It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
(4041 posts)
Pages:
1
50
100
150
200
238
239
240
241
242
270
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 25, 2014
avatar
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?
It's not about "acquiring a ton of cheap shit". It's a matter of principle and trust. None of this would have been a major issue if GOG hadn't made such a big deal out of flat pricing, even to the point of making a YouTube ad that focused entirely on this as a selling point for GOG.
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
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...
avatar
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.
Please read my response here:
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/announcement_big_preorders_launch_day_releases_coming/post3574

TL;DR My point is that getting too emotional undermines our position. It's very easy to ignore a bunch of hysterical criers and then put a blame on them. We shouldn't give them any excuses.
Posted February 25, 2014
high rated
avatar
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?
GOG was in no danger of stagnating or becoming irrelevant. There are thousands, tens of thousands, of "older" PC titles (remember that they defined "old" as at least three years old), many of them not tied to agreements, many of them not available anywhere else, that they could still dig up and work their magic on the same way they've been doing since launch. Even for the extremely obscure ones there will be someone interested in buying them somewhere, and that someone will be very appreciative of the store that decided to stand out and offer them while sticking to some principles as well when nobody else is. And for a fair number there will be far more than that.
And on top of that, since the move away from just "old" games, there are loads of indies that again have their own market. Plus the occasional bigger studio who sees sense, or maybe doesn't necessarily see sense for good but wants to test the waters, see the result, both in direct sales and in how the potential goodwill will translate in the future, to offer the rights to some of their games.

Yes, maybe they won't get launch-day AAA titles. So what? Many that'd make up the (more or less) hardcore GOG crowd aren't interested in those. And most of those who are interested in those probably don't mind Steam, or even the other competitors, so they'll be competing directly on the same games and audience and also losing their principles for it... And for what?

To quote them, "If there is a backbone of your business and you change it, you are destroying your business. It will come in time, maybe today you will make a fast dollar, but afterwards you will deeply regret it. That's how we see that."
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
Nicole28: If it's postponed to tomorrow, a short note about it would be good. :/
avatar
HGiles: GOG needs to get a dictionary that includes a clear definition of 'professional'.
More like a clear definition of "tomorrow".
Posted February 25, 2014
That will be funny where all those angry people, gonna be happy of the coming of the lucasarts game on GoG thanks to regional price....
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
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.
avatar
Bloodygoodgames: 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 :)
As a Brit, who happens to live in Germany now I mostly agree. There a bunch of things they do here better than the UK, including still having tax allowances for married couples and not forcing, like the UK has, that parents effectively both have to work. That said, I find their enducation system a little ... Odd.

There are a few EU laws that Germany has been behind the UK in enforcing, like disabled access to shops & services.
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
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?
avatar
hedwards: 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..
The UK was not seeing as part of Europe since....after the WW2. People having fed up with European wars.
The actual region of what we call today UK though was always, or at least for the last 2500 years, been part of the political, historical and economic "thing" Europe is. Just because for the last few generations and especially since the 80's, many anti European Union British people say the UK is not part of Europe, it doesn't make it truth.
Some times I wish I weren't part of humanity, but that still doesn't change the fact that I am a human.
Also, don't forget that a large (most?) part of British people are a mix of Germans, French, Scandinavian etc people.
I don't blame them for not wanting to be associated with Europe, especially with the EU, I completely sympathize with them, but just because they want things to be in certain way it doesn't mean they are.

Besides, if the UK ever left the EU, it would be a disaster for all in the long term. Who would be in any position to try to bring some balance to a Germany controlled Europe? France? lol.
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
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.
I'd suggest that delay on the statement could be a good thing.

It suggests that their response is being carefully considered (hopefully more so that their initial announcement here) and that there may be a policy reversal.

In situations like this with contractual negotiations and NDAs ongoing, saying "no" to customer requests is quick and simple. Saying "yes" (as in "We'll drop regional pricing") is a lot harder, and the longer we have to wait for GOG's followup, the better the chances that it could be a yes in my view.

The cynics among us (who, me?) might even speculate that this furore is deliberate, with GOG aiming to show prospective publishers the depth of feeling on this issue. It would be a crass way of doing so, but no more crass than their fake shutdown a few years back
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
nansounet: That will be funny where all those angry people, gonna be happy of the coming of the lucasarts game on GoG thanks to regional price....
No I will call names towards both LucasArts and GoG... If I'm paying any more than USA based persons...
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
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?
Seeing as 95% of the so called AAA titles are crap that i wouldn't play for free, yes GOG not having them i find personally preferable.

They got new indy releases in which i personally do like, no need for we gots production values but nothing else AAA titles imo.

The only one i'd really care about is The Witcher 3 but i sure hope GOG could come to an agreement with their own sister company :D.
Posted February 25, 2014
I could never live in uk because of those damned awful cctvs ...
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
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?
avatar
Cavalary: GOG was in no danger of stagnating or becoming irrelevant. There are thousands, tens of thousands, of "older" PC titles (remember that they defined "old" as at least three years old), many of them not tied to agreements, many of them not available anywhere else, that they could still dig up and work their magic on the same way they've been doing since launch. Even for the extremely obscure ones there will be someone interested in buying them somewhere, and that someone will be very appreciative of the store that decided to stand out and offer them while sticking to some principles as well when nobody else is. And for a fair number there will be far more than that.
And on top of that, since the move away from just "old" games, there are loads of indies that again have their own market. Plus the occasional bigger studio who sees sense, or maybe doesn't necessarily see sense for good but wants to test the waters, see the result, both in direct sales and in how the potential goodwill will translate in the future, to offer the rights to some of their games.

Yes, maybe they won't get launch-day AAA titles. So what? Many that'd make up the (more or less) hardcore GOG crowd aren't interested in those. And most of those who are interested in those probably don't mind Steam, or even the other competitors, so they'll be competing directly on the same games and audience and also losing their principles for it... And for what?

To quote them, "If there is a backbone of your business and you change it, you are destroying your business. It will come in time, maybe today you will make a fast dollar, but afterwards you will deeply regret it. That's how we see that."
The expansion to indies made sense, but I agree that getting bigger studios on board isn't such a priority for me. Maybe the insistence on pursuing this is because indies haven't been as successful as GOG thought. That would explain why they're willing to sacrifice region-free to get more quick releases. This especially makes sense given that many large indie games are on bundles. Customers have been trained to buy indies from bundles for cents per game. Individual full price releases have much more competition.

GOG was having problems releasing classic games. They'd gotten most of the easy ones. The rest were underneath tangled rights agreements or still subject to various contracts. Forum users tried to help sort this out, but it was simply too messy for us to make much progress on.
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
Bloodygoodgames: Because I'm fully of the opinion that when a company that has spent years loudly declaring its beliefs and putting down others that don't share those beliefs then turns around and goes back on a huge part of what they supposedly 'believed in', and stomps on the customers that made them so successful in the first place while they do it, they deserve as much shit as I can muster.

Plus, it's kind of funny to read some of the responses from people who are obviously so naive that they still hold out some thread of hope that GOG isn't really now going down that dark and nasty, dodgy path few ever thought they would go down.

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.

It's a classic case that should be studied in marketing and PR classes of exactly what NOT to do if you want to keep a successful business, and your customer base, and my evil little business mind finds it highly informative. :)

Plus, if we bitch loud and long enough, maybe they'll change their minds. If we don't bitch, they definitely won't.

That, and I have several friends on here that I'm talking to :)
avatar
Natamysza: Yup, that's why I have written that I agree with you partially ;) Whatever you say about PR, huge mistakes and being unprofessional - I agree with you completely. But then... don't you thing that flinging shit at them is also unprofessional? And most important - ineffective? I'm not trying to defend GOG but you are giving them a perfect excuse to ignore "your bitching". They can just say "well, some of our customers went completely nuts, what can we do?" The best way to avoid a metaphorical shit flung at you is to ignore it. I'm not that stupid to believe that expressing your worries gently is going to change anything. The only good way I see is to stop buying from them, just as you plan to do (and I'm agreeing with you about that too!). That can actually give them something to think about but only if we don't deliver the aforementioned easy excuse. "Some of our customers left us? Well, they were all crazy, it's even better that they are gone"
Natamysza, what you're missing though is I don't have to be 'professional'. I'm a customer, it's not my business. :)

The company, however, has to be professional -- if they want to keep most of their customer base, that is. And so far, GOG has done an incredibly piss poor job of it and it's getting worse by the day.

1) They've angered a huge percentage of their customer base

2) They've promised a letter today that, so far, hasn't arrived and it's now the close of business

3) They've announced a decision that will cause them to go back on one of their core values - a reason why a huge percentage of their customers buy here

4) They've made a decision that has created a ton of negative press for them on gaming sites all over the internet - negative press that is likely to increase as time goes on and as it becomes obvious their customers are not happy.

Honestly, it doesn't get much worse than this :)
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
nansounet: That will be funny where all those angry people, gonna be happy of the coming of the lucasarts game on GoG thanks to regional price....
avatar
Ekaros: No I will call names towards both LucasArts and GoG... If I'm paying any more than USA based persons...
I can understand, but 1$=1€ is not restricted to video games, its for everything now... that sad, but its reality...
Posted February 25, 2014
avatar
nansounet: That will be funny where all those angry people, gonna be happy of the coming of the lucasarts game on GoG thanks to regional price....
avatar
Ekaros: No I will call names towards both LucasArts and GoG... If I'm paying any more than USA based persons...
I'll be doing so even if somehow I wouldn't be paying more (though that's hard to imagine) but I'll learn that someone living somewhere else will be.

(Not that I care for LucasArts games myself.)
Pages:
1
50
100
150
200
238
239
240
241
242
270
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
(4041 posts)