Gearbox Publishing earlier this week announced a partnership with controversial game key auction site G2A to sell a special collector's edition of Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition. The community, to put it nicely, wasn't thrilled with Gearbox's decision to work with G2A.

Well-known YouTube gaming commentator John "TotalBiscuit" Bain chimed in on the matter, saying he would no longer cover Gearbox games on his channel. The influencer has more than 2.2 million YouTube subscribers so that's kind of a big deal... big enough to get the attention of Gearbox and convince them to reconsider the partnership.

Bain worked directly with Gearbox's head of publishing Steven Gibson to hammer out the following proposal and deadlines:

  • Before Bulletstorm Steam launch, G2A makes a public commitment to this: Within 30 days, G2A Shield (aka, customer fraud protection) is made free instead of a separate paid subscription service within terms offered by other major marketplaces. All customers who spend money deserve fraud protection from a storefront. To that end, all existing G2A Shield customers are notified by April 14th that fraud protection services are now free and they will no longer be charged for this.
  • Before Bulletstorm Steam launch, G2A makes a public commitment to this: Within 90 days, G2A will open up a web service or API to certified developers and publishers to search for and flag for immediate removal, keys that are fraudulent. This access will be free of charge and will not require payment by the content holders.
  • Before Bulletstorm Steam launch, G2A makes a public commitment to this: Within 60 days implement throttling for non-certified developers and publishers at the title, userid, and account payable levels for a fraud flagging process. This is to protect content providers from having large quantities of stolen goods flipped on G2A before they can be flagged.
  • Before Bulletstorm Steam launch, G2A makes a public commitment to this: Within 30 days, G2A restructures its payment system so that customers who wish to buy and sell legitimate keys are given a clear, simple fee-structure that is easy to understand and contains no hidden or obfuscated charges. Join the ranks of other major marketplaces.

If G2A doesn't comply with Gearbox's demands, the company will withdraw from its Bulletstorm deal, a spokesperson told PC Gamer.