The Fanatical game retail website is popularly known for sales of game keys used to access games at huge discounted prices. This sounds too good to be accurate and therefore scares a majority of gamers into researching for the motive of the Fanatical company. Offered discounts could run as high as 90% off original prices.
Having been in existence under different names and owners, the company has seen the successful sale of over 80 million game keys to 2 million customers in 200 countries across the world.
Nevertheless, whatever seems too good or strong must always have a counterbalancing wrong or weak side. Despite the efforts of the said company towards the cheap provision of digital gaming products and services, a lot of critical comments and reviews were raised.
There’s an intense speculation on the legitimacy and safety of the Fanatical game retail website, in this write-up, I would be giving a personal but candid opinion on the debate highlighted above.
Fanatical company information
| Official Website: | Fanatical |
| Founded: | 2012 |
| Owner: | Fandom Incorporation |
| Location: | Rugeley, Staffordshire, England |
| Contact: | Marketing & PR, Game Developers & Publishers, Affiliates |
| Social Media: | Facebook, Twitter, Instagram |
What is Fanatical?
Fanatical is an online gaming retailer (formerly known as Bundle Stars) that trades PC games for relatively lower prices to achieve a unified aim of providing gamers with easier access to gaming. The company is located in the United
Kingdom. It was initially run and owned by Focus Multimedia Limited until acquired by Fandom Incorporation in February 2021.
Fanatical was launched in 2012 as Bundle Stars before being relaunched on the 1st of November, 2017, under the current name it bears. Over the past few years of its existence, Fanatical has seen the successful sale of over 80 million authorized game keys, to an estimated 2 million customers around the globe.
Is Fanatical legal and safe or a scam?
A lot of people would come up with varying opinions as regards the question above. Everyone with their subjective opinion of the legitimacy of the company’s dealings. I would objectively state that the company is all but a scam.
My reasons being that:
- The company is registered and has a serial number 2408658 as well as VAT Registration No. GB 661 4081 52.
- The company managed to sustain a 4.7 of 5.0 Trust Pilot review made up of 60,400 different reviews.
These few reasons point out the opinions of a large number of people. Based on the statistics above, you can tell they had positive feedback on the website.
The Fanatical website offers a little to no chance of getting a customer of buyer scammed. There have been quite a few reports on cases like these, but in most cases, the circumstances outlined above are a result of the carelessness of the customers. There have been little to no complaints concerning the theft of sensitive data or the presence of malware and viruses on the website.
The website is also perfectly legal and has never had a history of illegal traces. Based on the extent of my research, it’s quite hard to come upon other sites trying to fake a similarity with the Fanatical game retail company website and this furthermore assures you of safety while trying to navigate the dealings of the website.
Concluding with a summary, it should be obvious at this point that this website operates on a perfectly legal and safe scale. Rest assured, you can always keep your mind at peace while dealing with the company.
Is Fanatical reliable and trustworthy?
Absolutely! The Fanatical game retail company can be trusted and can be said to be reliable too. With a whopping 2 million satisfied customers to boast of, scattered across almost 200 countries. It is worthy of mention to state that no unreliable or corrupt company could amass such support and presence, which automatically highlights the Fanatical game retail company as one that can be trusted and relied on.
The company also has a jaw-dropping Trust Pilot rating of 4.7 of 5.0, drawn from an average of about 60,400 reviews on Trust Pilot. This points in the direction of more good reports from customers as opposed to scams and negative ones. Having gone through the good and negative comments and reviews made by fellow buyers and customers, I discovered that most of the critical or negative reviews mainly were related to spam emails, reminders for reviews, hacked payment accounts, and purchase limits.
The company offers honest and dutiful round-the-clock customer support/service to its buyers and customers. My research suggests that the company is somewhat reliable, trustworthy, and profitable.
The pros and cons of Fanatical
Outlined below are some of the pros and cons of the use of the Fanatical game retail website:
- The website offers many excellent game keys at surprisingly huge discounts, but sometimes the released games aren’t what you would expect. Anyway, what else would one expect of game keys sold at unbelievably low prices?
- While the website tries its best to checkmate scamming and hacking, there are often alarming complaints of hacked payment accounts.
Is Fanatical a good and ethical company?
In my opinion, yes! The Fanatical game retail company found its operations on conduct that could be considered entirely ethical. The most outstanding illustration would be that of restricting the purchase of games or game keys based on the buyer’s age.
The appropriate age for most action-related PC games is around the ages 16 or 18 upwards. Parents, to varying degrees, come on strict with their children as regards exposure to games with age limits above that of their kids and would do what it takes to ensure these kinds of games are kept out of reach. Now that the world is gone digital, these purchases smoothly take place without the involvement or knowledge of parents or whosoever. The Fanatical game retailing company steps in to ban underaged game players from accessing inappropriate games.
This illustration clearly shows that the company in all its dealings strives to remain ethical and incorruptible.
How does Fanatical make money?
To an outside observer, it would seem the Fanatical game retailing company could be running on financial losses due to the huge discounts they give out on the sales of their digital games to customers. Surprisingly, the Fanatical game retailing company makes do with some profit generated from the sales of their games and partnerships with a host of other companies or sites.
Additionally, the Fanatical game retail company is said to purchase its games and game keys in bulk. This leads to a significant reduction in its cost of purchase, the profit thereby incurred by the company is spread over the slashed out prices and huge discount offered on the sales of their games and game keys.
Another means of income for the game retailing company would be the VAT (Value Added Tax) placed upon every purchase made by buyers. In summary, the company generates just enough revenue to carry on such huge discounted sales, from VAT, and costs saved from bulk purchases of games and game keys from other partnered companies.
Are there any hidden fees?
Absolutely not! In the transaction proceedings of the Fanatical game retail company, there are absolutely no hidden charges to be paid. All charges to be incurred are made open to the customers by the company, through the prices displayed on their platforms.
It would be right to mention that you could seldom encounter issues very similar to being overcharged. This would entice you to think you might be paying a hidden charge but what is actually going on is that the price displayed on the platform is incorrect.
I will quote the terms and conditions of the Fanatical game retail company here and it states thus, “Prices for products are quoted on our website. While we do our best to ensure accuracy, it is always possible that some of the prices on the website may be incorrect.”
Taxes in the form of VAT are deducted on every sale made, which would depend largely on your geographic location.
Fanatical payment methods
The Fanatical game retailing company which deals financially with many global customers obviously has to employ some mode of payment or payment gateway to ensure orderly and organized transaction processes. The payment methods strategically selected, operated, and used by the company include:
- Paypal
- Credit / Debit Cards
- AliPay (limited to Hong Kong, China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, or the USA only)
- iDEAL (at a minimum transaction value of €10.00 and in use only in the Netherlands)
- Sofortüberweisung (at a minimum transaction value €2.00 and limited to Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany only)
- China Union Pay
- PaySafeCard
You should note that some of the currencies recognized by the Fanatical game retail company include the:
- USD (US Dollars)
- GBP (Great Britain Pounds)
- EURO
- AUD (Australian Dollars)
- CAD (Canadian Dollars)
- JPY (Japanese Yen)
Best Fanatical alternatives
The Fanatical game retailing company comes with its pros and cons. It would be worthy of mention to state that not a lot of you would place the Fanatical game retailer at the top of your list. Therefore, a list of other alternatives to the Fanatical game retailing company include, but are not limited to, websites like:
- Origin
- Indiegala
- GameGator
- FreeToGame
- Chrono.gg
- Heroic Games Launcher
- Epic Game Store
- Itch.io
- Humble Bundle
- Steam
Additional FAQS
Does Fanatical give steam keys?
Not at all! Here is how it works. The Steam app is the medium or app through which you access a game but Fanatical, on the other hand, offers up keys for sale at hugely discounted prices. The said keys act as passwords with which buyers or customers can access the key assigned game.
Conclusion
After extensive research and analysis, I consider the Fanatical game retail website ethical and safe. You can be assured, subsequently, of safe dealing with and on the website.
HAPPY GAMING!!!