The Steam platform has become a go-to place for all PC gamers these days. With regular sales and plenty of payment options (including Bitcoin) available, Steam is one of the largest market players to date. But even this company can run into some trouble now and then. During a recent Splinter Cell: Blacklist sale on the platform, the supply of CD-keys depleted much faster than anticipated.

Steam Sale Goes Off The Rails in A Good Way

Every time there is a PC game sale on Steam, there is a general buzz of excitement among gamers all over the world. With discounts ranging anywhere from 5% to as much as 85%, plenty of bargains can be picked up throughout the entire year. In the case of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, the discounted CD keys were in such demand that Valve’s platform was unable to keep up.

Most people perceive digital stores such as Steam to somehow have an unlimited amount of CD keys for all of the games they sell. That is far from the truth, although in most cases they can easily cope with the demand. Sometimes, however, the promotional sales are such an overwhelming success that something very strange happens.

Gamers who wanted to obtain a copy of Splinter Cell: Blacklist received a very unusual error. The Steam platform responded with a “failed to contact key server” error, indicating that something was amiss. Overwhelming demand caused the company to run out of keys a lot quicker than expected. Ubisoft and Valve mentioned on social media how new keys would be in stock by yesterday, but it seems the problems are far from over.

One thing is sure, though: everyone who attempted to purchase a game key will receive it sooner or later. Both companies have a reputation to uphold, and leaving gamers in the cold is the last thing they want to do. It may take some time to fill up the inventories again and honor all outstanding orders, though.

It is also possible that the companies will decide to issue refunds to those who did not obtain their CD key yet. Since there is no official statement on how the situation will evolve, it is anybody’s guess as to what will happen. Honoring the original deal would be the preferred course of action, though, as that would work out best for all parties involved.

The success of different payment methods has certainly attributed to this unprecedented discount sale success. Ever since Steam added a Bitcoin payment option, they have attracted new gamers from all over the world. It is unknown how many of these Splinter Cell: Blacklist orders were paid for with Bitcoin, unfortunately.

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