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Key scammers have gotten *really* crafty.
A thread for game developers, publishers, and streamers on dealing with them in 2020.
A thread for game developers, publishers, and streamers on dealing with them in 2020.
If you& #39;re a developer with a shipped game, you already know about key scammers. For the uninitiated: they are anyone requesting a review key with the intention of selling it.
Used to be, key scammers were easier to weed out. They& #39;d pose as a big YouTuber and promise to do a Let& #39;s Play of your game if you sent them a key.
Something obvious always jumped out, e.g. the email address didn& #39;t match the one in their YT about page.
Something obvious always jumped out, e.g. the email address didn& #39;t match the one in their YT about page.
A Twitch streamer with a decent size following (but not suspiciously big) emailed us asking for a key to stream New Super Lucky& #39;s Tale, which we recently launched on XB1/PS4/Steam.
All the usual things checked out but something felt off.
All the usual things checked out but something felt off.
I started watching their most recent (and, it turns out, only) archived broadcast, which had just ended an hour earlier.
It wasn& #39;t long before the red flags went up.
It wasn& #39;t long before the red flags went up.
A big one: there was no archived Twitch chat, but the streamer had included their Twitch chat in an in-video window. It didn& #39;t match.
But what really gave it away was when the video ended abruptly, with the streamer in mid-sentence.
But what really gave it away was when the video ended abruptly, with the streamer in mid-sentence.
Now stop and think about it: whoever this was likely wasn& #39;t the original owner of the account, but they went through the trouble of scrubbing the channel of all its past content, removing links to all other social media channels, adding their email in the about section...
...and then "streamed" someone else& #39;s broadcast.
Could have been one that was live at the time, or maybe it was a VOD they downloaded. It was a relatively recent stream judging by the current events that were referenced.
Could have been one that was live at the time, or maybe it was a VOD they downloaded. It was a relatively recent stream judging by the current events that were referenced.
Immediately afterward, they started emailing developers and publishers. Probably had a big list ready to go of everyone with a recently released game.
I usually just ignore key scammer emails, but this one inspired me.
I decided to respond in kind.
"Wow, that sounds great! Do you want a few extra keys to do a giveaway for your viewers?"
I decided to respond in kind.
"Wow, that sounds great! Do you want a few extra keys to do a giveaway for your viewers?"
As a matter of fact, they did want extra. So I sent them some "keys".
That was several days ago. Their Twitch page still just has the one faked stream and they never replied to let me know none of the keys were valid.
That was several days ago. Their Twitch page still just has the one faked stream and they never replied to let me know none of the keys were valid.
My prediction? The fake keys are currently listed on some key re-seller site.
This wasn& #39;t the only elaborate key scam attempt we received recently. In fact, we were deluged in key requests.
If you are a real streamer or game journalist who tried to contact us and didn& #39;t get a response: I& #39;m sorry. Try us again next week.
If you are a real streamer or game journalist who tried to contact us and didn& #39;t get a response: I& #39;m sorry. Try us again next week.
I& #39;m preaching to the choir, but key scamming sucks for everyone: developers, streamers, viewers. It sucks that I get so many scam requests that I have less time to find the legit ones. And it sucks that I& #39;m way more suspicious of every key request in general.
It sucks that it& #39;s that much harder for streamers—especially smaller ones just getting their start—to get their hands on games they are excited to play. Games their audience would enjoy watching them play, and maybe later buy for themselves.
If you& #39;re a streamer or game blogger reaching out to a developer to request a review key, here& #39;s a few ways you can help us...
1. Never ask for more than one key.
It only takes one to review or stream a game. We love doing giveaways, but let& #39;s cross that bridge once you& #39;ve streamed or published something with the one key.
(If you co-stream with someone else, have them email us separately.)
It only takes one to review or stream a game. We love doing giveaways, but let& #39;s cross that bridge once you& #39;ve streamed or published something with the one key.
(If you co-stream with someone else, have them email us separately.)
2. Always make it easy to match your email address in multiple places. E.g. contact us from the address you have listed on both your Twitch and Twitter bios.
3. Say something specific about our game in your email. What drew your interest to it? If I can tell you& #39;re excited about our game I absolutely want to help you share it with your audience.
Bonus tip: don& #39;t forget about us small indie devs once you& #39;re a big streamer hitting the front page of Twitch on the reg 
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Developers/publishers: this isn& #39;t a suggestion. In fact it& #39;s probably ill-advised. But for now, I am considering making it a personal practice to respond to any request that seems remotely fishy with a fake key.
