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General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 21, 2014
The DRM-Free Revolution Continues with Big Pre-Orders and Launch Day Releases!

Good news! GOG.com is going to bring you more fantastic launch day releases, preorders, and other exciting new content from some of our favorite developers. We've lined up 3 big titles that we will be bringing to GOG.com in the next couple of months for sale or preorder that we think will be hits with all of our gamers; and we have more equally exciting games coming up soon.

If you've been a member of the site for a long time, you may recall that when we launched sales of The Witcher 2 on GOG.com, we had to add in regional pricing. The game cost different amounts in in the US, the UK, the European Union, and Australia. We're doing something like that once again in order to bring you new titles from fantastic bigger studios. Since we don't accept currencies other than USD on GOG.com right now, we'll be charging the equivalent of the local price in USD for these titles. We wish that we could offer these games at flat prices everywhere in the world, but the decision on pricing is always in our partners' hands, and regional pricing is becoming the standard around the globe. We're doing this because we believe that there's no better way to accomplish our overall goals for DRM-Free gaming and GOG.com. We need more games, devs, and publishers on board to make DRM-Free gaming something that's standard for all of the gaming world!

That brings with it more good news, though! As mentioned, we have three games we're launching soon with regional pricing--two RPGs and a strategy game--and while we can't tell you what they are yet because breaking an NDA has more severe penalties than just getting a noogie, we're confident that you'll be as excited about these games as we are. For a limited time, we will be offering anyone who pre-orders or buys one of them a free game from a selection as a gift from GOG.com, just like we did for The Witcher 2.

If you have any questions, hit us up in the comments below and we'll be happy to answer (to the best of our ability).

EDIT: Since we've answered a lot of the common questions already here (and lest you think that we've ignored you), it may be handy for you to check out the forum thread about this and search for staff answers by clicking this link here. (hat tip to user Eli who reminded us that the feature even exists. :)
Posted February 23, 2014
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Lykaon: as long it does not become (thanks to Steam):

39,99 USD -> 39,99 EUR, I am okay with that.
Unfortunately TET's own words:
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TheEnigmaticT: Well, for these initial games we're talking about we have a plan to offer free games from a selected list. Beyond that, it's going to be on a case-by-case basis for a while I imagine. We certainly intend to try and offer something for every game that we sell we regional pricing. We know that 1 euro isn't 1 dollar, and we want to try to offset that.
seem to suggest that it will be exactly like that :(
Posted February 23, 2014
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N3xtGeN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6P3yOTR2Vc&t=1194
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Lemon_Curry: Thanks a lot for the link. What an interesting talk and Q&A!

A few quotes from the session:

(Guillaume Rambourg at 19:55)

Something which is really important if you want to be human: follow your principles. You know when we started GOG we had a clear vision what we wanted to achieve. […] You know when you start a business it’s really easy at the beginning to be you know scared that ’hey I have to find clients; I have to find money; how will I make it?’ So it’s really easy to accept some deals which walk against your principles. We were always stubborn and we stood for our principles because if we respect ourselves; if we respect the GOG model then we get respect from the human beings who buy from us. So it’s all about being consistent.
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Lemon_Curry: (Marcin Iwiński at 28:00)

… it can be viral on the good side and it can be viral on the bad side. We didn’t have major fuck-ups on the bad side so far - thanks God – but we might have in the future so the first thing is to react fast see that you’ve made this mistake and say that you’re sorry. That’s really really important and I would say a lot of big companies could learn this in the gaming industry especially.
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Lemon_Curry: (Marcin Iwiński at 30:12)

The moment we’ll betray our values the whole GOG will explode and that’s the end of it.
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Lemon_Curry: (Marcin Iwiński at 39:51)

We are getting into new games. We are getting where they [Steam] are. Of course it’s difficult […] because they are very good at what they are doing and they are gamers and they love their users. That’s why Steam is no. 1. […] We just want to deliver them very similar content but with our experience; freedom of choice, flat prices worldwide and treating customers fair. Steam go really deep in terms of regionalising the content, locking certain countries and then in certain countries you can buy [or] you cannot buy. This creates a lot of frustration and still Steam is extremely US focused.
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Lemon_Curry: (Guillaume Rambourg at 40:41)

It’s funny because sometimes we have interviews with the press and they ask us ’Is GOG going to be the new Steam?’ And we reply ’No because we want to be the main alternative to Steam. We don’t want to copy. We don’t want to imitate. We want to be different.
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Lemon_Curry:
Thank you for this summary and I love your avatar ;-)
Posted February 23, 2014
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Lykaon: as long it does not become (thanks to Steam):

39,99 USD -> 39,99 EUR, I am okay with that.
I would say I'm ok with this as long as it affects only new, shining AAA titles and not classics and indie. GOG is last, or one of the very few, stores where Europeans can buy game using dollars and it would be very bad to loose it :(
Posted February 23, 2014
The reason why uniform pricing was a selling point was exactly because it made games cheaper than normal for non-Americans, meaning that GOG was often a better option than Steam in a very tangible way instead of relying on goodwill support through sacrifice on the consumer's part. Take that away and Steam's deeper and broader discounts win hands down: GOG usually stops at -75% for a select few titles at a time, often forcibly bundled with throwaway games that nobody actually wants.
Posted February 23, 2014
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GothaBlutauge: Loled at this.
After I couldn't install Skyrim within 3 hours from the DVD because of steam, I "pitchforked" the Skyrim Steel Box. Literally.

Never been so angry.
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jorlin: You can call yourself truly blessed then if that is really true. I reserve my peak of anger for circumstances that hit people I care about or myself outside of mere entertainment gripes.
Then again, if I find a better solution than a display of anger, I will go for that solution instead.
Though I wish you all the best and I hope that this will remain your ultimate cause for anger during your entire life.
Oh come on. Just because there are more important things to be angry about in life, a guy can't say something like that? Do you really take every single word people say literally? If so, I've got a bridge to sell you.
Posted February 23, 2014
yes, 1 USD != 1 EUR, but the EUR is more worth
atm: 1 Euro = 1,3744 US-Dollar. Why should I buy a 40 USD-game for 54,97600 USD.
Posted February 23, 2014
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Galenmereth: Oh come on. Just because there are more important things to be angry about in life, a guy can't say something like that? Do you really take every single word people say literally? If so, I've got a bridge to sell you.
Name your price.
Posted February 23, 2014
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keeveek: At this moment, Humble Store has everything better than you. Ok, they are not always DRM free, but usually they have more different formats than you as well. Linux or android versions for the price of one.
But I doubt that those games that will have regional prices will be on Humbe Store. After all they don't have any other Larian game for example.
Posted February 23, 2014
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HypersomniacLive: Why did I open this thread? Thanks for ruining our weekend, GOG.

Regional pricing, huh? Another fortress seems to fall. Makes one wonder how far this will go over time.
Coming so soon after the introduction of Humble Store's regional pricing, this disguised announcement shakes the trust we had in GOG to not compromise their principles (the "one world wide price" is already gone from the store front page banner). I guess the time for watching for potential unpleasant surprises has finally arrived.

I'm equally, if not more, frustrated by the fact that you chose to hide this unfavorable for a good number of us decision under the flashy, marketing-oriented but still misleading title of the announcement instead of being completely open and transparent about what the actual content of this announcement. You wanted to introduce regional pricing? Then, please, call it by its real name.

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TheEnigmaticT: Divinity: Original Sin is an example of the kind of game we're talking about; it's already launched on Steam for early access with regional pricing, and it wouldn't be very fair of Larian to give our EU and UK users a better value for the game if they buy it from GOG.com later as opposed to Steam now.
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HypersomniacLive: Seriously? With all due respect, that just sounds like GOG's (and Larian's?) poor attempt at rationalising the decision. Didn't seem to be a problem with Divinity: Dragon Commander (both editions) only a few months ago - and that's just taking the latest of Larian's games.

If this is a good example of what those "changes in our business model" entail, expect a lot of disappointed (even angry) users.

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TheEnigmaticT: No. DRM is not negotiable. We had to decide which was more important to us: making more games DRM-Free, or keeping flat pricing? Many games that we could add to GOG.com (DRM-free, even!) are not available to us because of the legal messes that are involved with regional pricing.

Yeah, that's a case where regional pricing ended up being required for the game, and seeing lawsuits like that has a certain chilling effect on other souls who may be adventurous enough to try DRM-free. This is what had to happen to get more games that are legally tied up with regional pricing available DRM-free.

We honestly don't know what's going to happen with our classic games (who knows what happens when lawyers get involved?) but we can say that it is in no way our intent to bump up these prices for different regions.
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HypersomniacLive: You say it's not negotiable today. There's no guarantee this is not going to change in the future - It may have to happen to... Sadly, even if you did say so, after this announcement, some doubt will remain in the back of our head keeping us alert.
I guess we have to wait and see how regional pricing is going to be implemented, but if it's a matter of agreements under the threat of potential lawsuits, I can't see it going any other way than how it's implement elsewhere.

EDIT: Oh, $1=1€ confirmed, lovely.

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TheEnigmaticT: You'll see the price that you're paying on the game page with the USD equivalent under it. It should be pretty evident.
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HypersomniacLive: I'm confused - since you only accept USD dollars, can you give us an example to clarify what exactly you mean?
It's done, my companion. This is a lost battle for ages...
Every company will do the same thing, that's how business is done, sadly.
It's sad to see that sentence gone from their banner.
Well, time to pack and leave.
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YellowAries: ...So much for the lecture I watched where GOG said "We don't make compromises to reach our goals"...
:'(
Post edited February 23, 2014 by Kyanti4869
Posted February 23, 2014
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JohnnyDollar: I thought Origin was your primary store anyway. :P
Nope, too few games to choose from there. But Origin does regional pricing sorta right, because Polish prices are usually much lower than German ones, for example.

Polish peeps are earning like 4 times less on average than German folks, so that sounds fair.
Posted February 23, 2014
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TheEnigmaticT: Well, for these initial games we're talking about we have a plan to offer free games from a selected list. Beyond that, it's going to be on a case-by-case basis for a while I imagine. We certainly intend to try and offer something for every game that we sell we regional pricing. We know that 1 euro isn't 1 dollar, and we want to try to offset that.
To quote someone...

"THAT'S NOT MONEY"
Posted February 23, 2014
I've bought games from many different online stores like Steam, GG, GMG, nuuvem and so on but never have I felt treated as good as on GOG. The reason is simple, they charge one price and everyone is treated equally!

When I bought Retro City Rampage on the developer's website in 2012 I first discovered GOG because it came with a Steam and GOG key. I had never heard of GOG before and what I found was a store that was full of my personal childhood memories. Seeing Ultima, King's Quest and others was a blast and I started to look for GOG's terms. Most striking was the pricing and the DRM-free part, which I hadn't seen in years. The digital market was and still is all about not-really-owning a game on Steam or other platforms ("license" which could be revoked at any time). Obviously it is a nice feeling to just download and play a game...like in the "good old times".
When I had the option I started to get games here instead of Steam or others, sometimes even going as far as buying games twice.
But why is that? Because it doesn't matter where you are from, you are treated equally and get the same product without stupid region-locks and regional pricing (aside from the Witcher 2 fiasco, which was an accident at the time).
Seeing this announcement is bad news though, because once again we are divided like on EVERY OTHER PLATFORM. GOG was more to me, it felt more like being one nation and one world, where there is no such thing as regional discrimination.


On a different note: What kind of AAA games are going to be released in the next months that are worth this change of mind and policy? Witcher 3 was already confirmed as a release so this has nothing to do with the NDA and I'm wondering what it could be. Skimming through the coming soon section of Steam doesn't show anything I'd consider worth the change on GOG. I'm well aware that tastes are different but how are you even going to compete when you still charge me with the EUR price converted into USD and me having to additionally pay conversion fees? Will there be some gog key resellers suddenly?
You'll have the highest price tag by far (for non-US regions) and despite being DRM-free that is a bitter pill to swallow. People using other platforms are looking for the best deal and yes, some or hopefully even many of them would like a DRM-free copy but in the end it is all about the money, as you showed us with this announcement. How do you expect to get more customers like that? It's totally bonkers.
Posted February 23, 2014
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Lykaon: yes, 1 USD != 1 EUR, but the EUR is more worth
atm: 1 Euro = 1,3744 US-Dollar. Why should I buy a 40 USD-game for 54,97600 USD.
Because in Europe stores must include VAT in the price of the product (around 20% or more) which is not the case of prince in the US? Extra few dollars on top are usually there as a buffer to currency conversion rates changes.

So let me revert your question: why should developer make less money from sales in Europe? Because the seller has to pay some taxes added "on top" of the product value? :)
Posted February 23, 2014
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graspee: Just type the code in and let steam download it if you don't want to deal with the DVD.
That's what steam wanted to do. But with 200kb/s this takes two days, instead of 10min to install it from dvd.

This story is some longer, starting with hyping a lot, buying Skyrim at 11.11.11 exactly at 11:11, have "lots" of fun reactivating my steam account, trying to get steam to install it from the dvd via command line (so user friendly <3), etc.
I had to go after four hours, so no time to even test it for a moment. That was, when the pitchfork got involved.


That's why I love DRM-free games.
For me, a game starts before it is installed. It should be easy and in the mood of the game. If I can't install the game because of DRM issues, reactivating accounts, registering to new accounts and problems caused by 3rd party programs, I get really mad. That ruins my first impression of the game.

In the past, game developers cared more about this. Well, at first you had a cool retail box with extra-stuff. But there were also other things to bring you into the game, like the animations in the AoE installer or even the mini-games while installing Sims.
Today it is trying to get the DRM allowing you to play your game.


But that's kinda off-topic.
Let's switch back to the discussion on region prices.
Posted February 23, 2014
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keeveek: At this moment, Humble Store has everything better than you. Ok, they are not always DRM free, but usually they have more different formats than you as well. Linux or android versions for the price of one.

Good luck, GOG. I hardly bought anything frmo you lately anyway...
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jorlin: Riiiight, now let me see:

1. ) "Humble" Store has a lot of games that can only be played through steam, even for some games available DRM free on GOG (System Shock 2 for instance)
2) No community since the silenced their forums.
3) Extremely bad customer service (I haven't heard from a request for 4(!) months now)
4) No way of ordering your games.
5) Putting gifts you ordered in your face, pre-checked and all which will redeem to your *own* account without any possibility for a refund and showing up as many time as you have "bought" the game in your list to add injury to insult.

I do agree on the Linux (and sometimes Android) version availability though and the first bundle even had the source code included for some games.
Their Humble *indie* bundles can be fantastic though, *if* they are not comprised of 90% rehashes that is.

Desura would be a great alternative if they would have had a reliable client and a total reboot of their website (seriously that abomination is hardly usable) . Plus, they carry a lot of worthless games and hardly have any interesting sales to speak of.
They do have an interesting community, which will frequently feature comments from the game makers themselves.
Kinda offtopic but

who cares about android.
Had to use a frigging solar panel last time i tried one out on a trip for a week out in the wilds.
No, gimme old good simple phones, they at least last about 2 weeks, and in some cases even 3 weeks on battery.

I have a simple
samsung phone.
works wonders, havent been let down by it yet.
Its also more durable since it yet havent broken which i cant say about the smartphones i tried.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
(4041 posts)