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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 21, 2014
high rated
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skeletonbow: Here's a hypothetical...

snip

Also, people who dislike this to the point they want to make a stand about it can just have their GOG the way it always was by simply not buying any games that have regional pricing because you wouldn't be able to buy them here anyway if they didn't allow it. Basically pretend they don't exist.
I actually prefer that big statements about core values actually mean something and not be marketing speech that gets dropped after a year or so.

Both your posts are based on a compromise of core values as necessary/ a given. The issue is exactly that – the doors this compromise opens; one doesn’t stay the same when dropping principles and values.

I’m a firm DRM-free believer and advocate and I’ve been vocal in this thread. I’ve been vocal because DRM-free is a principle for me and this announcement fills me with concern that I can't rule out that it’s one GOG core value that won’t be dropped sometime in the future – the feeling I get from TET’s posts is that all doors (and windows) are practically open.
He may have stated that he’s going to eat his hat, but the end result is going to be the same (minus a hat) and frankly, seeing how they try to rationalise this decision, it looks now like that this particular core value was more of a big marketing/ selling point than a core value.

And no, it’s not as simple as “pretend they don’t exist” and we both know it.

I’m quite confident that they won’t change their decision (and from their business POV, I kind of get it) and I assume that only time will tell if the number of people that want and buy games “on day-1” (or even before that) is enough to prove this decision profitable (not ruling out that others, negatively vocal now, will still buy) - it'll be good for them, still not good for all of us.
For me, it’s not the actual price tag – I buy whenever I want and can; it’s about the concerns this announcement raises regarding what GOG stands and will stand for in the future (read P1na’s posts, they sum it up pretty nicely).

And I will repeat that I don’t appreciate – like at all – the way they introduced regional pricing under the misleading announcement title and the guise of great news – that’s also a practice I was not accustomed to nor expected from GOG.


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P1na: bah.

snip
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P1na: Big fat no.

snip
Well said.
Posted February 21, 2014
my question is:

if the pricing isn't equal, why not raise the price for everyone to the "highest" selling price?
Posted February 21, 2014
Again being considered 2nd-grade sh*tbag, because I've born elsewhere then 1st-graders who get cool prices? So therefore I'm damned forever to suffer, my kids to starve (ok, just kidding there), to pay more, just because I haven't born wherever that sweet country is today...

Way to motivate people, to not to steal the games, not to go around regions,... really. Meant mainly to whoever's involved in this regional crap. Isn't discrimination based on origin supposed to be erradicated and illegal? Human's rights not fancy now?
Post edited February 21, 2014 by navara
Posted February 21, 2014
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scampywiak: So you really only want old games? How is this a principle? It's more of a feature of the site as I see it. And yes, I was glad they added newer games, indie games, etc. This is way to have more influence in the industry, not sticking to old games priced under $10.
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wpegg: I was not suggesting it was necessarily bad, I'll avoid that discussion. However I still feel that there is only 1 of their original core goals left. I don't feel that adding an avatar, a few images and a manual to be a core goal (or goodies as they're called). So what else is there left?
First off, sometimes the goodies are more than that, like dev interviews, mod support, sound files, and a damn good record at supporting the games with patches long after they hit the site. Secondly, the most important thing, DRM free gaming, is still adhered to. If they have to finagle to get major publishers or indie devs on board with DRM free, then so be it. They proven to be pretty clever at compensating for the times their principles were supposedly at stake.
Posted February 21, 2014
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HypersomniacLive: And I will repeat that I don’t appreciate – like at all – the way they introduced regional pricing under the misleading announcement title and the guise of great news – that’s also a practice I was not accustomed to nor expected from GOG.
At least they DID announce it, loudly and clearly.
Posted February 21, 2014
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Rusty_Gunn: my question is:

if the pricing isn't equal, why not raise the price for everyone to the "highest" selling price?
Because 1 US Dollar equals 13.27 Mexican Peso (for example), and that'd lead to incredible cases of sticker shock.
Posted February 21, 2014
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wpegg: I was not suggesting it was necessarily bad, I'll avoid that discussion. However I still feel that there is only 1 of their original core goals left. I don't feel that adding an avatar, a few images and a manual to be a core goal (or goodies as they're called). So what else is there left?
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scampywiak: First off, sometimes the goodies are more than that, like dev interviews, mod support, sound files, and a damn good record at supporting the games with patches long after they hit the site. Secondly, the most important thing, DRM free gaming, is still adhered to. If they have to finagle to get major publishers or indie devs on board with DRM free, then so be it. They proven to be pretty clever at compensating for the times their principles were supposedly at stake.
So we are in agreement. All GOG have left is "Goodies" and DRM free (supporting a game you sold is, I'm afraid, actually par for the course, and actually was never one of their core goals, support used to be shit).
Post edited February 21, 2014 by wpegg
Posted February 21, 2014
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GabiMoro: snip
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triock: Regional pricing is not about VAT. ;)
When comes to Western and central Europe it mostly is about VAT.
Posted February 21, 2014
sweet! prices in Canadian dollars no more getting raped by inflated exchange rates
Posted February 21, 2014
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glumpot: Is there a *wish* in the forums yet to get GOG to stop regional pricing? If so, I'd like to vote that up. I live in the US so I don't have to overpay, but I don't think it's fair anyone else should...
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jorlin: There is now:
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/ban_all_regional_pricing_from_gog_stick_with_your_principles
Voted.
Posted February 21, 2014
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TheEnigmaticT: The phrasing may have been a little bit inelegant. It was that we could either sign these games and bring them DRM-free (I don't see any other digital distributor who's our size trying to sign AAA content DRM-free, do you?), or else stay with flat regional pricing and then not have the games.

GOG.com will remain DRM-Free, certainly. The games that we're bringing you guys? If they're not DRM-free here, I don't see them being DRM-Free anywhere.
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wpegg: I have some kind of questions TET, but they're kind of rambling thoughts. Whatever they are, I'd be interested in your views on them. All of these questions come from what I believe is a valid assumption, which is that you believe fully that this is the right thing to do both for GOG and its users.

I've probably been here longer than most here nowadays, certainly long enough to remember the beta days, and the early GOG press anouncements and quotes like "When it comes to games, we like it cheap and unprotected". There were many announcements back then about how you guys believed in keeping the cost down, and believed in one price for everyone. With this announcement, as well as the previous abandonment of your low prices, do you regret having these goals in the first place? I mean, your credibility with us right now is looking pretty poor, you've sold out on all but one policy.

I don't think you do regret having the goals, I suspect your answer will be along the lines of "We'd love to meet all of these, but this is necessary for GOGs future". I'll continue on this assumption. If so, then I suppose it makes me wonder if you feel you would have been better off not trying for these other things in the first place? DRM-free was always your top dog, do you feel you could have moved faster, grown faster, and brought more games to us faster if you'd only run with that policy, and caved on the others earlier, or never even had them?

This brings me to wonder, if you feel that the policies were never particularly valuable, do you feel GOG has marketted itself badly? Which I suppose would fall squarely at your door. There were many people who were swayed by these "side policies" into supporting GOG, and energetically prompting others to do so, have you mis-sold to them in terms of brand loyalty?

Perhaps you feel that these things were necessary then, but as GOG grows they're not. If that's the case, have you "used" those of us that do consider these things to be a reason we supported you so fully? I can believe many supporters of these other "side policies" would feel like stepping stones right now, there to get you through the quiet days and shout your name across the net, but no longer appreciated now you've got the presence.

I'd appreciate your, and everyone elses (constructive) thoughts on this.
It can be problematic to make bold statements. "Flat pricing worldwide" was definitely a bold one, and you can see it's gotten us into some trouble today. :)

The problem for us is looking at the future of GOG.com and DRM-free gaming. We could, I suppose, settle into our niche as "that place that sells old games", and let it be.

We have bigger dreams than that. We started by selling new games DRM-free with The Witcher 2, and when that experiment worked out well for us--well in this case meaning "we earned money" we realized that we were on to something. The fact that we can routinely pull in a decent percentage of Steam's revenue for new titles--despite the face that we're a small fraction of their size means that we're doing something special. Now, GOG.com is a special place, so that's not incredibly shocking to me. Since almost all of these games that we are selling so well are sold at the same price everywhere in the world, it's not our pricing that's making a difference.

This makes sense to us, because we believe that DRM-free is different and important. So then the question becomes, if we're looking to grow, to be more than we are, and to make things different not just for us but also for other games around the world, how can we advance the DRM-Free Revolution? The best way we could think of to do that is to bring AAA games that are being released on their launch day to GOG.com, and to show that these games will sell well without DRM. That they won't be pirated any more than a game will because it's the Internet.

This is a risky call. I think big decisions are always risky. It may even be it's the wrong call. We'll find that out as we move forward. But this is us saying that we believe in the DRM-Free Revolution enough that we think it's the plan for us going forward. We think that making GOG.com the premier place to get games without DRM is what's most important for us.

It was a hard call, because it is a big change and it does involve us changing something that's been a part of us since we launched. Without making this call, the kind of transformative change that we think is important to keep GOG.com growing and to bring DRM-Free gaming to more people simply won't happen. So many new games are tied up in legal requirements thanks to retail partnerships that mandate regional pricing that anything almost every quality new release would be inaccessible to us.

We hope that this is the right move for us. We hope that you guys, the people who've brought us to where we are, will agree with this choice once you get the chance to see it in action. Time will tell, and we'll be listening to as we go. This is new territory for both you and us, and we're looking forward to exploring it together.
Posted February 21, 2014
high rated
I am deeply disappointed.
Posted February 21, 2014
high rated
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HypersomniacLive: And I will repeat that I don’t appreciate – like at all – the way they introduced regional pricing under the misleading announcement title and the guise of great news – that’s also a practice I was not accustomed to nor expected from GOG.
That's a point I'm really annoyed with. Feels like a big teasing on me.
Posted February 21, 2014
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wpegg: I have some kind of questions TET, but they're kind of rambling thoughts. Whatever they are, I'd be interested in your views on them. All of these questions come from what I believe is a valid assumption, which is that you believe fully that this is the right thing to do both for GOG and its users.

I've probably been here longer than most here nowadays, certainly long enough to remember the beta days, and the early GOG press anouncements and quotes like "When it comes to games, we like it cheap and unprotected". There were many announcements back then about how you guys believed in keeping the cost down, and believed in one price for everyone. With this announcement, as well as the previous abandonment of your low prices, do you regret having these goals in the first place? I mean, your credibility with us right now is looking pretty poor, you've sold out on all but one policy.

I don't think you do regret having the goals, I suspect your answer will be along the lines of "We'd love to meet all of these, but this is necessary for GOGs future". I'll continue on this assumption. If so, then I suppose it makes me wonder if you feel you would have been better off not trying for these other things in the first place? DRM-free was always your top dog, do you feel you could have moved faster, grown faster, and brought more games to us faster if you'd only run with that policy, and caved on the others earlier, or never even had them?

This brings me to wonder, if you feel that the policies were never particularly valuable, do you feel GOG has marketted itself badly? Which I suppose would fall squarely at your door. There were many people who were swayed by these "side policies" into supporting GOG, and energetically prompting others to do so, have you mis-sold to them in terms of brand loyalty?

Perhaps you feel that these things were necessary then, but as GOG grows they're not. If that's the case, have you "used" those of us that do consider these things to be a reason we supported you so fully? I can believe many supporters of these other "side policies" would feel like stepping stones right now, there to get you through the quiet days and shout your name across the net, but no longer appreciated now you've got the presence.

I'd appreciate your, and everyone elses (constructive) thoughts on this.
avatar
TheEnigmaticT: It can be problematic to make bold statements. "Flat pricing worldwide" was definitely a bold one, and you can see it's gotten us into some trouble today. :)

The problem for us is looking at the future of GOG.com and DRM-free gaming. We could, I suppose, settle into our niche as "that place that sells old games", and let it be.

We have bigger dreams than that. We started by selling new games DRM-free with The Witcher 2, and when that experiment worked out well for us--well in this case meaning "we earned money" we realized that we were on to something. The fact that we can routinely pull in a decent percentage of Steam's revenue for new titles--despite the face that we're a small fraction of their size means that we're doing something special. Now, GOG.com is a special place, so that's not incredibly shocking to me. Since almost all of these games that we are selling so well are sold at the same price everywhere in the world, it's not our pricing that's making a difference.

This makes sense to us, because we believe that DRM-free is different and important. So then the question becomes, if we're looking to grow, to be more than we are, and to make things different not just for us but also for other games around the world, how can we advance the DRM-Free Revolution? The best way we could think of to do that is to bring AAA games that are being released on their launch day to GOG.com, and to show that these games will sell well without DRM. That they won't be pirated any more than a game will because it's the Internet.

This is a risky call. I think big decisions are always risky. It may even be it's the wrong call. We'll find that out as we move forward. But this is us saying that we believe in the DRM-Free Revolution enough that we think it's the plan for us going forward. We think that making GOG.com the premier place to get games without DRM is what's most important for us.

It was a hard call, because it is a big change and it does involve us changing something that's been a part of us since we launched. Without making this call, the kind of transformative change that we think is important to keep GOG.com growing and to bring DRM-Free gaming to more people simply won't happen. So many new games are tied up in legal requirements thanks to retail partnerships that mandate regional pricing that anything almost every quality new release would be inaccessible to us.

We hope that this is the right move for us. We hope that you guys, the people who've brought us to where we are, will agree with this choice once you get the chance to see it in action. Time will tell, and we'll be listening to as we go. This is new territory for both you and us, and we're looking forward to exploring it together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=b6P3yOTR2Vc&t=1194
Posted February 21, 2014
low rated
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StingingVelvet: I couldn't care less about regional pricing. Makes sense considering how vastly different economies are.

DRM free is the important thing for me.
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Wurzelkraft: This would be true if I had ever seen regional pricing "done right" in the sense of "just adding to it when necessary" but I have yet to see it. Most games with regional pricing are without a doubt overpriced for me since publishers like to assume that 1$=1€. :(
It's because in Europe they have to pay Vat (19% on GOG, 15% on Steam). That's why it's 1$ = 1€.

In US you don't have VAT, some of states have similar taxes and customers in those states have to pay more.
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Community
General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
(4041 posts)