For reference, Humble have deliberately excludes the Bundles, Weekly Sales and Widgets from the regional pricing change; these are still in USD with the same price worldwide as always. See PCGamingWiki's Humble Store page for a full list of Widget links.

GOG won't be marking regionally-priced titles (publishers would never agree to having their greed pointed out on the store page) but I'd expect to see some sort of community-compiled list in very short order once affected titles start arriving.

Well your views and experience are obviously different to my own, I can only speak to my own experiences. I was only responding to your, opinion that voting automatically means the government actually listens, which I disagree with and I gave my example to back that up. The only reason I brought up politics was in response to a US citizen mentioning something about it and I advised we had laws in line with what their government wanted related to copyright and trade.

But I agree, lets get back to the topic at hand.

This really does sound like a unfortunate concession to get some higher caliber titles on GOG and while it isn't a good thing, it is better than GOG starting to sell Steam keys.

This isn't the type of thing that GOG would push for themselves, but it is the type of thing that a big publisher would be adamant on ... especially if it was a Japanese publisher since Yen (and thus the cost of development) is so much higher than USD.

There are 4 major Japanese 3rd part publishers: Capcom, Konami, Bandai, and SEGA (with Atlus attached); if regional pricing is what it takes for any 1 of those 4 to stop being paranoid about DRM, so be it.

... and no mater who it is that is behind all this, there are high chances that they will slowly stop supporting regional pricing too (as they get more accustomed to not clinging to outdated concepts like DRM).

GG and Steam certainly do. An easy way to check is to use Tor to obtain a foreign IP and then go browsing.

Regional pricing is a publisher decision, not a store based one; if a store doesn't like it, the publisher will not license them to sell the game in that region.

So the only options usually are that you deal with it and regionally price things, or you don't sell the game at all; GOG probably got tired of having to pass on titles.

Who can blame them if in every release thread you read "Oh I would've gotten this here had I known it was coming but I got it on Steam/Humble Bundle" or "I rarely buy here because there's hardly any newer games".

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Edit: Nevermind, I don't even want to go there and get in that discussion.

Again, a game that's being released on Steam and current-gen consoles. Sacrificing a principle that is very clearly near and dear to a lot of people, and causing concern for what GOG may also sacrifice in the future, for a commonly found modern title is just terrible decision-making on whoever's part it is who's responsible for this. Yeah it may be DRM-free but now that does not seem to matter to most people here who believe that fair pricing is almost if not equally as important to them who now plan on boycotting the game here. And really GOG should not be wasting so much time getting games like that on here, especially not as a first-day release if they can wait it out. Titles unique to this catalog are what matter more to me than anything. So for me, I would say anything less than the most highly voted games on the community wishlist still not available to buy anywhere would make this change completely unjustifiable as opposed to only disappointing and barely justifiable.

The old titles are becoming commonly found as well. See Wizardry 6-8, System Shock 2, the old Tomb Raiders, I have No Mouth and I Must Scream all of them have made their way to Steam and maybe other retailers.

What will you say once most of GOG's catalogue of older games winds up on competing retailers' sites?

I agree that the communication was handled very poorly. The GOG community cares greatly about consumer rights and they should have had an honest and candid discussion of the policy changes instead of throwing out a blizzard of spin like we wouldn't notice.

And things definitely depend heavily on what games we're getting. If they've managed to talk a respected AAA publisher into a DRM-free pilot program I'd consider that a MASSIVE win for consumers in an increasingly Steam/Origin/Uplay dominated world but if it's some C-list title or abandonware rehash that nobody cares about then it's a total waste of goodwill.

Hey, every crack in Steam's Monopoly counts and most publishers are aware of how dangerous it has been to exclusively release on one platform.

Regional pricing is shit, but it is not something that GOG can control since publishers set the price; if you have that much of an issue with it, buy the game somewhere else (or don't buy it at all) since you not buying it on GOG and GOG not being able to sell it is fundamentally the same.

Having to relent on the regional pricing issue is two steps back, but if GOG can start signing on new games sans Steam key; it is three steps forward.

No doubt. Newer games and DLC are bad. That is of course unless a lot of folks like those particular games/DLC. Then they get a pass and everyone pretends it's ok until an unpopular newer game/DLC comes along. :D

Gog is in a tight spot. It may have fueled the classics revival, but past actions mean little if publishers can get better terms and reach a larger audience through Steam. You also have to wonder if Gog was so successful reviving the revivable classics that they're left without a dependable supply of big sellers going forward. I can think of plenty of unrevived games that would sell well as Gog exclusives, but if they were easy to get, they'd be here already.

Gog made a big indie push right when the explosion of bundles drove indie prices into the basement and flooded the market with "free" copies of games people were happy to trade or give away. Microsoft wants to move most software sales into its Windows store, if Windows can even remain relevant in the era of handheld computing.

Like Netflix, Gog lives or dies by how attractive it is to content providers compared to alternatives. It's almost impossible to compete directly with Steam; it's impressive Gog has stood its ground for this long. But if Gog can't keep adding enough titles to stay relevant, it won't survive.

But there's the other side, the customers. There are lots of second-tier digital retailers around. There are Steam sales, Steam exclusives, and Amazon sales. There are pay-what-you-want bundles with average payments of less than $1 per game. Why do people come back to Gog with so many alternatives? The prices aren't the lowest, the selection isn't the best except for exclusive classics, and DRM and compatibility don't stop millions from staying with Steam and the like. Gog customers come here for other reasons.

Gog, you can't beat Steam. It isn't going to happen. You can compete as an alternative as long as there's a market for what you're selling, but you won't get there by erasing all the distinctions between you and the Steam portal retailers. You can get away with charging a premium because of the unique value you add to games, and because we can see you working hard to keep providing that unique value in the future. If you look like another Steam portal, you'll eventually lose those unique customers to Steam. Happy Steam users won't rush over to take their place.

Gog has had a long run as one of my favorite stores of any type. You've made a lot of good moves over the years. I hope you can keep adapting to business conditions without losing what made you great.

Not that ive actually read much of this thread but there will be some warning to tell us that a particular game has region specific pricing. Like say size 48 font with EXTREMELY EVIL written in caps in red should do right?