Okay Geek Farm
How this guy (and many others) snagged a free Battlefield 3 CD Key from EA support
Brandon Davenport
Since the release of Battlefield 3, EA support has been receiving calls and chats regarding “broken CD keys”. The issue arises when a customer buys a copy of Battlefield 3 and finds out when trying to activate their game that their CD key isn’t working. Obviously, this would make a lot of people angry, but usually issues like this are rare and often happen in isolated cases. If the CD key table for all Battlefield 3 purchases were in-fact corrupted, 100% of people would have this problem, not just “a few” people. If it were the authentication servers, that would be the problem, not the CD keys.
EA has had the wool pulled over their eyes and the fact is, the Battlefield 3 CD keys are all fine (so are the authentication servers), but due to the fact EA and Origin support have proven to be a bit dull, they’ve been coaxed into handing out free CD keys… here’s how this guy (and many others) did it.
How it went down
Well, “the guy” we’re talking about (and the guy who pulled this off) is an acquaintance of Okay Geek that bumped into us last month while working on a game project. This afternoon, he told us about his run-in with EA support and informed us he snagged a free CD Key from EA support. We didn’t believe him at first, but there was no denial after watching the video. It’s all here, and this is what lots of other people are doing to snag free CD Keys.
In the words of a guy who did it
Basically it took me about an hour to find a picture with a CD Key that was already activated, and apparently it was all for nothing.
Not once was I asked for the CD Key and I found that as somewhat strange. Earlier in the day my friend popped out of the bushes when I was walking to school and told me about how all these people were getting free versions of BF3, I asked him how in the world did they do that. He told me that people were using fake keys that were already in use or just straight up don’t work, they gave the keys and made a fake receipt into the ea Type chat support over origin. They then would get a CD Key that worked in origin ( I’ve done this once with Halo 2 and I believed him whole heartedly). I told my friend that I’d pay him 20 bucks if he got me a CD Key, guess I wont need to now. As seen in the video I called, gave my info and not once was asked for any key or proof.
My friend later told me that EA thinks that their keys for the normal version of BF3 are messed up because so many people are calling in, or are using the Chat system in Origin. When in reality the people calling in, our people like me, and Ea has been fooled. Maybe that’s why I got a CD Key so easily. EA must have told their operators to just give the keys away, like “no need to look into it, its a common issue”.
What ever the problem or issue is I don’t really care. Its off to the field of battle with my friends, only difference here is I didn’t pay 70 dollars and they did.
The moral of the story
We may not agree with what people are doing to snag free CD keys, but you have to realize that if support technitians for EA aren’t going to take things seriously (or learn the basics of the games they’re selling) they’re not going to be taken seriously by consumers. EA was asking for this, and we hope this article is evidence as to what happens when companies don’t bring their A-game.
