Hope looks bleak and my $40 might never return...

[Imoen]

I'm amazed they have two pc copies of the same game for sale, outside of utilizing steam wallet to make payments for the sub, is there really any reason to have a non steam version?

Conversely, is there any reason to have the "steam" version?... ya, I don't understand it either.

But the point is, if they just give you a new code, you can turn around and sell the code you bought and can't use and essentially get the game for free.

This could be easily managed by directly applying it to the account instead of giving you a key, that way it is "used". Is that a perfect solution? No, not by a long shot.