For example some keys are bought from publishers or devs with stolen credit cards to sell on those sites and then the owner of the credit cards will request a charge back one he notices the charges.
Now the dev or publisher has no money for the key, has a fee for the payment and or the charge back and the key is still getting sold on those sites.
Humble bundle once lost about 35k that way for example.
The key resellers should have security implemented to prevent such stolen keys from being sold but they don’t, enabling those scammers.
Because keys are randomly generated. To block them, you need some cloud infrastructure and force players to always be online. That’s expensive for indy developers and gamers hate online requirements for offline games.
Possibly, but doing that also opens up the potential for someone who is not legit to work out the algorithm used and build a keygen for it, then they could sell/distribute keys that shouldn’t exist or keys that already exist.
Some games only contact the key server once to tell the server that it’s activating the key with X account, then never contacting again, or only contacting again if an internet connection exists. This will prevent the same key activating twice, while also allowing for offline play post installation.
If a key can be generated, someone could steal a legit key and activate it before the legitimate key holder activates it, which would then result in a “key already activated” error, and a massive headache when the purchaser(s) complains and shows legit receipts.
This is why keys are usually randomly generated and logged server side at purchase, the key is then handed over to the user via secure connection. This not only allows for key activations, but will also allow the company to revoke the key if needed.
Most pirates get around this by blocking or spoofing the “activation successful” message and preventing contact with the activation servers.
Of course this is the general idea behind key and key activations, the true mechanisms are usually more complex than that, especially if a game launcher like steam, ea play/origin or Ubisoft connect is involved, but it all more or less accomplishes the same thing.
For example some keys are bought from publishers or devs with stolen credit cards to sell on those sites and then the owner of the credit cards will request a charge back one he notices the charges.
Now the dev or publisher has no money for the key, has a fee for the payment and or the charge back and the key is still getting sold on those sites.
Humble bundle once lost about 35k that way for example.
The key resellers should have security implemented to prevent such stolen keys from being sold but they don’t, enabling those scammers.
How can the key still be sold after the chargeback? Is there no way for the devs to deactivate it?
Because keys are randomly generated. To block them, you need some cloud infrastructure and force players to always be online. That’s expensive for indy developers and gamers hate online requirements for offline games.
So if you know how the rng works and have a seed you could, in theory, generate keys that would work?
Possibly, but doing that also opens up the potential for someone who is not legit to work out the algorithm used and build a keygen for it, then they could sell/distribute keys that shouldn’t exist or keys that already exist.
Some games only contact the key server once to tell the server that it’s activating the key with X account, then never contacting again, or only contacting again if an internet connection exists. This will prevent the same key activating twice, while also allowing for offline play post installation.
If a key can be generated, someone could steal a legit key and activate it before the legitimate key holder activates it, which would then result in a “key already activated” error, and a massive headache when the purchaser(s) complains and shows legit receipts.
This is why keys are usually randomly generated and logged server side at purchase, the key is then handed over to the user via secure connection. This not only allows for key activations, but will also allow the company to revoke the key if needed.
Most pirates get around this by blocking or spoofing the “activation successful” message and preventing contact with the activation servers.
Of course this is the general idea behind key and key activations, the true mechanisms are usually more complex than that, especially if a game launcher like steam, ea play/origin or Ubisoft connect is involved, but it all more or less accomplishes the same thing.
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