Post Comment - Blue's News

Steam Bans Grey Market MW2 Keys

[Nov 20, 2009, 9:49 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

Steam users who purchased keys for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 through what turn out to be grey market sources have found themselves banned from playing the game. Apparently users have been able to buy discounted keys from sources that buy them in bulk for cyber cafes, foreign sales, and similar setups, only to find this is a no-no. A post to the Steam Users' Forums by Valve's BurtonJ says: "If you purchased just a cd key for the game then you purchased from an illegitimate seller and the game has been revoked." In a later post he clarifies: "I am sorry but you all did not purchase from a legitimate retailer. It is recommended that you contact the seller to request a refund. In the future, you should only buy unopened retail boxed copies from legitimate retailers or purchase via legitimate digital download services such as Steam and Direct2Drive." We saw a note about this yesterday with no working links to evidence of this, but found the sources today courtesy of a post on Voodoo Extreme.

Post Comment
Enter the details of the comment you'd like to post in the boxes below and click the button at the bottom of the form.

110.

Re: MW2 Key Bans

Nov 24, 2009, 14:55

Tumbler

This is what I've seen happen so far:

1. Disc Checks - This was ok in my book.
2. CD Keys - a specific code that made it possible to distinguish legit from fake software. Ok in my book.
3. Intrusive Disc check/drm - Programs started trying to dig into the OS so that the disk check software couldn't be tricked into thinking a legit disk was in the drive.
4. Online Activation - HL2 was the first major title to ship a product that was unplayable out of the box. Valve's/Steam's ability to activate the game as much as you wanted while it was tied to a specific account was acceptable but the loss of resale right without valve's permission was a pretty big change. Not ok. Around this time I recall reading comments from well known developers that "pc gaming was dead as we know it" - people scoffed, alarmism they said.
5. Online Activation limits - Other companies wanting to also ship software that is worthless without a code that unlocks it decided that it since they weren't going to establish accounts to permanently assign keys to that there would need to be limits on installs because people would just sell the game after they activated it and someone else could activate it and so on. This was definitely not ok.
6. Activation codes being that were legally purchased get revoked. Codes should be legit but because the company has control over the continued use of the codes they choose to revoke certain codes. (foreign sales, discount dealers competing with major retail partners)

7....?

Doesn't look good at this point...I wonder how much farther things need to go before consumers stop supporting this nonsense. It's not hard to understand why pc gaming is the isle that has almost no security, no locked boxes, little to no shelf space in boutique outfits like eb games, etc, and in the few stores that do carry a decent pc game selection it's overwhelmingly older discounted titles with a handful of newer titles that cost $50. Yet the new titles coming to a more consumer friendly platform like the consoles are overloaded with new titles, they can't afford to carry more than a handful of older games by comparison.

I know it's long been the assumption that PC games are more consumer friendly based on the fact that you can mod them, you have more control options, more graphical options and more control on the platform but it's plain as day that the value of this product is being systematically destroyed. It could be intentional to force people onto consoles where software earns more money, but it's probably a sign that this industry is turning on itself because there are not enough new customers coming into the pool.

And that is the real problem. You're either growing or you're dieing...and pc gaming isn't growing...

So how do you make people want to buy PC's and play games on them?




VGfive.com - Game Trading site (Steam codes too!) Kickstarter "Game Developer"!

Subject

Comment [quote="Tumbler"Nov 24, 2009, 14:55]This is what I've seen happen so far: 1. Disc Checks - This was ok in my book. 2. CD Keys - a specific code that made it possible to distinguish legit from fake software. Ok in my book. 3. Intrusive Disc check/drm - Programs started trying to dig into the OS so that the disk check software couldn't be tricked into thinking a legit disk was in the drive. 4. Online Activation - HL2 was the first major title to ship a product that was unplayable out of the box. Valve's/Steam's ability to activate the game as much as you wanted while it was tied to a specific account was acceptable but the loss of resale right without valve's permission was a pretty big change. Not ok. Around this time I recall reading comments from well known developers that "pc gaming was dead as we know it" - people scoffed, alarmism they said. 5. Online Activation limits - Other companies wanting to also ship software that is worthless without a code that unlocks it decided that it since they weren't going to establish accounts to permanently assign keys to that there would need to be limits on installs because people would just sell the game after they activated it and someone else could activate it and so on. This was definitely not ok. 6. Activation codes being that were legally purchased get revoked. Codes should be legit but because the company has control over the continued use of the codes they choose to revoke certain codes. (foreign sales, discount dealers competing with major retail partners) 7....? Doesn't look good at this point...I wonder how much farther things need to go before consumers stop supporting this nonsense. It's not hard to understand why pc gaming is the isle that has almost no security, no locked boxes, little to no shelf space in boutique outfits like eb games, etc, and in the few stores that do carry a decent pc game selection it's overwhelmingly older discounted titles with a handful of newer titles that cost $50. Yet the new titles coming to a more consumer friendly platform like the consoles are overloaded with new titles, they can't afford to carry more than a handful of older games by comparison. I know it's long been the assumption that PC games are more consumer friendly based on the fact that you can mod them, you have more control options, more graphical options and more control on the platform but it's plain as day that the value of this product is being systematically destroyed. It could be intentional to force people onto consoles where software earns more money, but it's probably a sign that this industry is turning on itself because there are not enough new customers coming into the pool. And that is the real problem. You're either growing or you're dieing...and pc gaming isn't growing... So how do you make people want to buy PC's and play games on them? [/quote]

;) :( :o %) :) :| ;P X| :D More

If you have a signature set up, it will be automatically appended to your comment.
If you don't already have a Blue's News user account, you can sign up here.
Forgotten your password? Click here.

Email me when this topic is updated.

Special Codes

b[bold text]b
i[italic text]i
u[underline text]u
-[~~strikethrough text~~]-
c[code text]c
+[bullet point]+
q[quote text (indented)]q
[quote="Author"]quote text (indented)[/quote]
[url=Link]text[/url]
r{red text}r
g{green text}g
b{blue text}b
m{maroon text}m
s{secret text (shows in the background colour)}s

Forum Rules

Disagree all you want but attacks of a personal nature will not be tolerated.
Ethnic slurs and homophobic language will not be tolerated.
Do not post spam, links to warez sites, or instructions on how to obtain pirated software.
Abusing the forums in any manner that could be construed as 'griefing' will not be tolerated.