Well that sucks, but can't really blame them for getting their money back. People who buy from shady sellers should know the risks. If they lose everything they bought from said sellers, it's the consumer's fault. Plus Rebellion gave away Sniper Elite V2 before the launch of 3 in order to attract more customers. Intelligent marketing technique, and one that is not used by many. They are an ok dev as far as I'm concerned. Plus, if even Steam users say Steam is overpriced, my trust in PC gaming outside of GOG has been reduced to nothing. Greedy clowns, that's what they are. I'll simply get Sniper Elite 3 for PS3 or PS4.

GMG is a shady retailer? I've got many steam-compulsory games from there, from Borderlands 2 to Tropico 5 and I've never had trouble with lack of keys or keys getting revoked so far.

Following the "sue for Rebellion" news, I doubt I'll get Sniper Elite 3, probably on a 75% sale. I got Elite 2 at near full-price, kinda regretted it.

That's normal practice, it's how I have learned to never get keys off unofficial resellers. It's the unofficial resellers you need to turn to for a refund - you know, the people you actually gave money to.

Since we're talking stolen keys here, Rebellion didn't see a cent of that, and therefore there's nothing for them to refund.

How is it Rebellion's fault?

It could be Rebellion's fault, it could be the fault of the re seller or the fault of the people who purchased those games from the re seller. :) People always blame those they do not like...

I just feel that this particular case is extremely clear-cut: Ask the one who sold you a faulty key for a refund. If it was GMG, they'll either provide one, or lose a lot of reputation and customers.

All it can be advised in this situation then is to buy directly from the source. I know Green Man Gaming is very popular and supposedly legitimate, as Gamer's Gate is suppose to be, but as we have seen even they can do errors. In a situation like this, you can't really do a lot besides contacting customer support and being as civil as possible. People who buy discounted games from shady dealers also have this idiotic ignorance, something close to hypocrisy. They always purchase games at lower prices, basically saving money and "stealing" from the dev, but when something like this happens to them, they run their mouths and pretend they are victims when actually they themselves gambled with their money. Whether it was out of greed or need, a gamble is a gamble.

You raise an interesting point. For at least 15-20 years it has not been legal (in Europe at least) for manufacturers to set retail prices.

Once a seller buys stock it is supposed to be none of the manufacturers business how it is sold. Of course it still happens on a large scale that manufacturers and brands control prices through contracts and threats over retail partners, but occasionally regulators do manage to get a win in court. See Festool (power tools brand) as an example - they are a German company and they recently got hammered for their illegal business practices and you can now buy Festool products at discount across the EU.

I'm not sure how the price fixing law applies to videogames publishing, other than it is illegal to stop an EU citizen in one member state from buying content from another member state.

Pretty sure the main difference here is in the way stuff is sold. With digital retail, they're not selling anything to GOG or GMG or Steam, they're not selling the keys to them. Instead, they are offering to sell them for them, for ~30% of the price. It's a service, not a bought product. That's why the publishers have more influence over digital retailers than brick and mortar retail stores (which are closer the CD-key resellers I guess)

It's not overpriced at all. It's 40 dollars/euros. You might not consider it a game worth such a starting price, but still, compared to what everything else costs at launch it's perfectly reasonable. PS3 retail version (in Greece at least) is more expensive and let's not even get started about the 60+ euros the PS4 version costs over here.

You forget that digital is only interesting for a lot of people while prices are sub-$20. In fact, I would hazard a guess that around 70-80% of Steam users only buy during sales, judging by forums and the top sellers list.

As soon as there's any kind of parity between physical and digital pricing, most people just go for the physical option. The physical (console) version might cost more, but for that you have the right of resale, the lack of online DRM (the huge day-one patch for SE3 notwithstanding, although I understand the game is perfectly playable without it), and sometimes the physical extras like soundtrack CD, artbook, map etc.

So in that respect, yes, $40 is somewhat expensive by market standards. $20-30 is considered the ceiling for new digital games nowadays, with very few notable exceptions (mostly high-level AAA titles, and their success via download channels is doubtful at best).

i havent read a word about this particular case - but i believe most "shady sellers" buy retail boxes in asia, russia, south america etc when the games are not region locked. So buying bulk in cheap country, taking the keys and then selling them at low cost, but still profit for mostly EU/USA gamers.

I have no doubt that its kinda borderline thing and not really liked by game developers - but its still very much legal.

There have been ofcourse some cases, where cdkeys have been bought using stolen credit card info (Natural Selection 2?) or someone has actually stolen physical shipment (possibly some version of BloodBowl) - but i doubt anyone of the bigger shady sellers like say g2play actually want to do that intentionally. Atleast g2play has been around for so long it would be weird if they wanted to destroy their own business.

Well, time will show whats the thing in this case. Maybe.
I am not so sure of that. Would be interesting to see statistics, if someone has ever collected them.

Atleast me and my close friends have been buying everything possible digital since Half-Life 2 or so. No ones been bragging with game boxes since Baldurs Gate 2 Chaotic Evil edition >.<

Then again, all of us are bit older and most are no longer living alone either -> free space is premium.

I didn't forget it. Sniper elite 3 doesn't have any physical extras that I know of in any version, so it's all up to whether the individual reales their old games. Still, my point was that as far as Steam launch prices go, 40 is amongst the more reasonable ones for non indie games. Sales are a different matter.

But Sniper Elite 3 is indie, at least on Steam in the stricter sense. Only the console versions and boxed PC versions are distributed by a publisher (Koch Media & 505 Games), and it doesn't make the game less indie for it.

Also, Rebellion is demanding €45 (over $60!) here in Germany for Sniper Elite 3 on Steam, while the PS3 boxed version costs €40. The PS4 and XB1 versions are going for €55. The PC boxed version costs €35. Rebellion isn't exactly offering a compelling argument to buy from the Steam storefront with only the PS4 and XB1 versions more expensive (which is mostly due to the lack of games on those platforms right now).

Isn't the german version censored ?