Fuck Rockstar. I changed my email accounts a few years ago but forgot to change Rockstar first. This wasn’t a problem. Now, after buying GTA V on Xbox and Steam and sinking a lot of time into it over two accounts, they added some mandatory launcher on Steam that forces you to login to their Social Club. Mandatory launcher calls an account that I can’t unlink, triggers mandatory 2FA to an email that doesn’t exist. They refuse to help despite my willingly handing over a lot of private information - their support system is as good as fake. The end result is I have sank >£100 in buying their games and they ensure that not only do I not get to continue my account on GTA V, but I have been permanently locked out and actually impossible to play any Rockstar Social - walled game on Steam.


Partial ‘correspondence’ of my third attempt to get help from them. Twice they ignored the support subject.

Judging by other complaints online this exact issue has persisted and screwed over players since the creation of GTA V, so at least 12 years.

I have the same issue with Activision, and here’s the kicker. They’re exactly the same blueprint. Same support. Same result. Same fake-ass Western names on their signature.

I feel like Rockstar needs to be continuously pressured, injustices talked about, just in case they give.

Just don’t give corps like Rockstar money.

Additional:
(from Schwaggaccino • 2y ago • Reddit)

I emailed Rockstar and started a request ticket and they want me to log in to get me to reset my 2FA which is preventing me from logging in.

THIS IS PEAK CLOWN WORLD I CAN’T BELIEVE SOMEONE ACTUALLY GOT PAID TO IMPLEMENT THIS JOKE OF A SYSTEM

Edit: For the time being it seems they have disabled all support as none of my support requests are going through, even with omitting data and using VPN multiple times… I’ve had seven unsuccessful tickets and was just brainstorming how to automate the requests.

Final Edit: Thanks for your responses everyone, looks like legal is the only route. After 24h my support requests are still being auto blocked (not submitting as there’s no delay before response), and I am skeptical they switched off support for that long, even if it is fake, so they just blacklisted my details I think.

@[email protected]
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Why don’t you request a refund from Steam? If the game doesn’t work because they changed it then I want my money back.

Stamets
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A lot of private information

Public nicknames, passwords and emails that could be fished from public dumps and retried, public crew names… Where’s the private and where is the a lot?

Also you’re not even paying attention. You called someone Aaron well after they’ve left the conversation.

Yeah I wouldn’t have let you in either with that hostility and level of vaguery

_cryptagion [he/him]
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thanks for the tip, but I don’t buy any games I don’t have to.

Goodeye8
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Mandatory launchers can fuck right off. I was lucky enough to get Rockstar support to accept my Steam purchases but even then I had to try twice because the first time they pretty much blew me off.

I also had a similar issue with Ubisoft. There it was actually easier to restore my old email than get Ubisoft support to cooperate.

In short, fuck forced launchers and anyone who says “it’s just another account”. Yeah, it is at the moment but who knows 10 years from now. You’ll be locked out of your games because some fuckery happens and support won’t do shit.

@[email protected]
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Mandatory launchers can fuck right off.

… Iike Steam’s? 😛

@[email protected]
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Think the complaint is where a launcher is required on top of a launcher. Like if you buy Cyberpunk 2077 from Steam, GOG, or Epic it doesn’t required another launcher on top of the launcher you bought it from.

Good thing is that it does seem like majority of games don’t do that. Even EA is moving away from it.

@[email protected]
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That’s not the best example, because CP2077 has its own launcher (at least the steam one)

@[email protected]
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–launcher-skip

And I’m talking about launcher the type you have to log in again.

Example being Ubisoft games where you get it from Steam or Epic and then have to install UPlay and then log into UPlay.

I’ll even use Finals as an example which isn’t DRM free. You install on Steam and go on playing with no additional login into q secondary launcher. Or you install from Gamepass with no additional login for a secondary launcher.

Goodeye8
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You know what I meant. If I buy a game on one launcher it shouldn’t open another launcher that then launches the game. The other launcher is completely unnecessary but it is mandatory to launch the game, hence mandatory launcher.

Edit: just to make it clear, if I make another account on another store that IMO is fine. I don’t have a problem with having steam, gog and itch accounts. But when I buy a game on one storefront/launcher and then I have to make an account on another storefront/launcher to play the game I already bought, that’s bullshit. In OPs case he was forced to make an account for a game he bought elsewhere and is now being punished because the company is stupid.

@[email protected]
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Oops, I misunderstood and agree; I didn’t realize a second launcher was the issue here. That is messed up.

@[email protected]
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I am aware of this list. Try comparing it to itch.io and GOG, though.

@[email protected]
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Yep. I have the exact same problem with EA-Connect. My account is just gone because EA doesn’t offer any support.

@[email protected]
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I used to work for a company that Epic Games outsourced their support to. We were based in Athens, Greece. There were other companies receiving the same email pool on Helpdesk Bulgaria or Romania, as well as an Indian office, all supporting US customers via email.

We were paid 3.5eu / hour and our performance was micromanaged by counting how many replies we did per hour.

Hence, we had canned responses that we’d copy/paste to save time and maybe achieve a bonus for that month.

Unfortunately we ended up being shit on on reddit on multiple occasions because some poor guy misunderstood the request and a legitimate request would be promptly denied, even though it shouldn’t be. The level of English comprehension varied wildly among us.

All I’m saying is maybe Rockstar actually has a way to ID your account based on IP addresses, credit card used, date purchased if you have the receipt email, driver’s license etc and you’re just dealing with an underpaid dude in Eastern Europe not quite understanding you.

Usually if you threaten to sue they escalate to tier 2, so you may have more luck that way and tbh I don’t know about Rockstar, that’s how Epic did it back in 2018.

Maybe try explaining it a different way? I dunno but good luck.

Edit: I just saw the rest of the messages in your comment.

I wouldn’t have given you back the account either in their shoes. You just claim things that anyone could claim from their point of view, they have procedures they need to follow.

They can’t try your password, or see it anywhere and would never ask you for it either.

They’re asking simple things that you should have been able to verify. After that they’d likely ask for IP addresses and last 4 digits of card used etc.

They have to do this, or anyone’s account could be hacked by social engineering all too easy.

Goodeye8
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Edit: I just saw the rest of the messages in your comment.

I wouldn’t have given you back the account either in their shoes. You just claim things that anyone could claim from their point of view, they have procedures they need to follow.

They can’t try your password, or see it anywhere and would never ask you for it either.

They’re asking simple things that you should have been able to verify. After that they’d likely ask for IP addresses and last 4 digits of card used etc.

They have to do this, or anyone’s account could be hacked by social engineering all too easy.

I honestly don’t see how you can turn the blame on him. It’s not his fault the support didn’t ask for the right things. It’s actually part of Rockstar support procedure to ask essentially public information like previous email addresses or previous nicknames. On my first try they asked the same things from me. On my second try they also asked for Steam purchase history and game keys. It’s not his fault the support fucked up and didn’t ask for the right things.

@[email protected]
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The thing is, and I think you’re missing this, he got those wrong. After being asked for email and Nickname he provides them and the support person says “I’m unable to verify that you own the account”, that means he answered wrong, yes those might be bad questions because some random person might know them, but he didn’t.

Goodeye8
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They will say “I’m unable to verify that you own the account” even if you give the correct answers to those questions. I know that because it literally happened to me.

Wildmimic
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But this whole situation started with him ignoring that he didn’t have access to the mail address connected to his account, and i bet that this has been this way for years, not a few days. And he couldn’t even spit out one definite answer for the original nickname used when creating the account (which tells me it definitely has been years). They didn’t ask for the wrong things, OP couldn’t answer them.

Goodeye8
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The whole situation started because he was forced to make a separate account when he really didn’t need one. He wouldn’t have to remember any of those things if Rockstar simply let him play their games.

As for the rest, I guess all I can say is I hope it happens to you because you clearly lack the empathy to understand why this is a problem so they only way for you to understand is by having to go through it yourself.

Wildmimic
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This doesn’t happen to me because i made the mistake of not taking stuff like account creation seriously 20 years ago and i learnt my lesson, OP will have learnt his now. Since you seem to share the notion that it’s not important if you lose access to an account which active software is bound to, WITH NO OTHER REAL WAY TO PROVE THAT YOU OWN THAT SPECIFIC LICENSE (you can’t even be sure from Rockstar’s side that the Steam account hasn’t been hacked and now the criminal wants to get the GTA credentials, and Rockstar does not have an ID stored to compare OP’s to), you will probably learn it too sooner or later.

That the support asked him for the original username (that’s something they HAVE stored and is bound to the owner, because it was defined at account creation) to confirm his ownership (on a pretty weak basis i might add), is the way Rockstar wants to remedy those situations unbureaucratically. But OP can’t give them an straight answer because he has ignored the situation for so long that he can’t remember that info anymore.

The legal office of any Corp worth their salt forbids the (outsourced, but where it’s inhouse the rule is the same tbh) support to login into user accounts, because that’s one way to be in real trouble if your support takes over user accounts and pulls shady shit with them.

The Crew name is public information, so it’s of no use to them, and sending your password in cleartext per email is either a sign of being mentally unwell or you don’t care because you got it from a hack somewhere. If I were the support here, i would suspect someone other than the owner of the account wants to take over the account (no definite answer to my questions and infobombing are social engineering tactics), and go into high alert mode, which happened here.

I don’t defend 3rd-Party launchers, those are unneeded trash. But as a veteran support, I have to defend them - they are not responsible for picking up OPs slack that hasn’t been cleaned up for years.

Goodeye8
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But as a veteran support, I have to defend them - they are not responsible for picking up OPs slack that hasn’t been cleaned up for years.

There’s nothing wrong with defending the support, doesn’t mean you need to blame OP. Support has to deal with this shit because Rockstar sucks.

Since you seem to share the notion that it’s not important if you lose access to an account which active software is bound to, WITH NO OTHER REAL WAY TO PROVE THAT YOU OWN THAT SPECIFIC LICENSE (you can’t even be sure from Rockstar’s side that the Steam account hasn’t been hacked and now the criminal wants to get the GTA credentials, and Rockstar does not have an ID stored to compare OP’s to), you will probably learn it too sooner or later.

Which they wouldn’t have to do IF THEY DIDN’T REQUIRE AN ACCOUNT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Also do you even realize what you’re saying? You’re pretty much saying OP shouldn’t have bought any of the rockstar games to begin with because (if we exclude Steam) THERE IS LITERALLY NO WAY TO PROVE THAT YOU OWN THE LICENSE. When social club rolled around there wasn’t even a store there, the only way to buy the game was through a third party store like Steam. That said, they will still verify against licenses bought on Steam but I’ll get to that.

That the support asked him for the original username (that’s something they HAVE stored and is bound to the owner, because it was defined at account creation) to confirm his ownership (on a pretty weak basis i might add), is the way Rockstar wants to remedy those situations unbureaucratically. But OP can’t give them an straight answer because he has ignored the situation for so long that he can’t remember that info anymore.

And that weak basis can get you nowhere because that happened to me. They asked the same things and when I gave them that information (which, before you start speaking stupid, was correct information) they closed the ticket but didn’t return my account. I’m pretty sure they store game keys with the account and then verify using the time of purchase and the key, because that’s what they asked the second time around and then I got my account unlocked. AFAIK support did the same thing OP and I think for that support should get shit because why are you asking for useless information when you could ask for useful information?

The legal office of any Corp worth their salt forbids the (outsourced, but where it’s inhouse the rule is the same tbh) support to login into user accounts, because that’s one way to be in real trouble if your support takes over user accounts and pulls shady shit with them.

Now you’re talking about a different thing. OP shouldn’t have given them their password because support can’t use it. That’s on OP. But that doesn’t invalidate what I’ve been talking about.

The Crew name is public information, so it’s of no use to them, and sending your password in cleartext per email is either a sign of being mentally unwell or you don’t care because you got it from a hack somewhere. If I were the support here, i would suspect someone other than the owner of the account wants to take over the account (no definite answer to my questions and infobombing are social engineering tactics), and go into high alert mode, which happened here.

And OP here is on attempt 3 trying to fix something they shouldn’t have to fix in the first place. I can imagine OP is already frustrated beyond belief. Of course he’s going to look unhinged, but maybe he wouldn’t be in that situation if support had actually tried to help him the first time around. Or better yet, if he wasn’t put in this situation to begin with.

I get wanting to defend support but support is not to blame (except for the poor procedure where they don’t ask the correct information) and OP is not to blame (for forgetting to update an account they most likely haven’t directly used for year, because for the longest time once the account was made it would be linked to Steam and it would never show itself). If there’s anyone to blame for this hole mess it’s Rockstar for putting in the stupid third party launcher in the first place.

Wildmimic
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I simply repeat: it is OPs job to keep their accounts in order and contact information updated. The license is bound to an email account. Keep your info updated for stuff you actively use, or run into trouble. There’s nothing else to say in this matter.

Goodeye8
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I simply repeat: it is OPs job to keep their accounts in order and contact information updated.

I don’t defend 3rd-Party launchers, those are unneeded trash.

Clearly both of those statements can’t be true because the only reason he needs to keep his accounts in order is because the unneeded trash of a third party launcher requires it, so which is it?

Actually, it doesn’t matter. This discussion has already shown that you’d rather be a corporate cuck than stand with the consumers.

@[email protected]
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Thanks for the context, which led me to downvote this post. Come on, guys; not all complaints are valid.

@[email protected]
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-362M

It is valid to take people’s money and deny them the product? Interesting opinion…

Wildmimic
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It is valid for them to make sure accounts cannot be taken over by hostile actors, and it is valid for them to assume that you are able to notify them about email address changes in time.

Tell me, how many years did you have to resolve the situation regarding your email address before it came to this?

@[email protected]
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No and it is shitty to implement this new authentication system after all these years, however should they just hand over any account to some rando writing an angry email? If that were the case, we’d be reading about that right now (“Rockstar gave my account away!”) instead of this.

@[email protected]
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For all we know, it’s a 50/50 that the customer service guy receives back an email back from that email that supposedly is not accessible saying “WTF I have no idea what you’re talking about, was my account hacked?”

But since you’re that gullible - hey bro, that wallet in your back pocket is mine, I put it there when I washed my jeans. Hand it back now, I paid for it and I’m 100% entitled to it!!

thermal_shock
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One way to fix this is buy your own domain and own all the email accounts.

@[email protected]
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32M

I couldn’t play red dead 2 because of some old email I didn’t recognize was associated with my rockstar social account that was linked to my steam account where I bought the game. I didn’t even give a shit about cloud or online play. I just wanted to do the game all alone but it wouldn’t let me without that email. It was the dumbest shit ever and i eventually just got a refund. They definitely use people over seas for support and it takes them forever to reply.

Wildmimic
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Don’t give them money because you aren’t able to keep your email address updated? Don’t give them money because you are not able to provide the information they need to verify you are who you say you are?

I’ve worked costumer support for many years, and me and my supervisors would have rejected your request too. Since you can’t provide what they want (not even a definite nickname wtf), you probably can’t prove the purchase either.

Don’t flame some poor support guy or a company, kick yourself in the ass for letting it slide for so long that you cant even remember the original nickname anymore and chalk it up as a learning experience - we’ve all been there.

@[email protected]
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32M

Well then can we flame them (rockstar) for turning off Linux support on GTA V Online? I know the exact same anticheat works on linux, because I am playing Dune online and it’s working just fine. So yeah, back to that, fuck rockstar!

Wildmimic
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yeah, that’s a flameable offense, i agree.

@[email protected]
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Thanks. I was pretty bummed when they flipped that switch.

@[email protected]
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112M

God, can these companies fuck off with their third party launchers? Its why I don’t buy any game off Steam which has that warning, not worth the hassle

@[email protected]
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I delt with the exact same issue recently. I was locked out of my 13 year old Rockstar account and despite sending everything asked for they wouldn’t help me. It took 9 separate support requests over the course of 6 months before I was able to get my account back. Their support is the most infuriating AI bullshit I have ever dealt with.

I didn’t know if it will help you but it seems the key phrase that actually got them to look at my account was that I was “worried about my account being compromised”. It was a complete lie but I had run out of options. They ask every time “when was your account linked to steam/epic” and I just said “I’ve never linked epic, oh no someone has my account!!”. That was the only thing that worked. Good luck 🤞

oortjunk
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52M

Step one: put this on your tinder profile:

I have been permanently locked out and actually impossible to play any Rockstar Social - walled game on Steam.

Step two: reel’em in. You’re free now!

artyom
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Yeah this is the cancer that is email 2FA.

Unfortunately email is the only way they have to verify your identity. No email, no account. But this is very much not exclusive to Rockstar.

I changed my email a couple of years ago and it’s absolutely astonishing how many companies are completely unequipped to deal with someone changing or deleting their email account.

@[email protected]
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Unfortunately email is the only way they have to verify your identity. No email, no account.

That isn’t really true, I’ve restored access to multiple game accounts before in situations where I lost access to my email, it mostly involved providing information about the account that only the person using it would know, like the names of characters on it and some other stuff. If a company can’t handle this it’s because they don’t want to pay for competent customer support workers and just rely entirely on lazily coded automated systems.

artyom
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Yes, it is the lazy way to secure accounts. No defense there.

@[email protected]
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Yes, things like original email and Nickname are some of those questions because after they change the public might have no way of figuring it out. Notice the support tech asked for those informations and when provided with it he said that he couldn’t verify ownership, this means OP reported wrong information for the identifying questions.

I’m not saying the service is great, asking him to access an email he claims to have lost access is dumb, but everything after that the tech support person did his best, and I don’t think he should have disabled 2FA, since it could be a social engineering attack.

@[email protected]
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12M

Oh, I see, didn’t read the second image at first

@[email protected]
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32M

My daughter played on my account while she was a minor and didn’t have her own rig. She got a gaming PC and her own steam account and is grown now, has her own copy of gtav.

But my account is tied to her email. Almost every time I want to play I have to call her. I’d just buy another copy on a steam sale but, “you already own this game”.

@[email protected]
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12M

Assuming you don’t care enough about your progress, can’t you just log out of the R* launcher with your own login?

bryndos
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Did you try typing [email protected] as your email address?

IRL you don’t need an email account to do road violence. Simulator is worse than life. Matrix, confirmed.

Owl
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42M

?

bryndos
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IIRC goruanga was the cheat code in gta. also it came up when you got all the hare krishnas in one and go and gave 1million points.

Wildmimic
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that was gouranga

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