Steam sells games without having keys for them!
While criticising Valve for "killing games with their low prices" EA trolls Valve by not giving them the keys for EA games, so Steam offers games they have never paid for.
Update: I am now able to play the game, after four days waiting. -.-
It is unfortunately a temporary solution. The key is "requesting key" for everyone, which means I have no personal one yet and it is now in the hands of EA itself. Secondly I am not able to play online because I have to link my not existing key with my existing EA/Origin account. However, for me it is unacceptable to wait four days after downloading, until I can play a game I bought via internet because the company who sells it did not own the keys.
Steam's summer sale comes to an end and many gamers have obtained some games for very low prices. Everybody is happy and wants to play the new games but wait... What's this?
I wanted to start Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box, but instead of launching, an error message comes up: "Failed to contact key servers”. WTF??? Valve sells games from other publishers without having bought them yet? Lots of players are annoyed, asking Steam "what's going on?"
It looks like Valve did not calculate that so many Steam users are going to buy games like Burnout Paradise or NFS: Hot Pursuit. It's funny; the same thing happened during the winter sale seven months ago with other EA games. So why didn't Valve buy more keys for EA games?
That may not be Valve's fault at all. A few days ago EA claimed the mega sale of the steam store is killing games because of large discounts. Is this EA's counterattack?
I do not know why Valve offers content they have not bought yet, but I am really angry about it. How could Valve sell games without having enough keys for them? Does Steam refund the money? Are new keys on their way?
» Source: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=534
» Tagged In: #CD Key, #community showcase, #EA, #steam, #valve
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g1 DISCUSSIONS
AlejandroGent39
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Bors Mistral
I was about to purchase that too and then I saw it required an EA account and thought better of it...
blackJack
I never said it's EA's fault, I meant it could be EA's fault, I am just speculating ;-)
Neither the singleplayer nor the multiplayer was functional, the whole game did not work for two days, that's what I am angry about.
P.S. Steam sent me a key yesterday, I am now able to play the multiplayer too.
Heigen
EA once again shows why they should crash and burn.
AbolishedShadow
Technology isn't perfect and your a fool for thinking so. The process of buying and downloading a game is for the most part automated. So when the keys ran out it still kept selling it to people. Just stay patient because im sure Valve will get those keys to the rightful owners. Also, I would just like to point out that if the game had denied you purchase because the keys ran out. I guarantee you would have been just as angry because you would have missed the sale. Can you really blame Valve for not wanting to over purchase keys.
Driftwood
Agreed. And I also got to add that even if ea act like the videogame worlds equivalence of the devil they still are a serious and professional company pulling a stunt like the one you are speculating about seems way to childish and counter-productive, it would only strike back against themselves. also I ( no offence to the writer) dont see why this has been fronted since the only thing "newsworthy" was that steam has run out of keys wich they probably will fix asap, the rest is mere speculation.
Shadx
I gotta agree. At least you have the game and will eventually be allowed access to it. If it had just denied you a download, you would have been pissed.
This is just one of many reasons I'm not really into PC gaming. I know a lot of people swear by PC gaming and declare that everything else is inferior, but hey, at least when I buy a game I never have to worry about being locked out by errors or the like.
Heigen
I can see this problem coming if consoles digital shops had sales, oh wait they don't have those.
Shadx
Actually, Xbox Live Arcade has weekly deals.
AbolishedShadow
I both enjoy consoles and pc for different reasons. PC is better when it comes to performance, no question, but it does cost more and you need pay attention to system requirements. Systems are nice because their cheaper, the hardware will last for quite a few years and games are designed for the machine, not the other way around. I just like to say though you can be locked out of console games just like pc games. One of my friends was locked out of his BF3 multiplayer for a bit because the online pass that came with his game was not valid. I took two days for EA to clear that up after he called.