G2A
 | |
| Web address |
www |
|---|---|
| Commercial | Yes |
Type of site | Video game distribution marketplace |
| Registration | Yes |
| Available in | English, Dutch, Spanish, French, Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Arabic, Romanian, Turkish, German |
| Users | Over 6 million |
Alexa rank |
 1,681 (as of January 2016)[1] |
G2A.com (normally referred to as G2A) is an online video game distribution marketplace co-founded by CEO Bartosz Skwarczek and Dawid Rożek[2][3] The platform allows users to sell video games to customers. The site currently has over 6 million customers and serves 250,000 new customers each month.[4] Similar to eBay, G2A itself does not sell the keys and software on the site, the users do. G2A acts as a intermediary, connecting the buyer to the seller. This has caused controversy in the gaming community.[5] G2A offers a protection against fraudulent sales called "G2A Shield", a paid service. G2A sponsors multiple gaming teams, including Cloud9 and Natus Vincere.
Charity
On 1 December 2015, G2A, along with multiple Twitch.tv streamers, YouTubers, websites and gamers participated in a program dubbed #GamingTuesday. It was to raise funds for the charity Save The Children.[6] In 2014 to 2015, G2A raised over $500,000 for Save The Children.[4]
G2A, partnered with Bachir Boumaaza, the creator of Gaming for Good, created the Humanitarian Emergency All-Out Response Team (HEART). Both projects were designed to help and support children, charities and help with disaster relief. G2A had partnered with Boumaaza before in projects like Gamers got Heart.[4]
Controversy
As the keys sold were not always bought directly from the developer, sometimes the companies would not receive any money from the sales.[7]
Riot Games sponsorship ban
Riot Games, developer of League of Legends, banned G2A from sponsoring teams during the 2015 League of Legends World Championship. The reason behind the ban was Riot believed the keys sold on G2A were illegally obtained. Riot also claimed G2A was selling fully leveled accounts, which was also against Riot's terms of service.[8] The statement was released publicly on a League of Legends subreddit on 6 October 2015. The statement read: "We’ve already formally banned them as a sponsor as of September 18th, and have no plans to reconsider the decision at this time, this was NOT a decision we made lightly, and came after many weeks of back and forth conversations with G2A to find a resolution, which we were not able to reach an agreement on".[9]
G2A response
G2A called the ban "an aggressive attack" and the company had tried many "friendly ways" to sort out the issues with Riot Games. G2A banned accounts selling elo boosted League of Legends accounts, which was a main factor of the ban. G2A claimed that Riot did not cooperate with G2A in their attempts to fix the issue and instead responded with other demands such as banning the sale of game guides on their marketplace.[10]
References
- ↑ "g2a.com Site Overview". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
- ↑ "The Early History of G2A". PR Newswire. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ G2A.com. "G2A Winter Wonderland Party - Celebrating the Birthday of the G2A.com Marketplace". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
- 1 2 3 "G2A.COM and Gaming for Good Announce: 'Humanitarian Emergency All-Out Response Team' (HEART)". PR Newswire. 3 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ Martin, Jim (4 January 2016). "Is G2A safe? G2A.com sells PC game keys for Steam, Uplay and more. We explain why it's not a scam.". Tech Advisor. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ "Gamers, Streamers and Vloggers Gear Up for Giving Tuesday to Give Back to Save the Children". Save The Children. 11 November 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ Parlock, Joe (7 October 2015). "Riot bans key reseller G2A from sponsoring League teams". Destructoid. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ Walker, Alex (7 October 2015). "Riot Bans Key Reseller G2A, G2A Could Abandon League Of Legends Sponsorships". Kotaku. Gawker. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ Pulliam-Moore, Charles (8 October 2015). "Riot Games has banned G2A from sponsoring teams in the 2015 League of Legends World Championships". Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ↑ Chalk, Andy (9 October 2015). "G2A calls League of Legends sponsorship ban "an aggressive attack"". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved 8 January 2016.