credit cards and other not-so-legal methods.

Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds Entertainment is one of the many studios who’s been suffering from the consequences of G2A’s crappy business model. Subnautica game director Charlie Cleveland recently tweeted out that they’re waiting for G2A to pay them US$300,000 due to losses incurred through refunds from customers who got scammed or cheated by sellers on G2A.

Hey @G2A_com – thank you for offering to pay 10x the revenue lost due to our @NS2 game keys sold on your shady platform. CC @RaveofRavendale

You now owe us $300,000. Thanks. https://t.co/J5qof6wBZD pic.twitter.com/Oq97ofLoLD

— Charlie Cleveland (@Flayra) August 12, 2019

Cleveland is asking specifically for US$300,000 because it was G2A that promised to pay developers 10 times the amount they lost through chargebacks due to fraudulent deals on G2A. Unknown Worlds lost US$30,000 dealing with credit card refunds of their game Natural Selection 2.

Now, Cleveland didn’t just tweet this out randomly. The game director mentions a certain tool in the tweet above and this was what prompted the tweet. Just about a month ago, G2A announced that they are keen on developing a key-blocking tool that would allow game developers to basically block certain game keys so that they can’t be sold on G2A.

If only things were that simple (heck, it should be). G2A stated they will only start working on this tool if 100 developers sign up for it. To put the cherry on top, they even set a time limit, specifying that they want those 100 names in the list by the end of July 2019.

A recent update from G2A confirms that only 19 developers have signed up so far and because they “want to encourage more developers to join the cause”, they’re extending the deadline to the end of August 2019. They also cite that Gamescom is one of the reasons for this extension.

Honestly, I don’t think they’ll hit their target even by the end of August 2019 because I believe that developers don’t trust the platform at all. I’m not kidding when I tell you that some developers even said that they preferred gamers to pirate their games rather than buy off codes from G2A.

Please, if you’re going to buy a game from G2A, just pirate it instead! Genuinely!

Devs don’t see a penny either way, so we’d much rather G2A didn’t see money either

— Mike Rose (@RaveofRavendale) June 30, 2019