A recent study showed that YouTube coverage is the metric that matters most for the success of your game. I work for an indie game publisher and sending out keys to YouTubers has become an important part of the overall marketing campaign. Now one of our partnering devs recently received this message from a good man called Bob:

Hello there,

I'm just dropping you a note to let you know that the "YouTuber" TheKamikazeYt (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheKamikazeYT/about) whom you have given game keys to for the purpose of promoting/reviewing/giving away away has been selling them around the internet:

http://www.steamgifts.com/trade/7b362/sell-best-price-new-games-every-days-fast-response-02-november-2015

It's safe to assume he also puts them up for sale on G2A.com, since he has an affiliate link setup to make extra money off click-through sales (and therefore a potential "bonus" on his scammed game keys). I won't post his affiliate link here, but you can find it through his YouTube channel, along with his his G2A account name: "soyjosemanu" Comparing his list of games for sale to his uploads and non-existent reviews, you can find no evidence that he ever used any of the keys provided to him for their intended promotional purpose.

As others have pointed out (e.g here: https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/3ea3wx/ethics_youtube_lper_thekamikazeyt_has_scammed/ctd6w1w), his YouTube fan base is fake (bot subscriptions), evidenced by the impossibly low ratio of views to subscribers on each video. Since he started posting his scammed keys for sale, he has only posted 1 new video (seems to be a free web-game), yet he continues to cheat developers out of hundreds of dollars of games every week.

There are other offenders on Steamgifts but this person is by far the worst I can find. I have observed others use alternate accounts, post a few games at a time and quickly delete all traces soon afterward (rinse and repeat).

I hate to be the bearer of this bad news, but I felt that it was an absolute must to reach out and let you know about this situation. I was disgusted when I found out myself. I have just launched my own gaming and giveaway resource and I'm really trying to build the foundations for something special, so the thoughts of being put into the same category as this swindler and having the efforts of both developers and promoters/youtubers et al undermined and our reputation destroyed is abhorrent to me.

Courier of the Crypts developer Primož Vovk spotted this scam (https://archive.is/XWfOd) and has somewhat counteracted this by using up the game keys, but this has not slowed down TheKamikazeYT's scam at all. Personally, I feel that affected developers should spread the word as much as possible and also sign up for Steamgifts and the like to call him out there.

Have no doubt that if anyone does call him out, he will try to move to a new avenue. It seems he quickly moved from Reddit to Steamgifts when Primož Vovk called him out on the former platform: https://www.reddit.com/r/GameTrade/comments/3e4lkz/sell_best_price_new_games_every_days_fast/

Therefore, I believe there are a few things required to put an end to this scam:

• (a) create enough awareness amongst developers so he receives less merchandise in the first place
• (b) alert as many key selling platforms as possible (Steamgifts, Ebay, G2A etc) that this person is selling stolen merchandise. I'm not sure if places like G2A would care where sellers get their keys from though
• (c) call him out and get him banned on Steamgifts and any other platforms he uses to sell the games
• (d) encourage developers to keep track of the keys they give out and check if they have been used for their intended purposes

The obvious problem with point (b) is that he could just make a new account with a different name and keep selling the keys. That's why I personally believe its imperative to spread awareness among developers and press teams etc and to verify promotional coverage was undertaken as promised.

Point (d) has a similar issue, but the places he can run to will eventually run dry if we create enough awareness. Once again, this won't stop him from getting new keys in the future, so awareness and verification are surely the most effective ways to prevent scams like this recurring. With regards to Steamgifts, it may also be worthwhile for one developer to create a thread in the general discussion area which other developers can add their name to and show their opposition to this kind of scam. "Calling out" of any kind is not allowed on steam gifts, but this is an extreme exception which is more than justified. Unfortunately, a Steam account with $100 worth of non-bundled games is required to sign up for Steamgifts, which may be a hurdle for new developers.

I'm sorry it took so many words to express my feelings about this problem! I really hope this all comes to some sort of happy conclusion for you. I would be glad to hear your thoughts on all of this and help you in any way I can.

Best regards and hopeful for a happy and/or justful resolution,

Bob.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobmanbobgaming

What's /r/gamedev experience on this and how do you think this type of fraud will develop in the coming years?