If I can only buy games as gifts on Steam and not as keys, where do 3rd party resellers get theirs?

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If I can only buy games as gifts on Steam and not as keys, where do 3rd party resellers get theirs?
Posted On: October 16, 2023

3rd party game key resellers like Kinguin or G2A sell game keys right? Supposedly the key sellers are just other users. I as a user as well cannot seem to buy keys from Steam though? I can only buy the games as a gift.


With that in mind, where do these 3rd party resellers buy their keys to begin with? I highly doubt they buy it from the developer themselves since there seems to be a bad relationship between the two groups.


Question from user user9564371 at stackexchange.


Answer:

I as a user as well cannot seem to buy keys from Steam though?


There are a number of legitimate sites which provide Steam keys with purchases, such as Humble Bundle, Fanatical, and Green Man Gaming. In addition, the developer/publisher of the game can generate keys and sell them however they'd like, or even give them out freely. Steam provides an API for both of these cases.


Cheap keys on reseller sites are usually one (or more) of:.


Purchased during a sale.


Purchased in a country with lower prices, but still considered the same "region".


Included in a "bundle" which contains multiple games for dirt-cheap (Humble Bundle and Fanatical have a lot of these).


Given away en masse by developers on sites like SteamGifts.


Leaked from some database.


Only in the last case are the keys illegally obtained (and will likely be revoked). Unfortunately there's no way to tell a legitimate key apart from an illegitimate one on these reseller sites.


Answer from user BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft at stackexchange.



[BACK]
If I can only buy games as gifts on Steam and not as keys, where do 3rd party resellers get theirs?
Posted On: October 16, 2023

3rd party game key resellers like Kinguin or G2A sell game keys right? Supposedly the key sellers are just other users. I as a user as well cannot seem to buy keys from Steam though? I can only buy the games as a gift.


With that in mind, where do these 3rd party resellers buy their keys to begin with? I highly doubt they buy it from the developer themselves since there seems to be a bad relationship between the two groups.


Question from user user9564371 at stackexchange.


Answer:

I as a user as well cannot seem to buy keys from Steam though?


There are a number of legitimate sites which provide Steam keys with purchases, such as Humble Bundle, Fanatical, and Green Man Gaming. In addition, the developer/publisher of the game can generate keys and sell them however they'd like, or even give them out freely. Steam provides an API for both of these cases.


Cheap keys on reseller sites are usually one (or more) of:.


Purchased during a sale.


Purchased in a country with lower prices, but still considered the same "region".


Included in a "bundle" which contains multiple games for dirt-cheap (Humble Bundle and Fanatical have a lot of these).


Given away en masse by developers on sites like SteamGifts.


Leaked from some database.


Only in the last case are the keys illegally obtained (and will likely be revoked). Unfortunately there's no way to tell a legitimate key apart from an illegitimate one on these reseller sites.


Answer from user BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft at stackexchange.



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