Video game key reselling service G2A has come under fire after a recent Reddit post outed the company for charging "inactivity fees" to its customers' in-store wallets. Consumers who don't log in to their G2A account for 180 days are charged a one euro fee that then recurs on a monthly basis until either the user logs in, or the account is drained of its entire balance.

The Reddit post currently sits at almost 40,000 upvotes, with many consumers chiming in with distaste for what is largely seen as an anti-consumer practice. Around the globe, many countries (like Canada, for instance) have laws protecting against inactivity fees draining items like gift cards, but often-times items like prepaid VISA cards are exempt from these regulations. In G2A's case, it looks like many consumers were not expecting an in-store wallet to be hit by such administration fees.

G2A defended itself after the uproar, stating that IT and infrastructure expenses make it costly to maintain accounts. Many users pondered the logic behind the answer, since accounts that have been fully drained are still maintained in an inactive state ad infinitum. The company also stated that it was regularly audited and has to explain its fiscal accounts - though it's not known why having funds in inactive user accounts would be an issue given that users have already paid to have this balance in the first place.

The company also stated that it operated in many legal jurisdictions spanning across 170 countries, each of which treats abandoned accounts differently. G2A argues that this is a liability, and these account fees are a way to for the company to prepare for government seizures of abandoned funds.

In its closing statement, G2A attempted to normalize this practice. It tried to point out that things could theoretically be worse, as if that was an acceptable defense:

It is a normal practice to have maintenance or inactivity fees for accounts that are deemed no longer in use. Many companies that in some part have to manage finances have a similar type of fee, however, in most cases it’s significantly higher. Many of them also require their users to make a purchase within a certain period of time, which is not the case for G2A PAY.

Defending itself  by stating, "Well, other people are worse", probably isn't the best look for G2A, but it has weathered such PR storms before - some of which involved mass sales of illegitimate keys. These incidents have proven quite harmful to indie developers like TinyBuild and Unknown Worlds, the former of which almost went bankrupt as it received nothing from the illegitimate key sales. Gearbox Software once tried to form a partnership with G2A, but consumer reaction prompted the studio to cancel the idea entirely.

It's worth noting that Steam, the gaming portal where most of these keys are redeemable, also has a wallet system that operates in more countries than G2A. There is no inactivity fee applied to Steam wallets, which more or less sets a precedent in the gaming industry given the stature of the digital distributor.

Consumers have reacted to G2A's justification with near-universal outrage, making it clear that the majority of consumers think this practice comes from a place of ill-will. It's unlikely G2A will do an about face and discontinue its practice of inactivity fees, so users who still have funds in their G2A account should remember to log in every 180 days to prevent this balance from being leached away.

Source: Reddit