Deactivated Far Cry 4 keys were bought via EA Origin

Copies of Far Cry 4 that have been deactivated from gamers’ accounts were originally acquired from EA’s Origin retail platform.

Over the weekend, Far Cry fans complained that their games no-longer worked after Ubisoft deactivated them. The fans accused Ubisoft of removing the games because they were bought from cheap key-stripping websites. These sites buy cheap PC boxed games from the likes of Russia, take out the code and re-sell them in the UK for well below RRP.

But Ubisoft denied this, instead telling MCV and other websites that the codes that had been used were in fact stolen.

It turns out those codes were stolen from EA Origin. Ubisoft told GameInformer that the keys were acquired from EA Origin using fraudulent credit card information

We confirmed activation keys were recently purchased from EA’s Origin store using fraudulent credit card information and then resold online,” Ubisoft said.

These keys may have been deactivated. Customers who may have been impacted should contact the vendor where they purchased the key for a refund.”

It appears these keys may have been resold via key stripping websites that allow for third party re-sellers such as G2A.com. G2A allow merchants to sell codes via their site, and the firm has since issued a statement that says the firm will take measures to exclude merchants responsible for such incidents.

It also encourages consumers to use G2A Shield, which is effectively a insurance policy the firm sells to protect consumers from dodgy sellers.

As some of you may already know, steps have been taken to remove games purchased indirectly from a publisher, via main marketplaces in the web. G2A.COM is not in any case responsible for any of these procedures. However, we are well aware of this process and will do everything possible to compensate for that.

For users who have made transactions without G2A Shield, we will check if the corresponding merchant was responsible for the withdrawal of the code. If so, these users will get a compensation. Any user who used G2A Shield affected by the current process will get either a new code for the game or the money back.

G2A.COM will make every possible exertion to prevent this kind of procedures in the future and exclude merchants responsible for such incidents from the marketplace.”