G2A, a gray market key reseller, came under renewed criticism last year when several developers said they would prefer that users purchase pirated versions of their games rather than buy them in the marketplace. In response, G2A launched an initiative to pay developers ten times the amount lost in chargebacks associated with illegally obtained keys sold on its storefront.

Shortly thereafter, Wube Software, the studio behind Factorio, announced that it would accept G2A's offer. 10 months later, the result: according to GamesIndustry.biz, G2A paid Wube Software 198 39,600 as compensation for the sale of unauthorized keys.

In a statement, G2A said Wube was the only company that participated in the "limited time" offer. The studio initially handed G2A a list of 321 keys that it claimed were sold fraudulently, 198 of which were ultimately attributed to G2A (the others must have been sold in other marketplaces, the statement claimed).

Although G2A initially stated that it would employ a "reliable and independent" auditing firm, G2A itself conducted the investigation into Wube's claims. The company told GamesIndustry.biz that major auditing firms are prohibited from releasing audit results. A spokesperson said, "If we can't release the results of our audit, it means nothing."

Last year, Mike Rose of No More Robots drew attention to new Google ads by G2A, which reignited the development scene's animosity toward G2A. 'G2A is running sponsored ads on Google. In other words, if you search for our game, G2A appears above our link.

G2A said of the findings, "Out of more than 10 million transactions per year, we found that only 198 keys were sold (illegally obtained) through our site. However, this is 198 out of the 321 keys Wube determined to be illegal, representing a whopping 61 percent market share. And comparing the sales of keys for a single game to all transactions on the storefront is dubious, to say the least.

Still, with the settlement with Wube Software now public, it appears that G2A will drop its offer to pay 10 times the cost of chargebacks."

"Now that our main point about the seriousness of fraud in the industry has been made, we will henceforth compensate developers for all chargeback fees incurred if they can prove that keys sold through the G2A marketplace are fraudulent.

Whether developers will be interested in providing that proof remains to be seen: when G2A offered last year to create a "key blocking tool" if 100 developers signed up, only 19 put their names on the dotted line.