Home Gaming Bethesda is revoking fraudulent Elder Scrolls Online keys

Bethesda is revoking fraudulent Elder Scrolls Online keys

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TesoTU

Remember how Ubisoft started revoking illegitimate game keys sold through grey market key resellers? They went on to warn that keys sold through cheaper resellers like G2A and Kinguin might not be legally obtained. That was precedent. Others are now following example. Bethesda and Zenimax have started revoking what they say are illegitimate keys for The Elder Scrolls Online.

In a post directed at the 12 people still playing the game, Zenimax said that they’d start revoking game access for those who’ve purchased the game through grey key sellers. They’re letting people know via email too, including some helpful advice on how to buy access back at full price. How very sporting of them.

“We want to remind gamers to shop wisely and only purchase online keys from a reputable source. Fraudulently obtained keys obtained via Steam and then re-sold via third-party websites is a violation of both our and Steam’s Terms of Service. We will be deactivating all game accounts created with such stolen keys starting on Tuesday, May 26th.  Affected users will receive an email with instructions on how to regain access to their game account via a valid game purchase.

The companies selling stolen keys make a practice of using stolen credit cards, or misappropriating credit card information from their own customers to buy codes from legitimate retailers. Often these companies have the lowest price available anywhere for the digital item they are selling. Customers who purchase from these vendors are at increased risk for identity theft.

Extreme discounting below the published prices on our website may be a clue that the digital key purchased for the game may have been fraudulently obtained.”

Once again, it serves as a warning to not use these grey services, lest you want your game access to quite possibly go away. Also, don’t buy stolen stuff. If you absolutely must buy your games for the lowest price, VPN in to the third world like everybody else. As a reminder, The Elder Scrolls Online is coming to the newer consoles early next month.

Last Updated: May 27, 2015

39 Comments

  1. Admiral Chief's Adventure

    May 27, 2015 at 13:38

    Nope, just gimme Skryim with 3-4 friends, and I’m sorted

    Reply

    • Trevor Matrix

      May 27, 2015 at 14:08

      And better romance options no wait what?

      Reply

  2. RinceTheElfRoot

    May 27, 2015 at 13:40

    “In a post directed at the 12 people still playing the game” HAHAHAHAHA TRUE

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      May 27, 2015 at 13:41

      Still more than Evolve

      Reply

  3. Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

    May 27, 2015 at 13:41

    So they’re stopping the only people who actually play the game from playing it.

    Reply

  4. Ragnar The Vengeful

    May 27, 2015 at 13:41

    Of the 12 people still playing this six of them are losing their access. Poor buggers.

    Reply

  5. Hammersteyn

    May 27, 2015 at 13:41

    Wanted to preorder but the staff at BT games were all like…
    http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/smh.gif

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

      May 27, 2015 at 13:42

      Best selling Single Player game of its time turned into an MMO.
      What could possibly go wrong?

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        May 27, 2015 at 13:42

        They should try again, but with Fallout?

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

          May 27, 2015 at 13:43

          NOooooooO!!!

          Reply

        • James Anderton

          May 27, 2015 at 13:55

          You, you just shut up. Don’t you dare give them ideas.

          Reply

        • Admiral Chief's Adventure

          May 27, 2015 at 13:58

          SHUT IT!

          Reply

        • Lord Chaos

          May 27, 2015 at 14:10

          I will find you, bind you, and drop you off at Dutch’s doorstep…

          Reply

  6. James Anderton

    May 27, 2015 at 13:51

    Ergh. Why you would put yourself through this MMO, I have no idea (even for a G2A version).

    The most boring Beta I have ever played. Give me that weekend of my life back.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

      May 27, 2015 at 13:52

      I feel the same

      Reply

  7. Steffmeister

    May 27, 2015 at 13:59

    To think I loved Skyrim so much….. put probably more than 300 hours into that game (wild guess), lost interest in ESO after about 5 wasted hours!

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

      May 27, 2015 at 14:01

      I put in around 330 recorded game time in Skyrim (who knows how much I played off Steam also).
      Tried REALLY hard with ESO. Put in almost 20 hours and hated it. Hours I’ll never get back again.

      Reply

      • Krabby Paddy

        May 27, 2015 at 14:06

        I haven’t played ESO but looking at the comments and general consensus, it is mind boggling how they got it so wrong after having Skyrim as such a good template. Guess MMNO.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

          May 27, 2015 at 14:08

          Yes, their mistake was making it an MMO. They thought they’d score some big money out of it from the monthly subscriptions and all, but they never stopped to think what the people who played Skyrim, Oblivion and Morrowind would actually enjoy playing.
          The gameplay was slow and uninspired. The characters were boring. Nothing about it felt like Elder Scrolls.

          Reply

        • Steffmeister

          May 27, 2015 at 14:09

          I think what made skyrim great can not be translated into an mmo.
          It just has no soul/character/atmosphere somehow… hard to explain.

          Reply

          • Krabby Paddy

            May 27, 2015 at 14:13

            So basically created Skyrim with its soul ripped out. In other words not actually Elder scrolls.

  8. Nikola

    May 27, 2015 at 14:13

    My brother bought this game played it for a month and he said it was absolute rubbish comparing to other MMO’s out there….I would much prefer an single player Elder Scrolls game thank you with maaaaaybe some co-op Borderlands wibe that would be great:)

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

      May 27, 2015 at 14:14

      Agreed.

      Reply

  9. Lothy

    May 27, 2015 at 14:49

    LOL I love reading the hate for this game in the comments, makes for a great toilet break. When the game was launched it was kak, way to many issues and bots…blah blah blah. One year on, and the game has drastically changed. And for those that still say its kak, clearly haven’t spent any decent amount of time on it since its gone B2P. Are there problems, sure, but show me a game where there isn’t. Right now, this is the best fantasy MMO out there. Oh and its still in the top 10 list on steam 😉 http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

      May 27, 2015 at 15:31

      I never said it’s a bad MMO. It’s probably a good one for those who are into MMOs.
      It’s just the worst Elder Scrolls ever made, because it ruined the entire feel of the series. It felt like Bethesda used the Elder Scrolls name just to sell their MMO, not because they actually wanted to bother with the story or the legacy of the series.

      Reply

      • Lothy

        May 27, 2015 at 15:53

        That i can understand, to some extent. But also remember that they are 2 completely different genres, 1 being an MMO and the other a SP. So just on that alone the game was going to alienate a lot of people.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

          May 27, 2015 at 16:24

          Agreed. To me who’ve gone through the ages with Morrowind, Oblivion and finally Skyrim it just never felt like an Elder Scrolls game.

          Reply

          • Andrew Portlock

            May 27, 2015 at 21:41

            ok well i wonder how much of a chance you gave it, the lore is fantastically in line with elder scrolls lore and its great to experience things from a thousand year before skyrim that were just alluded to in skyrim, i feel like this is in so many ways an elder scrolls game. its the most criticized elder scrolls game not because of the game itself but because of the mmo aspect… any mmo is the most bashed game ever… speaking hyperbolic of course

          • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

            May 28, 2015 at 07:23

            I spent around 20 hours on it. It’s not about the lore, it’s about the feel of the game. All those typical elder scrolls moments and characters are absent. It just doesn’t have anything memorable about it. To me at least. But to each his own.

          • Lothy

            May 28, 2015 at 10:06

            I can sympathize, I never really played the elder scroll games like you. I played a bit of oblivion and maybe around 20hours into skyrim. So Im not encountering the issues you are. I think the problem is the amount of hours u have played. 20 hours in an mmo is like playing an afternoon in a single player, u have barely touched the surface. I challenge u to finish the story line and see how u feel afterwards. I loved the storyline and how it ended.

          • Andrew Portlock

            May 28, 2015 at 16:57

            yes yes and yes!!! im shocked 20 hours wasnt enough to see the things i saw in the first 5 hours that made it an elder scrolls game but yes 20 hours is a pittance in an mmo, and yes the main story was awesome

          • Andrew Portlock

            May 28, 2015 at 16:56

            like what you want to like im not telling you to like it, but there are many classic characters from elder scrolls, theres almalexia, maiq the liar, daedra, aedra, i mean 20 hours? you should have encountered many of these things, and the main storyline is not only elder scrolls, but a fantastic elder scrolls story, better than skyrims story in my opinion

          • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

            May 29, 2015 at 07:54

            Maybe I was just put off by the MMO aspect. The atmosphere felt different. I’m not so stubborn that I wouldn’t give it another try.

  10. Sydney

    May 28, 2015 at 00:51

    Give the game some slack, It’s Bethesda’s first attempt at an MMO and it’s actually not as bad as most MMO’s. Sure, some may say ”This is the worst Elders Scrolls game ever made.” but it doesn’t mean that the game is horrible.

    Reply

  11. Allykhat

    May 28, 2015 at 08:20

    So let me get this straight…
    They have a somewhat dwindling player base… right? That still use their micro transactions and such?
    Now they are going to start Banhammering these “illegitimate” keys.
    Banned people = less players… right?
    And what makes a dwindling MMO stay afloat…? Players, right?

    Yeah this is definitely the best course of action!

    #Sense.

    Reply

    • Lothy

      May 28, 2015 at 10:15

      ye…no…
      Do proper research, game has basically exploded since goin B2P. The microtransactions are cosmetic with no pay2win. The keys are from stolen credit cards and such, from companies like G2A. Seriously, don’t read a heading and make assumptions. From my personal ingame experience, I never have problems finding groups, there are always queues getting into pvp and Im part of 2 very active guilds, and from what I hear on both TeamSpeaks, ppl are loving it. So I dunno, why not actually play the game and form ur own opinion instead of copy/paste 😉

      Reply

      • Allykhat

        May 28, 2015 at 11:53

        I have played it.
        I found it lackluster and boring. This game is no Skyrim. Even as far as MMOs go, I still choose Guild Wars, even WoW, over TESO.
        Everything I write here and on any other forum, board or social media platform is my own opinion.
        If you disagree with my opinion you are within your right to do so.
        Do I care if you agree or not? Not really.

        Kthnx. Have a nice day 🙂

        Reply

        • Lothy

          May 28, 2015 at 12:05

          and out of curiosity, when last did u actually play the game and how much time did u play? I more interested if u have played since the game went B2P.

          Reply

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