So after recently having an adventure with the Square-Enix store, because it turns out they used an illegal tierce-party system from a company I am suing in a group action, here comes another problem that is grave in terms of implications:

People who legally bought an Indie Gala bundle containing a Days Under Custody key which, as it is probably the case for 99% of the other games, is probably being paid in turn by Indie Gala to the publisher (otherwise they would be there), had their Days Under Custody key revoked.

First, this system shouldn't exist in the first place, it's no wonder it's mainly used by scammers in key market, trading or gifting: once you get a key, especially if you bought it, NOBODY should be able to take it back from you WITHOUT due process.

Because this is the equivalent of you buying a smartphone/console/whatev in a legal shop, then having someone from the company forcibly getting into your house to take this smartphone back which, EVEN if they refunded you is a breach of a commercial contract, and it gets worse when they don't even refund you.

NOW I'm not saying there shouldn't be a system to be able to retrieve say, stolen keys, but this current system ends actually being more beneficiary to scammers, whether they are publisher or key reseller by the way, than legal owner AND is probably illegal (as always with the digital, it's not sure what the physical contractual equivalent of this revoking system is, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't stand one second against consumer or commercial laws).

BUT, on the same theme, I appreciate something that Steam does which Apple doesn't: A digital store is the equivalent of a remote CD/Book/DVD library shelves of which the access to media is granted when you pay for a licence. Therefor, as long as you bought a licence for an item in this library, it should be accessible at ALL time, and I like the fact that Steam users can still access games they bought even if they have been removed from the store.

Meanwhile Apple is scamming you out of some bucks here and there when you buy content which then disappears from the library without Apple issuing a refund. And for those doubting the illegality of it: Apple WILL refund you the app if it's not accessible on the store anymore because that's how the law works in this case, thank god for consumer laws.

8 years ago

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Should Steam....

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Keep that system, I like being screwed
Change that system into a better one
Delete this system completely
Potato Under Custody

Well if you bought the key from steam then yes you would have a case of them revoking a key as long as you paid for the game itself.

Now if they keys were "stolen" and you bought a key you have no ownership over it. Why? Well because whoever sold it to you had no legal title to the property and couldnt pass it on to you EVEN if you bought it in Good Faith. Basically in any situation if you knew it was stolen to not knowing you have no legal right to possible stolen goods.

In this case thought it was a honest mistake of miscommunication from the Dev's to steam. So things should be sorted out but i say that they should keep the system and people should remember "Buyers Beware". If you want to stay safe then buy from a good/trustworthy site that you know have the keys legally if not then you might or might not lose money on it.

8 years ago
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I understand why developers want a revocation scheme--theft of physical copies to get keys is a real issue. HOWEVER, with more screwups like this happening, it's clear that the process does not have enough authentication.

8 years ago
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ok, i found that i have won Days Under Custody here, should i now mark it as not received?

8 years ago
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Wait for the issue to be resolve, they will probably reactivate the keys

8 years ago
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It's the digital equivalent of buying stolen goods: you usually have to return the item and you may be prosecuted or not depending if you were aware or not that the goods were stolen. In this case returning the item means revoking the licence.

In order to get your money back you have to revert to the individual/site that sold you that key. Good luck if they are of the shady type (aka fencers) who bought a huge amount of keys using stolen credit card numbers before disappearing in the nature. It's not the responsibility of the developer/publisher to reimburse you.

8 years ago
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