CD Projekt Red has cast some doubt over the legitimacy of Green Man Gaming as a CD Key retailer. Earlier this week, GMG launched a sale, offering up Witcher 3 pre-orders for $39, which is significantly lower than the standard $60 price. However, a CD Projekt Red rep has said that the developer is not sure where GMG is getting its codes from.
Grey market retailers are fairly common in the PC gaming world, with G2A and Kinguin being two of the more prolific examples. However, Green Man Gaming has often proved to be a genuine source
In a statement sent through to Gamespot, a CD Projekt Red representative said that Green Man Gaming's Witcher 3 codes are coming from an “unknown source”, meaning none of the money generated by GMG's sales will go back to GOG.com or CD Projekt Red.
So this does raise the question, where is Green Man Gaming getting its codes from and how often does it go through non-official channels? The retailer has yet to comment on the issue but hopefully it will clear things up soon.
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KitGuru Says: The problem with grey market retailers is that none of the money generated makes its way back to the developer. Hopefully this all turns out to be a misunderstanding but for now, if you actually want to support the developers behind The Witcher 3, then you are better off pre-ordering though GOG or Steam.
“a CD Projekt Red representative said that Green Man Gaming’s Witcher 3 codes are coming from an “unknown source”, meaning none of the money generated by GMG’s sales will go back to GOG.com or CD Projekt Red” what nonsense, at some point cdpr had to make compatible codes for the game, or did someone wish them into existance
It could infer that the keys were or are thought to be stolen.
perhaps, but one would think if they thought they were stolen they might of said that, although they may have found that a little inflammatory since as they said they don’t know the source, to be fair this all smacks of airing ones dirty laundry and really should be delt with by the two companies in question and not left to the court of popular opinion
Why doesn’t CD Projekt Red simply purchase a key for $39 and then they would know exactly where the key came from… seems like the investment would be worth $39 before making accusations.
GMG is a shady site. I’ve tried purchasing codes from them with other games. Most of the time they are a few days to weeks late. All of which were “pre-orders”…I feel sorry for whomever is buying said Witcher 3 game. Lol
I ordered stacks of games from GMG without a single hitch – always arrived early and never late. No idea what happened in your case!
Most likely a retail employee that has his hands on pre-ordered stock that is currently held until release. My advice to all potential buyers is either you buy it from Steam/GoG or wait until the situation clarifies.