A question of what is right

UPDATE: Looks like Cyanide are not happy about being paid less than £40 for their game.

On the official forums, they have this to say:

"Jessica has confirmed that all key's sold by these websites will be blacklisted and become unusable. Any further threads regarding these keys will be deleted."

Link here.

So, if that does happen, I fully suggest that you seek out a refund from G2play. I'm going to contact Cyanide now for a response. In the meantime, I suggest you hold off from buying from G2play. Cheers to Oliver M. for the heads up.

UPDATE2:
I've just heard back from Jessica, community manager from Focus’ games, the publisher of Blood Bowl.

"Concerning the website : G2Play, they sell player keys only. Thus this suppose that the person who buyed the key has already buyed an original version of the game (retail version or digital version). Because g2play don’t give you the file or the link to download the game, they give only the 2 serials [note: "2 serials" refers to the fact that the game requires two serials, one during installation, and a different one when it is first launched - Lewie].

-> If your readers buyed a key on the website they can send all the information concerning the first purchase (the “legal” purchase) and we will able to check with them the key and find a solution.

-> If your readers didn’t buy the game before they are in an illegal procedure (if they buy only the key on the website g2play that suppose that they install the game with the CD or link of someone, it’s forbidden) and we can’t do anything for them.

Can you send me an example of a serials buyed in this website in order to see why a website can sell our game illegally."

Language barrier seems to be a bit of a problem here, but as far as I can tell, according to Focus if you bought the serial from G2play, then either borrowed a disc, or downloaded an ISO, it is illegal, and will be blacklisted. If you bought the game, then for some reason lost your serial, and can prove it, they won't be blacklisting your serial, but I think that realistically that doesn't apply to anyone.

UPDATE3:
More from Jessica:

"Concerning the serials, we are checking how the website could have the serial.

If they stolen the keys it’s illegal. Furthermore G2play is not a partner so they are not authorized to sell the game."

I agree if the keys are stolen, or generated by using some kind of keygen, then they should be blacklisted. However, if they have just been sourced from a cheaper international supplier, then it shouldn't be illegal. You can bet for sure that the packaging the retail release comes in won't all have been sourced in France, they will have gone to the cheapest international supplier, and in my opinion it would be hypocritical to accuse your own customers of being criminals just because they follow the same practise.

Why would G2play not be allowed to sell the game? If that's the case, eBay should be pretty worried. I'm pretty sure that she actually means "we want more money".

UPDATE4:
Another serial retailer, Online Key Store, who are also selling Blood Bowl serials at a discount have responded to blacklisting concerns here.

"We buy keys cheap from asian countries so they cannot be blacklisted, this is a legitimate company not some cowboy illegal operation.

The keys will work fine and they will never be blacklisted because we get them from a reliable source."

UPDATE5:
I've just heard from an Anonymous commenter that serials have started to be blacklisted, with the message:

Error occured!
Your Serial is deactivated.

Can anyone else confirm that this has happened to them too?

Original article:

It's come to my attention that Blood Bowl, a fantasy American football game based on the games workshop property of the same name, has just come out, and is £39.99 to buy.

G2Play, the slightly controversial web site that I have posted about for Steam codes before, are selling serial numbers for blood bowl for about £14. These aren't for use with Steam, these are just standard retail serials.

Now, all you will get from them is the serial number, from then on you are on your own. You will need to find a way of installing the game yourself. You could either borrow a copy off a friend (but I don't think it has had a retail release in the UK as of yet), or you could load up a torrent site, and download an ISO.

During the installation process, you will use the serial number you get from G2play, and a genuine license will be generated for you. In principal, this isn't too different to buying a game, accidentally breaking the disc, and then borrowing a friends copy to reinstall it, but using your legitimate serial number.

You will then have effectively the same game installed as if you had bought it from a shop. You'll be able to play online, patch it and the developers are being paid.

It's a very grey area, and in purely legal terms there is probably something wrong with it at some stage, but I think it is basically moral. How do you guys feel about it? Would you like me to link to deals like this in the future?

If you decide to go for it, let me know how it goes.
Blood Bowl, PC Serial - £14.02


Whilst I am at it, they have a few Steam serials for cheap:
Empire: Total War - £14.53
GTR Evolution - £10.25 (includes a free copy of Race 07)

(Those prices are using currency conversion, and might be a bit off)