In all reality, what can Steam do? Tons of these sites pop up every day. It's not Valve's job to keep track of which ones are "official", as most people who go to them already know that they aren't.
Steam will definitely tell you so though, when you get the game revoked and complain to Steam support about it.
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I think that's not fair. Either they ban the keys in the first place, so that when you activate the game - it'll say so, or leave them as they are.
If there's black market around these keys - it's the distributor's problem. Not the player, who sometime cannot tell which site is what.
Besides, I do think that those (UltimatumGameKeys) are legit, since I've bought a few games (including the latest RO2) and had no problems what so ever.
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I read the terms and conditions of Intkeys and was no impressed at all. I tend to steer away from all the key sites though, some of them are pretty seedy.
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If pre-ordering BF3, this is the cheapest place I have found so far: http://www.hispasolutions.com
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You can find a list of approved cd-key stores here: http://steamunpowered.eu/steam-alternatives/
I'm sure you'll find a cheap store. :)
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The ones in the first list are - or are at least approved by the games distributor. GreenManGaming and GetGames often have cheap games which register on Steam, and are totally safe to buy from. GetGames for example have Red Orchestra 2 cheaper than both the cd-key sites posted above, and it's legit.
The second list at the link are cd-key websites, like Ultimatum Game Keys, which are not approved. Personally I would highly recommend never buying from a cd-key store - unless you are happy to risk your Steam account, or risk getting an unwanted version of the game. Read the "Buy at your own risk" warning at the site which Zunami linked to, and they say the same thing.
I personally go so far as to avoid entering giveaways here which can be bought at a cd-key store. Not that I'll win anyway, but no point wasting my points, if I'm going to get paranoid about my account being disabled, should I happen to win.
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GreenManGaming is excellent, especially with the usual 15% pre-order discount combined with a 20% off coupon. I bought Dead Island (and DLC) for $33 just the other day. Deus Ex was available for pre-order at around $28 (with a 20% off coupon). Would be dumb to risk buying the game at a cd-key store for the sake of a dollar or two, in my opinion.
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I understand what you mean. I also tend to not trust websites, but those that I recommended (UltimatumGameKeys) are trustworthy from my experience.
I'd be happy if ppl could share a few positive thoughts about the websites they buy from (except for the known ones, such as GMG), so that we could find some cheap bargains for real, that will actually last.
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GMG tends to be about as cheap as these other sites but are restricted on the games they offer. The price is a lot more but if you start putting your refer link around you get £5 (Americans only get $5 :p) credit to your account for people who use it and make their first purchase - the person doing the buying gets the same. Combine that with 15% pre-order discount and 20% off vouchers fluttering around all of the time and it could work out very cheap. I got Dead Island for about £18, down from £30.
Not going to post my refer link here but if anyone wants it, add me on Steam - though people keep setting up threads with their own refer links on here so I'm sure you wont be short of one to use.
Best of all - completely legit, no grey areas like with these CD key sites.
Edit: Forgot to add, and not sure if this is just UK customers, but if you sign up for a LoveFilm account through the Amazon site you get a £15 Amazon voucher. I just pre-ordered TES V: Skyrim for £27.99 and used my £15 voucher to knock that down to £12.99, plus Amazon gave me a free Prime upgrade so I got free next day delivery even though my Prime runs out before it expires. Game will activate on Steam. Of course this can only be used once, but it's still a cracking deal just for looking around a bit.
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The CD key sites buy these games from places around the world that sell games for less than their US equivalents, like Russia.
Authorized digital distributors like GMG make business deals, contracts and all, directly with the publishers of those games to buy licenses in large or unlimited quantities (e.g. either a heavily discounted fixed fee or a recurring flat fee for however many they can manage to sell in the agreed upon timeframe), and their savings get passed onto you.
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Steam cuts of prices very drastically and still earns a few bucks.
This means (economical principle) that we get screwed :-)
I must say though, that I find Steam's sales sometimes amazing.
The whole Company of Heroes pack for 4$!
The whole Commandos pack for 4$
(a while ago)
Stuff like that makes you smile...
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Here you can find also Steam Keys very cheap..
http://www.elitepvpers.com/forum/steam-trading/1415215-trusted-keyshop-ea-steam.html
Battlefield 3 only 25€..
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Well, I bought a few of such games, and I am still alive.
I have the receipts, why shouldn't it be legal?
Why would Steam ban my account, if I payed good money for games?
Well, I can't afford spending 50$ on a game, but when it's 12$ or 15$ - it's an acceptable price.
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I bought BF3 there for $28 (using their 5% off facebook code :P). Amazing price. I would avoid VPN stuff if i was you though... Since its an origin key i didnt mind buying it on that site. But i tend to go on gmg for cheap prices on pre-orders for steamwork games :D
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Well, I did see some reviews on that Ultimatum website. The people who reviewed them, gave them 9.6 of 10!
That is why I chose to recommend them in the first place. This is the first time I find good reviews + prices, besides the "regular" stores (such as GMG and etc.)
See here:
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I also bought some stuff from g2play.net . sometimes they have great deals.
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I don't know - the only thing I trust is the certificate (Lock icon, https protocol).
I don't believe this bullshit called "Mcafee secure" or that other one "SiteLock secure". I think it is only for customer satisfaction and trust, rather than real value.
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Intkeys can be trusted, Buy all my steam games there (those that are available there that is) and It works perfectly fine. The keys are retail keys so you CAN'T get banned. They get retail copies from a supplier and sell the keys.
http://i.imgur.com/q6JSj.png These were bought from Intkeys.com, all works fine with no problem (Im swedish so shit is expensive if I dont buy it at intkeys)
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I am vincent from intkeys.com we buy straight from the suppliers in bulk
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Hi Guys,
My friends and I bought a few games from them.
They have very good prices and very good customer service.
Ultimatum Game Keys
A few examples:
Dead Island (VPN) - 24.89$
Dead Island Red Edition (VPN) - 36.49$
Dead Island + DLC - 35.99$
Warhammer 40000 Space Marine (Region free) - 26.89$!!
Call of Juarez The Cartel (Region free) - 26.99$
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (VPN) (Pre-Order) - 33.99$
Assassins Creed Revelations (Pre-Order) - 32.99$
Battlefield 3 (Pre-Order)- 29.59$ !!!
Battlefield 3 Limited Edition (Pre-Order) - 41.99$
Red Orchestra 2 - 24.69$
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augmented Ed. (Region free) - 32.99$
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (VPN) - 23.99$
Deus Ex: DLC Explosive Mission Pack - 9.98$
FIFA 2012 (Pre-Order) - 29.99$
Good luck.
Would be happy if you could share your thoughts :-)
(If you think this post violates the rules, please remove it).
Totally forgot:
If you like them on Facebook, you get another 5% discount voucher.
UPDATED: updated the list.
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