Why were the Fallout games removed from GOG? Will they be back?

edit: Seems they were removed a long time ago. No information why though.

The franchise was bought out by Bethesda, so the deal with Interplay to sell the games ceased to exist. Maybe not entirely factually accurate, but you get the idea.

Last I checked the first three games were DRM free on Steam. Safe to buy it there if you really want to play them.

Full info: http://www.gog.com/news/removed_from_catalog_fallout_1_2_tactics


Hm, for some reason, the Fallout games I got from that giveaway now have each a "Classic" suffix (Fallout Classic, Fallout 2 Classic, Fallout Tactics Classic). An omen, maybe?

IMHO "Classic" means they're from Interplay and "new" will be from Bethesda (with their logo). It means Fallout will return to GOG.com... :>

then why would Bethesda be listed in the company filter tab ( column 54)?

GOG lists many publishers that are not currently selling games here, so that doesn't mean anything. Still, Doominator3 is wrong and is only repeating garbage that is spouted by many GOGers. I personally think the more likely reason Bethesda is not yet selling any games on GOG is because they already have well established channels for selling and providing support for their PC titles. Steam already covers all needs for a PC distribution platform (from the perspective of game publishers), GOG is still playing second fiddle for publishers who want even more exposure on the PC market. This is probably why we see so many self-published "indie" titles here, they really need more exposure than Steam alone can provide. Sure, we sometimes see "digital premieres" on GOG first, which is amazing, but rather an exception to the rule that says Steam is the first step in all PC distribution.

Under GOG's niche market requirements, they would have to maintain separate builds and separate customer support, which equals higher costs for Bethesda. It is a question of profit and risks, not an ideological stand for DRM solutions or a fear of piracy.

i see fall out is back on gog strange but awsome

Yep, they returned all guns blazing with some TES, Doom and Quake titles, but why couldn't they just update/overwrite the old Interplay version? :P

yeah that i think is strange also

In the sale I can buy the Fallout games, but I have Fallout 1 still in my library, with the title Fallout Classic. Is there a difference between them??
EDIT: Nevermind, there is a thread already

There was a lawsuit between Bethesda and Interplay that resulted in Interplay losing the rights after 2013. The Fallout Wikia has a substantive article about it.
fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Bethesda_Softworks_LLC_v._Interplay_Entertainment_Corporation

GoG handled the support for the game before, why would that change now and cost them anything substantial.

Edit: spelling

GOG's obligations are quite limited in terms of customer service. They are responsible for the installers, servers and to some extent the promise that the product is reasonably functional as per description. That doesn't mean a currently active publisher has no customer support responsibilities, though to be fair I didn't check to see if Bethesda is clearly saying "NOTICE: This product is no longer supported" or some such. I could be full of it.

Still makes more sense than going around saying "bethesda loves DRM solutions" when trying to explain business decisions.