If you’re a gamer looking for bargain-priced games, it won’t be too long until you stumble across CDKeys. It sells codes to unlock games from marketplaces like Steam, Origin, and the PlayStation Network, but often at significantly discounted prices.
Sometimes, games on CDKeys are so cheap that they seem too good to be true. So, is it all just one big scam, or is CDKeys legit?
We looked into how exactly CDKeys operates, and what its customer say about the service. In addition, we ordered a game ourselves just to see how it works.
Why Is CDKeys So Cheap?
In the FAQ on the CDKeys website, we found the following statement about why the firm’s products are so cheap:
We buy from all corners of the globe to ensure the cheapest possible prices and as we only sell products in digital form we're able to make significant savings on postage and related expenses—we then pass these reductions on to you, which ensures our pricing is the most competitive around!
Firstly, globes don’t have corners, do they? Secondly, this is pretty vague. It doesn’t explicitly say where CDKeys gets its codes from, only that it buys them cheaply and then resells them on its site.
We can make some educated guesses, though. One likely explanation is that CDKeys shops around, legitimately buys games from regions where they’re the cheapest, and then resells them to customers.
That, of course, relies on the codes not being region-locked. Indeed, some games on CDKeys are for specific parts of the world, so how are they offered cheaper than other stores?
We're speculating here, but it's possible that CDKeys also buys games in bulk when they’re on sale and then adds a markup later when the prices return to normal. This is certainly something that other videogame key sellers do.
The savings it makes by no having physical stores play a part, but CDKeys frequently undercuts digital stores as well. But whereas services like Steam and Origin host the download files themselves, that's not an expense that applies to CDKeys.
What do we know about the people behind CDKeys? Its terms and conditions page offers some clues. It’s run by Sensible Digital B.V., a company based in the Netherlands.
Its parent company, Omnyex Ecommerce DMCC is, however, headquartered in Dubai. Notably, Omnyex had a stand at the E3 expo in 2016, which doesn’t seem like the kind of thing a shady backstreet operation would do.
What Do Customers Say About CDKeys?
CDKeys proudly displays its 4.7-star Trustpilot rating on its site. That's encouraging because Trustpilot is one of the best customer feedback sites around.
CDKeys currently has over 68,000 mostly positive reviews, and at the time of writing, 87 percent of users rated CDKeys as "Excellent." The service is praised time and time again for its low prices and fast delivery of codes.
At the other end of the scale, 7 percent of CDKeys’ Trustpilot ratings are "Bad," the worst possible rating on the site. Scrolling through those reviews, there are a lot of complaints about codes not working or not being delivered. To date, CDKeys has only replied to 8 percent of those negative reviews.
Although not insignificant, this relatively low percentage of bad reviews could easily be due to isolated technical problems and customer service issues, rather than having anything to do with the legitimacy of the site.
CDKeys has very few scores between Excellent and Bad, but this high contrast is typical of user reviews. Whether they like or dislike something, people tend to leave extreme scores—either the maximum or the lowest possible.
And customers who have a problem which is later remedied aren’t obliged to remove their negative reviews. It’s also true that unhappy customers are more likely to leave a review than happy ones.
It’s no coincidence that many of CDKeys’ Trustpilot positive scores are from customers who were invited to leave a review. CDKeys pays to access extra Trustpilot features, some of which are integrated with its website. Prompting people to give feedback increases the likelihood that satisfied customers will do so.
On other user review sites, like Reviews.io, Sitejabber, and ResellerRatings, reviews for CDKeys are almost entirely negative, and its overall ratings are no higher than two stars. This sounds bad, but this only confirms the notion that happy customers don’t usually leave reviews unless invited. Furthermore, these other review sites have at most a couple of hundred reviews.
As with any user reviews, you shouldn't blindly accept CDKeys’ Trustpilot score, but it's a strong indication that the vast majority of its customers come away satisfied.
What Do Game Companies Say About CDKeys?
A lot has been said about key sellers and how game companies view them, but most of that criticism is aimed at one vendor in particular: G2A. This notorious site is essentially a marketplace where anyone can sell game keys.
G2A has been accused of making it too easy for criminals to sell keys bought with stolen credit cards. That hits publishers in the pocket when they have to refund the real cardholders.
CDKeys, however, hasn’t attracted the ire of developers like G2A has. That’s likely because CDKeys has a different model. It sells keys directly, rather than being a marketplace for other sellers. It’s still firmly in the gray market, but its practices don’t appear to be illegal and don't offer an avenue for criminals.
You could perhaps argue that what CDKeys does is unethical. Game companies would, of course, prefer to sell their products for the highest prices possible, so they’re probably not huge fans of CDKeys. But unlike sites that are open to potential fraud, CDKeys does at least guarantee developers and publishers some income.
Our Experience Buying a Game From CDKeys
To demonstrate, we’re going to run through all the steps of buying a game from CDKeys, right up to payment and delivery.
To start, browse or search the CDKeys store to find the game you want. We chose to buy a code for For the King on PC, redeemable via Steam. According to CDKeys, the price of $2.69 is 87% cheaper than Steam. We checked, and For the King was, indeed, $19.99 on Steam.
Once you’ve found the game you want, click Buy Now to pay with a card, or click the PayPal button. We opted to use PayPal, but if you do pay with a card, make sure your purchase is protected by your card company.
Before confirming your order, you’ll get another chance to review your order to make sure it’s all okay. While you’re there, double-check that you have the right version of the game for your region. If you buy a key for a different part of the world, it may not work. Click Complete order to finalize your purchase.
On the next screen, select Get your key.
This will take you to the part of your online account where you can see the game you’ve just bought, as well as any others you’ve purchased. Click Get code to expand the box and view your download code.
Copy and paste, or type this code wherever it needs to go. In our case, we went into Steam and selected Games > Activate a Product from the menu. We entered the code, and it all went through with no problems.
Less than a minute after the order was initially made, we also had confirmation from CDKeys and a PayPal receipt in our email inbox.
The Verdict: Is CDKeys Safe to Use?
Based on our test and the majority of the reviews, CDKeys seems to be a mostly reliable and legal way of buying cheap games. From personal experience of buying from CDKeys in the past, however, we can confirm the experience isn’t always this smooth.
We’ve received all the games we’ve ever ordered, but a couple of times, it has taken several hours for keys to arrive. Notably, these were new releases, so it’s possible that CDKeys oversold its stock of keys on those occasions or there was some other technical issue.
As with any gray market seller, there is some risk associated with buying from CDKeys. Its customer service may not meet the standards of major outlets, and it might take longer to receive a refund if you have a problem redeeming your keys.
And if you have problems with a game you buy, rather than the key, you might not get any help from CDKeys either. Its terms and conditions explicitly state it is an intermediary between you and game companies.
It’s also possible that game companies could decide to clamp down on cross-region selling, invalidating your keys at the same time. CDKeys has already been around for several years, and it would be a PR nightmare, so it doesn't seem likely. But it's worth bearing in mind, especially as it's happened in the past with keys from G2A.
Use Caution When Shopping on CDKeys
Ultimately, it’s up to you whether or not you want to try CDkeys. A lot is unknown about how it works, so while we can report on our own experience, we can't endorse the company or its practices. And if you would rather not buy from gray market sellers, there are plenty of other reliable sites that offer discounted games.
