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General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
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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 25, 2014
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Bloodygoodgames: And it's even funnier, as someone with a background in PR, to see GOG yet again so enormously screw up and then not even have the common courtesy to have their CEO issue a statement - a statement that was promised today I might add - while their customer base sits waiting for it. A statement that anyone with one jot of PR sense would have issued first thing this morning.
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TheRealJayDee: I have no background in PR, but I've been a customer long enough to have encountered my fair share of unfortunate PR scenarios. And yet I am completely taken by surprise everytime something like this happens. Putting the pretty dramatic info about the changing regional pricing situation in a pretty ordinary announcement instead of having a fleshed out article on it's own... how about "no"? Starting the announcement with "Good news!"... seriously?

Had they started this with a somehwat detailed official statement -like the one we still haven't got- I wouldn't have liked them dropping one of their initial basic principals any better, but it would have made it easier to have a discussion about the pros and cons of such a decision.

Learning about this two days later from another website just pissed me off. "Good news!"...
GOG had a lot of fanbois earlier on. Had being the operative word. I'm no longer willing to stick my neck out for them as it's come back to bite me enough times.

Whenever they changed one of their core values, they should have expected a shitstorm from people that weren't happy with the changes. Which is why it has always surprised me that the response has been rather weak from PR. Give us a Futurama style good news with basically no details and rely upon customer good will to have some breathing room before the actual announcement would have worked a lot better if they hadn't already shed most of their credibility with previous changes.
Posted February 25, 2014
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Bloodygoodgames: snip

Europe, Russia, the UK and Australia.

snip
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HypersomniacLive: Completely OT, but honest question - why do people constantly mention the UK separately from Europe? Did the UK leave Europe and I wasn't told? Ans now, you even mention Russia separately, did they also leave Europe?
We have a somewhat different position to other EU member states, having have declined number of things that other member states accepted (one example being the Euro), resulting in us being a bit less integrated with the rest of the EU & more independent.

I think this is why certain states like Romania get so badly screwed with online regional pricing... digital distributors just group them along with and treat them the same as all the other EU member states even though their economy is much weaker, giving them the higher pricing intended for wealthier EU countries like Germany (there may also be some EU law/regulation about digital goods that prevents distributors from treating them differently, but I have no idea about that).
Posted February 25, 2014
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HGiles: QFT. GOG has never been a company out to screw the customer for cash. Regional pricing isn't good news. But I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt until we see how it's going to play out.
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Bloodygoodgames: So when WILL you think you're getting screwed? When DRM is finally introduced? Or will you also see that as something 'positive' for the customer?

In the last year and a half, GOG has gone from a company that concentrated on cool old games, to first adding indie games. Then it was DLC and keys for certain games if you wanted to play multi-player, with excuses as to why 'that was still okay and still fell in with our principles'.

Now it's region free pricing. Next, coming to a computer near you.....reasons why 'some games' will have DRM on GOG......if this slippery slope keeps being slalomed down.

In fact, in the last year and a half, they've gone from a really awesome company to one I barely recognize.

Seriously.............it's..........not...........rocket..........science
Maybe we have a fundamentally different take on the company-customer relationship.

I don't see this as GOG messing with their customers. They're changing who their customers are. At some point, I will not be a GOG customer. Not because they acted with deliberate malice or unconscious cruelty, but because they no longer appeal to me. That's a natural consequence of being in business. Target markets shift. There's nothing inherently wrong or right about that. It's like water flowing downhill.

Steam makes many people very happy. Part of that involves things I believe are harmful or useless. But there are people who value those aspects of Steam. Same thing for smoking, alcohol, and wearing lots of bright jangly bracelets. There's nothing wrong with not being in the target market.

There is something wrong with upending promises to current customers (i.e. changing the terms of prior transactions). That's not what GOG is doing. They're signaling a target market shift. They're even signaling it well in advance of the actual impact. No one's current games will be impacted. Most new game purchases won't be impacted for some time.

TL;DR When GOG starts messing with previous transactions or shifting markets without signaling, they're hurting their customers. So far they've announced all shifts well in advance. Often badly, but I'll take a bad signal well in advance of what Adobe just tried any day.
Post edited February 25, 2014 by HGiles
Posted February 25, 2014
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011284mm: Russia and the UK do although they are attached to the EU zone are very much of the "we answer only to ourselves" mentality.
We in the UK refuse to use the Euro, we refuse to abide by EU law without complaint and are always threatening (in the UK, not Europe) to break all ties with Europe. Even though this would all be a complete disaster.

:)
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HypersomniacLive: Correct if I'm wrong, but Europe was mentioned, not the EU. It makes perfect sense to mention the UK and Russia separately from the EU, but not from Europe. Or not?
The UK is on the same continent as Europe.There is however a long tradition of not considering the UK to be a part of continental Europe because it's separated by water and was only recently discovered to be on the same continent..
Posted February 25, 2014
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HypersomniacLive: Correct if I'm wrong, but Europe was mentioned, not the EU. It makes perfect sense to mention the UK and Russia separately from the EU, but not from Europe. Or not?
That's a distinction even EU members seem to have a hard time making.

I cringe everytime a newspaper here in germany talks of the EU court of human rights ie.lol
Posted February 25, 2014
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fortune_p_dawg: Does the thought of GOG stagnating to the point of complete irrelevancy not freak anoyone out, or is it just me? I'm not trying to get into the nuts and bolts of this convoluted debate but it seems as though a lot of people would prefer this outcome to one that get can new games on launch, still embraces a DRM-free policy, and yet eschews flat pricing.

Is acquiring a ton of cheap shit from a irrelevant store front really preferred to embracing a competitive and thriving GOG which can offer old titles and new titles (at launch no less) DRM-free?
This is what it's all about. I'd rather have a bigger DRM-free catalogue than flat prices. And let's be honest, the lack of DRM is what makes GOG a viable and visible alternative to other digital distribution sites, not the pricing.
Posted February 25, 2014
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Djungelurban: More like they just skipped it and hoped we'd forget...
If it's postponed to tomorrow, a short note about it would be good. :/
Post edited February 25, 2014 by Nicole28
Posted February 25, 2014
Yeah uh about that letter..
Posted February 25, 2014
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Reaper9988: Yeah uh about that letter..
Probably we don't have the rights to read it, you know with the DRM that's there...

Or then it's just region restricted...
Posted February 25, 2014
no letter for you! ;)
Posted February 25, 2014
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Natamysza: May I ask you a question? Please don't think I'm attacking you, I understand your point of view and respect it but... why are you still here? I don't get it, you've already repeated "I'm done with GOG" several times, you constantly sling mud at GOG and yet you're constantly coming back. What for? Shit (literal and metaphorical) is something I prefer to avoid, you on the other hand keep playing with it. Or at least it seems so. Please don't get me wrong, I do understand your point of view and frankly, I'm partially sharing it (but without using word "shit" or synonyms in every second sentence) but if GOG is so bad why are you still here? You are most probably still downloading your games but why do you visit forum? Does it make you feel better when you are bashing GOG? Sorry, I don't get it...
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rawmilk905: You don't get it that we are still here and are going to remain here because we have already paid for our games and included in that cost is all future updates and support? That we have just as much right, more actually, to post on the forums as people who just signed up for the freebies and giveaways? You don't get that this is a decision that can be reversed in favor of the standards that loyal customers have come to expect from GOG and that we are making our grievances known on the forums in a desperate attempt to not lose GOG as we know it? Sorry, I don't at all get that you don't get it.
I fully understand and support that. But there's an awful lot of misdirected anger that's causing misunderstandings.
Posted February 25, 2014
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Chacranajxy: Yeah, obviously somebody doesn't acquire an ownership interest in Diablo III's assets or anything like that just by buying the game. That's all that paragraph on ownership is saying. It's just saying you don't own the IP and can't go off and use it for your own nefarious purposes. The second bit you posted does cover in-game items, though I question the legal validity of that clause. It's rare that US courts will find something unconscionable and we're not particularly pro-consumer over here, but so many of these digital goods rights are really skirting the line.
Is it ? Are there precedents to distinguish virtual item (supposedly not covered by the Ownership clause) from another in-game, in-memory object (covered by the EULA and IP rights, as I think Glider MMO case has proven) ? For me (admittedly an outside, casual observer) law has the propensity for stretching, if a critical mass of well-paid lawyers is applied to an issue.

Secondly, I would draw your eye to the wording "You have no interest, monetary or otherwise, in any feature or content contained in the Game or associated with the Account." Player characters and items are content associated with the Account (again AFAIK untested in courts).

In any event, I would very much welcome someone with deep, deep pockets dragging these issues through courts. It might even change something in the current landscape.
Posted February 25, 2014
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HypersomniacLive: Completely OT, but honest question - why do people constantly mention the UK separately from Europe? Did the UK leave Europe and I wasn't told? Ans now, you even mention Russia separately, did they also leave Europe?
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AngryAlien: While the UK is a member of the European Union [EU], it always had and still has a... special status. They don´t use the Euro, for instance, and overall they are one of the least integration-friendly countries in the EU. They always went their own ways and they keep doing so today. They have their very own ideas how society and economy should work and they act accordingly. In a strange way the UK is partly a part of the EU and partly not.
And Germany, which tends to follow the EU rules much more than the UK ever does is a MUCH better country to live in than the UK. No matter that our idiot politicians think having the UK 'go it alone' is a better strategy.

If I suddenly had to leave Thailand (and we may end up with a civil war in the next few months, so I very well might have to), Germany is one of the places I would definitely consider living. Have loved it every time I've visited it as it's a country that is far more concerned about what benefits society as a whole than the 'me me me' attitude of much of the UK.

Yes, I'm proud to be British, but would I want to live there again? Nope, probably not :)
Posted February 25, 2014
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Djungelurban: More like they just skipped it and hoped we'd forget...
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Nicole28: If it's postponed to tomorrow, a short note about it would be good. :/
GOG needs to get a dictionary that includes a clear definition of 'professional'.
Post edited February 25, 2014 by HGiles
Posted February 25, 2014
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Reaper9988: Yeah uh about that letter..
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Ekaros: Probably we don't have the rights to read it, you know with the DRM that's there...

Or then it's just region restricted...
Oh i get it Regional Lettering.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
(4041 posts)