Ubisoft Is Changing How Codes Are Sold Through Third-Party Stores

Ubisoft is working to crack down on the reselling of game codes by changing the way that these keys are distributed through third-party retailers. Partnering with a tech firm called Genba Digital, the two companies have come together to create what's called a silent key activation (SKA) process that makes the buying of keys easier for people who purchase them properly and more difficult for others to sell them illegally.

GamesIndustry.biz reported initially on the collaboration between Ubisoft and Genba Digital, the latter being a company which specializes in distributing these third-party games. The SKA process that's being worked on essentially means that when someone purchases a Ubisoft game through a third-party retailer, the game will automatically go live in the user's UPlay account as opposed to them receiving a key to be redeemed. Genba Digital's CEO Matt Murphy said the company will get a number of keys from Ubisoft for different games and will set those keys in a keybank to then be distributed as players purchase them.

"If someone goes on a website like Fanatical and buys a Ubisoft product, it will take them through the checkout process, then ask you to enter your UPlay account -- if you don't have one, it asks you to set one up," Murphy told GamesIndustry.biz. "The game is then automatically activated in UPlay. Fanatical doesn't get a key, and neither does the player. They just log into UPlay and the game is there, as if they bought it from the UPlay Store."

Murphy added that this design keeps people from buying an actual code and then reselling that key elsewhere through different channels. The CEO admitted that anyone who buys a code like this could always just sell their account, but anyone who has accounts through services like UPlay will probably agree that's not at all the simplest way to resell codes.

Ubisoft will no longer sell PC games through digital marketplaces that don't use this SKA technology. Genba Digital has worked with at least 10 retailers so far including the Fanatical store referenced above.

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