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Why does it even matter if the developer/publisher bundled their games multiple times with them? the question should have been, were the developer/publisher paid or not for those steam keys that got revoked.
As said, your rant should be directed at otakubundle for according to yourself the rumors are that otakubundles did not pay for those keys hence they were never really otakubundles steam keys to begin with.
- Steam purchases are handled by valve, and that makes valve responsible for any purchases you make remain valid until they are not.
- Steam keys are third party, valve is not involved with sales nor gets a cut of the keys sold.
third party sites and the dev are respnsible for those keys on their own.
(you can't ask valve to intervene in a matter they were not involve with, they did not sign a contract with the dev and otakubundles prior to the keys being sold there.)
You should take it up with otakubundle to get a refund as they have failed to provide you with what you bought (won). It is important to remember according to the "rumors" that those keys were not paid for which makes those keys subject to be revoked, which is the core of the issue here, if you are not paid for your work surely one should be able to take it back. right?
In conclusion before you blame the developer/publisher look at the real culprit, which is site owner (otakubundles).
To put in perspective, why would the developer/publisher, just cut the loses for your sake? Do you think valve would just cut their loses / EA or anyone else if they had gone to a third party to bundle their games and ended up not getting paid?
Just because you think little of the developer/publisher and their game does not mean they are not entitled to get paid for their work.
Lesson to be learned don't buy from third party sites if you can't handle the frustration of getting a key revoked that probably should be revoked.
Final words, direct your rant towards otakubundle, this is between the dev/bundle site not steam > dev and then bundle site.
Note: this is just an example, there are many other ways keys end up on such places. For example: The keys could also have come from this: https://www.zdnet.com/article/steam-bug-could-have-given-you-access-to-all-the-cd-keys-of-any-game/
Devs need the tools to deal with this, so no, Valve is not going to take away their ability. You need to stop shopping at such sites, and it'll never happen to you again.
isthereanydeal.com only lists sites that are fully legit. And yes, HumbleBundle is among them, because they are legit. Had such an error happened with a paid game, you would have gotten a refund for it when they revoked it.
Report them to Valve Support and see how a drunken bit of fun can ruin a company by having all its products kicked off Steam.
All we know is second hand through other people.
What I want to know is what are the rules/checks and balances governing this? It's not as simple as 'don't buy from Otakumaker, Otakumaker bad' because keys are being revoked for many games, and this is the first time that people have mentioned that particular site as being why.
What about how one dev revoked games from people who gave him bad reviews? Or the dude who was drunk, thought he was 'updating' stuff and deleted the keys instead by accident? Doesn't any of this worry you? None of it's anything to do with Otakumaker. And good luck trying to get Steam to listen, I have been trying to get in touch with them to ask about this for a while now and can't find any way other than the forums or - if I was a journalist - through their PR.
I also think that once we start with the 'well it's your fault for buying from x or getting the key from x' then that's a dangerous slope. I don't think devs should be able to revoke keys at all. How is it going to help them get paid? It isn't, is it? It's just punishing the consumer for something that has nothing to do with them. If Steam wants to come out and say 'don't buy from this site, they're not legit' then okay, we all know not to buy from there. But then bunch keys came on to one of the discussions saying how they were a 'legit site' and fed up with Otakumaker - I mean, if any site looks to me as if it's dodgy as hell, it's a site called Bunch Keys but they're saying THEY're legit and calling out other sites. So how are we supposed to tell?
Being able to revoke keys is actually a way for devs to help them get paid.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/4fntxu/gray_market_key_resellers_and_what_they_mean_for/
There's a lot more links on that Reddit thread you can entertain yourself reading.
Looking at OtakuBundle and this issue, it does seem like the Dev actually supplied the keys directly and just hasn't gotten paid yet. In which case I agree it's unfair, and plain stupid, to punish his own player base and damage his own reputation.
Unsuprisingly when you buy games from AUTHORISED resellers they don't get revoked
Devs require the ability to revoke keys.
If you're 'afraid' of games getting revoked, its because you feel like getting free/cheap games from shady websites but don't want the risk associated with that. That risk is all on you and not something steam has to care about.
(otakumaker is the good guy because they gave you the keys, the fact that they might not have paid for those keys themselves is evidently none of your concern as long as you get what you got from otakumaker even if that means it might be stolen goods, that says something about your character imo.)
if you don't know the reason, then you probably should not start a rant about restrictions towards developers/publishers.
"You, like me, actually have NO IDEA why the keys were revoked, as no one has bothered to tell us officially."
What are you doing here? Did Steam sell you those keys, did the dev/pub directly sell you those keys? No.
OTAKUMAKER did, so direct your rant at them have you done that? I doubt it, because from what i have read so far indicates, you rather point the finger at the dev/pub.
BTW this is not the first time otakumaker is being called out for not paying the dev/publishers. You should do some research on the site and see previous cases.
Furthermore the dev/pub is not punishing anyone, you are punishing the dev/pub because otakumaker stole keys from them and sold them to you, it is beyond me how you are not able to see that you should be ranting away at otakumaker on their forums/discord/support whatever.
The dev/pub does not answer to you, you were never their consumer because you never dropped a penny into their cookie jar. Otakumaker answers to you because they got your money, so they have to explain to you what is going on.
(you don't buy a milk in a store and when it turns out empty, you don't go look up the milk producer, you go to the store you bought the milk from and get your money back or a replacement.)
Some more points
1) Considering what a huge issue it is to have keys revoked from your library, the only 'official' response is brief and wholly inadequate (https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=2697-RADF-7188) There's two reasons given as examples but there needs to be a list of all instances where this is acceptable. You 'should contact the person you got the key from' - but how am I supposed to do that if the 30 day refund period has already passed? Once that's gone I've got no chance of getting a refund, so why can they still revoke my keys?
2) Steam can't point the finger at the resellers when they're the system whereby you can generate and revoke keys. If you're going to allow devs to do that to consumers then you need to provide some recourse for consumers. If you want to wash your hands of it then don't let them do it in the first place. As I say I would suggest after 30 days the key becomes 'locked' to the account it's been activated on and can no longer be revoked. Sure, it's technically a 'marketplace' but it also needs to be governed by decent consumer protection rules - they make money through the sales so they need to take some kind of responsibility for them.
3) Again, lots of speculation as to why the dev did it, we still don't know. I'm not siding with anyone, I'm noting that there has been absolutely NO official explanation. I think that's unacceptable. Whatever the reason, at least let people know, don't you owe them that much? Shouldn't devs have to provide some kind of legitimate reason before they do this? Because clearly they don't and the fact that they can take away games from consumers for no reason after the refund period makes me nervous.
4) A lot of talk about resellers and some being 'legit' and some being not, but no official list. Some web sites like Fanatical say clearly on the site 'authorised steam key reseller' but there's no actual list on Steam. It would be easy enough to just say that you are authorised and it not be true. Why is there no official, regularly maintained and updated list of where it's 'safe' to buy keys from? Then we can all know which ones to use and which to avoid. If the list is via somewhere else like isthereanydeal, then again, it's third party and could be wrong. Anywhere can print a list, it needs to be official and on Steam. If it's not on Steam they can just claim that somewhere we've bought from is a 'grey reseller' and that serves us right.
5) Am I right in thinking that my games that I have bought directly via Steam Store are 'safe'? Has anyone heard of any of these being revoked? What about if the dev has some issue with Steam? Can they revoke games then? Or not? If not, I think maybe I'm just buying games through Steam directly from now on, which is a shame, because most of the time the key is not going to be revoked. It will stop me buying bundles or trying out new indie games, I'll just stick to Steam sales and mainly big publisher stuff. If there's no actual policy here and the devs can do it for any reason, nothing's safe. I suffer from anxiety and I can't deal with it. My steam 'collection' is a big thing to me and has previously given me a lot of joy, now I'm really worried about all my keys disappearing one morning. I'm not going to carry on 'collecting' when keys can get revoked so easily.
6) Am I also right that devs can revoke anything at any time for any reason if you've activated by a key? They can just say 'payment issues' and click a button? That's what it sounds like and in which case, that system just screams for abuse. There's no point pretending or hoping that people won't abuse it. People are going to abuse it. Please stop allowing them to.
you have to direct your complaints to someone else. Steam can do absolutely nothing on this matter.
fyi:
an authorized reseller is not authorized by Steam, they are authorized by the owner of the products because they get the keys directly from them.
there will be no official lists. if you want to know then you can try contacting the owner of the products.
2) Steam has to comply with the dev request of revoking keys. The owner of the keys is the developer, not Steam.
3) Refer to the developer for more information on the key removal.
4) It's quite easy to guess if a given store is a legit seller or not with the internet as a search tool https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/4fntxu/gray_market_key_resellers_and_what_they_mean_for/
5) As long as you buy your keys from legit resellers there's no issue. I've been buying bundles since the begginings of Humble Bundle in many bundle sites and I've never, ever had a key revoked.
6) It's not that easy, it's not that simple and it doesn't happen that often.
The policy is what it always has been dev/p[ubs may at their discretion revoke illicitly generated/distributed game keys. If you didn't buy it from a reputable dealer, then that key is fairly suspect.
You're not asking for a refund, you're asking for what you purchased, say that the key was revoked which may mean the store had no right to be selling that key in the first place.. again this is not something that happens with legit retailers.
Don't acquire keys from questionable sources and this does not happen.
Every key generated and activated needs to have a coresponding receipt, when devs go over their ledgers and find activatiopns or generations that were either attached to credit card fraud or that are missing a receipt, it means shennanigans were involved and they simply revoke the keys.
Not that much speculation. There's only three reasons to revoke a key. Credit card fraud, illicitly generated key, and/or the owner of the key in someway violated the EULA and had the license duly revoked. In the third case those who get their key revoked for this reason know what they did to deserve it, in the case of the other two, that comes from purchasing from shady sources of ill repute. Any reputeable retailer will offer to replace the revoiked key (unless the revocation came due to EULA violation).
Whether a reseller is authorized has nothing to do with steam buyt rather comes from an agreement between the publisher and the reseller. As for a list,. Look if you see sites giving away or selling stuff super cheap... you might want to be careful. This is one of those cases where commonsense prevails. When in doubt about a site, ask around the steam forums.
As long as you don't violate any EULA's
Beyond that the only way that happens is if the publisher was selling the game illicitly or the game contained copyrighted material the publisher /developer had no right to.sell the game in the first place. In which case there is a full refund. The sales contract is rendered null and void.
Payment issues mean thant they don't have a recored of being paid for that key, or the key was purchased with a stollen credit cardm,, the card was chargedback etc. Nullifying a contract can happen but it's not for anything. There usually is some form of contract breakch involved.
You won't get a response from Valve. Firstly, this is a users forum. Secondly, they don't have to respond, they simply do what must be done. Thirdly, there is nothing wrong with th policy, revoking keys is not something Valve does, but is told to do.
What 30 day refund period? It's 2 hours/14 days on Steam.
And you actually should contact the person you got the key from. They are the one who got it to you, they are responsible. A refund period has nothing to do with it, if you want answers, you need to go to the proper place.
Yes, they can and they should. The resellers are the problem. When getting a key from a reseller, Steam is nothing more than an activating platform. Responsibility lies with the reseller, not with Steam. So yes, again, they can and should point their fingers towards the ones where the key came from.
Besides, when a devs issues to revoke keys, Steam has to comply. As said by others, keys are owned by the devs, not Steam.
The dev issues the revoking, so it would be best to get a clarification from them, yes. It's them who should give the official explanation. So again, you're directing this to the wrong people. Go to the dev, not Steam.
There is no list because outside of the Steam store, nothing is truly "legit". Devs choose where they sell their Steam keys, not Valve. Valve rather has that you buy games in the Steam store, where it's safe.
There is also a risk for Valve. If they deem a site as official seller and things go wrong, they'll be the ones looked at. Because Valve verified them.
People opting to buy keys from other sites take a risk and that risk is on them. There is absolutely no reason for Valve to create a list.
Yes, they're safe. There can be cases where devs did stuff horribly wrong, but you'll get your money back in that case.
You're wrong. There have to be sound reasons to revoking keys.
So if you buy keys directly from the developer with a credit card which seems alright but the funds never actually get transferred to the developer (i.e. the payment just eventually fails or you revoke it) they aren't allowed to revoke those keys?
That is literally what it sounds like happened, the developer supplied the keys probably with a "As you sell these I'll need you to give me X% of what you get from them" arrangement and the site never remitted any money to the developer. After an interval when the developer was sure some of them had been activated and they hadn't been paid the developer revoked all the keys it had not been paid for.
This make perfect sense. If you don't trust the company you are dealing with to remit funds to the developer appropriately don't use them.