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Online distribution service Steam ran out of keys for Splinter Cell: Blacklist during a sale over the weekend.

This weekend saw the entire Splinter Cell franchise go on sale at 75% off on Steam. This included the most recent entry in the franchise, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, which saw a significant uptick in sales.

Unfortunately many users were unable to play their newly purchased game, and were faced with an error message that read Failed to connect to server”. This was quickly shown after a Requesting key” message appeared.

Kotaku reports that the issue appears to be that Steam ran out of keys for Blacklist. When a user purchases a game they also purchase a key, which is required when the game boots to prove they acquired the game through official means. It’s basically Steams method of making sure you haven’t stolen games from them. Without enough keys to go around players are unable to boot the game, until they are given a key.

The Steam forums for Blacklist have understandably been filled with people complaining about the issue. Some have decided to claim a refund for the game, while others are waiting on Valve to give them a key to let them play their game.Steam support supposedly said that extra keys were coming soon, but these are yet to materialise.