Kinguin is rapidly becoming one of the world’s top game trading platforms, allowing gamers all over the world to easily trade game keys. Over the past 7 years or so, gamers have been restricted, essentially, to a few main sites; Steam, Origin, and Blizzard. That’s why the growing popularity of Kinguin is set to “shake up” the online gaming industry, and on this page, we’re going to be taking a closer look at Kinguin – and whether or not you should use them. We’ll kick things off with a look at how the marketplace actually works.
How Does Kinguin Work?
Like many online marketplaces, Kinguin acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers. In the past, when a new game came out, you’d often find yourself waiting quite a while in order to be able to pick up keys and codes from other players. However, thanks to the fact that Kinguin is growing so rapidly in popularity, players can purchase these codes almost immediately – sometimes, just minutes after a new game is released.
The site is incredibly easy to use, and all you need to do is head directly to the website, search for the product that you’re looking for, select the product and view the sellers which are currently selling the game or product you’re looking for!
Once you’ve selected which product you want, you’ll be taken to a “checkout” page. Here, you’ll input your payment information (and create an account if you haven’t already) and once the payment has been completed you will be emailed your product key – this usually takes just a few seconds!
It’s also worth pointing out that it’s not just games you can buy at Kinguin either. They offer a range of digital products, including Windows activation keys, anti-virus software codes and more – all available to buy in a matter of seconds!
Why Is Kinguin So Cheap?
One of the major reasons why the products available at Kinguin are cheaper than normal is because you’re not actually getting a physical copy of the game or software that you’re buying. This is something to bear in mind, especially if you’re the type of person that prefers to have a physical copy of a game. However, this does come with a major benefit – it allows you to purchase products at cheaper prices (and often, these prices are significantly cheaper than other sites), but be prepared you will only receive the code – nothing physical will be shipped to you.
Is It Safe To Buy From Kinguin?
Kinguin has set up what’s known as their “Buyer Protection Program” (BPP) which offers you a safety net if there’s anything wrong with the product keys or codes. It’s pretty much the same model we see at other major online marketplaces like eBay – and it allows you to make purchases in full confidence that you’ll actually receive the product you pay for!
The site also uses state-of-the-art encryption software to ensure that, when you’re making a payment, your sensitive information is secure. What’s more, buyers don’t find our your payment details or your email address as this is all handled automatically by Kinguin – so there is very little risk. If you do run into any problems, Kinguin appears to act fast – and while it’s hard to find any stories of people buying invalid codes, there are a few – and they state that the Kinguin team were very quick to sort out the issue and rectify it, issuing a refund.
Where Do Kinguin’s Product Keys Come From?
As you can probably tell, the product keys you’ll be purchasing come from sellers all over the world. However, one of the reasons Kinguin has come under criticism is because they don’t do any real background checks on those selling the keys.
This means you have no way of actually knowing who the keys are coming from – although if you’re the everyday gamer just looking for a quick key, this shouldn’t be a major issue. Kinguin also offers a buyer protection program which we’ll cover later on in this post.
What payment methods does Kinguin accept?
Kinguin accepts plenty of the most popular payment methods from around the world. To begin with, they accept plain old credit and debit cards which is great for anyone looking for a more traditional way to pay on the site.
If you are wary about providing your credit or debit card details to Kinguin, you could always use PayPal. They accept both standard PayPal and PayPal credit. It works just like any other site that accepts PayPal, just click the PayPal option and you will be directed to a new browser window to put in your PayPal details.
They also offer plenty of Smart2Pay options. That means that you can use services like Klarna, Skrill, Alipay, Paysafecard, and more. If you use a specific online wallet, chances are that they accept it.
The site will also offer payment methods available locally for specific countries. You could use payment methods like DineroMail, Boleto, or Gpay.
Kinguin and esports
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Kinguin, the online game trading platform, has entered the world of esports. Just this year, Kinguin was named lead sponsor for the Polish CS:GO team Anonymo.
Their branding will be featured on the Anonymo jerseys and the two organisations are collaborating on various activations, such as a Polish CS:GO tournament and Kinguin community events.
Kinguin also operates an Esports Performance Centre in Warsaw, Poland. This centre comprises of four floors. One is for office tasks, but the rest are dedicated to gaming. One is a training floor for the esports pros to practice their gaming skills. Another is dedicated to living quarters for the esports pros, they have private rooms which are equipped with individual air conditioning with Netflix and a PlayStation 4. This also includes a professional kitchen that serves both breakfast and lunch.
This centre was made available to local esports teams who wanted to take part in bootcamps where the players would train, eat, sleep, and live together to improve their skills and teamwork.
They also made inroads in the world of esports tournaments by partnering with the esports community and tournament platform Ultimate Gamer. This partnership grew both organisations userbases as well as providing Kinguin a useful partner in the tournament organising community.
Is Kinguin Legit – Reddit Reviews
Looking on Reddit, you’ll notice there are a variety of views – some positive, some neutral and some negative. As Reddit reviews are all written by real people, they can be useful to reference, and they can help you to avoid making the same mistakes others have made.
Check out some notable Reddit comments regarding Kinguin below:
Kinguin Positive Reviews:
Kinguin Negative Reviews
Is Kinguin Better Than G2A?
One of the major questions people seem to have right now (especially when they’re looking to purchase game keys online) is whether to go with a more well-established company like G2A, or whether to give a newer platform – Kinguin – a try. While Kinguin may not have a reputation for having been around a long time, they are generally doing pretty well – and they may well become the market leader in the next few years, if they continue the hard work they’re doing right now.
Whether it comes to “Is Kinguin better than G2A”, a lot of this will come to revolve around personal preferences. As a more well-established site, G2A has evolved over time, and their website offers a great number of functionalities and features – although these are all likely to be coming to Kinguin in the future.
G2A also tends to have more sellers; this is only natural, given the fact that they’ve been around for a longer period of time. However, you will be surprised at the number of products and sellers you can find at Kinguin, and they’re definitely not worth dismissing if you’re looking for somewhere online to purchase game/software codes and keys.
Final Remarks
Despite not being the biggest name in the world of game code/key selling, Kinguin are doing their best to become a leading figurehead. They still have a way to go – and while they’ve set up a great platform, you do need to be careful that your purchase is actually covered by the Buyer Protection Program. Not all purchases are, if you make a transaction that isn’t covered by it and receive a key or code that doesn’t work you’ll be left out of pocket. Always check the BPP is “active” on any purchase you make and do your due diligence as you would any time spending money online!