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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. :)
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trusteft: So you honestly believe publishers who can ask for more money from European (and others) customers will refrain to do so and just let some publishers do that? Why would they do that? Why would (random examples) EA says no to extra free money from us when Ubi says yes? On the same store.
They would have to be stupid.

Taking away things one at a time is what goes on. Or do you (anyone) think that when GOG changed their name and planned to bring new titles and indy titles they didn't know that after a while there would be regional prices?

Just wait for another year when Steam, which has already more aggressively started to bring old titles (most recent was Descent 2 IIRC) has a few 100s more old titles. Then GOG which will eventually drop the DRM free because the publishers will tell GOG, "take it or leave it" If you don't put DRM with our old titles, we will just put them on Steam alone" and GOG will come out with another PR BS of how it is great news to announce some form of DRM because it's deep down for the good of the customers or it will save whales from Japanese or some other PR talk.

I voted yes to bring new titles here but I just didn't think about the consequences. Some people did back then back they were dismissed as crazy by the community.
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HypersomniacLive: The Greater Good

Had to post it ;-P
Awesome and so accurate.
high rated
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TheEnigmaticT: The fact that we have an audience for the games we sell means that we get a certain amount of negotiation power, but this is a case where, for the companies where they have set up regional pricing have contracts with retail chains and other digital distributors and they're not gonna break their covenants just to make us happy. Either we provide them with regional pricing or we don't sell their game. Simple as that.
That same argument could be used for adding games with DRM to GoG.
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USERNAME:Darvond#Q&_^Q&Q#GROUP:4#Q&_^Q&Q#LINK:751#Q&_^Q&Q#I'm sure I would have noticed on the community wishlist if that were so.#Q&_^Q&Q#LINK:751#Q&_^Q&Q#
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Strange, so that explains how the 10,000s of votes for various games actually only have 100 votes! That also explains why the most popular games on GOG's wishlist are Call of Duty: Ghosts and such...

Wait no, that's not the picture I'm seeing.
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N3xtGeN: ...
Heh, shit, I wondered if that really had been there.
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Wishbone: Are there any of your so-called "principles" you didn't throw out the window today?
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TheEnigmaticT: I understand that this change is one that people will be concerned about, particularly because the nature of this announcement is that we can't give complete answers to every question simply because we don't have answers to all of your questions ourselves.

But I guess it's worth asking: when we rolled out new games in 2012, a lot of people were really concerned. I saw a lot of comments like the ones here in this thread. Since then we've released games like System Shock 2, the WIzardry series, the Leisure Suit Larry series, Neverwinter Nights 2, I Have No Mouth and I must Scream, the complete Wing Commander series, and many more classics. I think we did an excellent job of adopting a new type of release on GOG.com while still sticking to the classics that we have been known for since we started. I think users who trusted us to keep our word that we would continue to release great classics even though we were releasing newer games as well found that we have rewarded that trust in spades.

Here we have said, "This is a big change, and it's one that we know will worry you. We're excited about the games that will be coming to GOG.com, and we're promising that we will do everything that we can to keep our regional pricing fair for everyone." At some point, doesn't the fact that we've been fighting the good fight for 5 years give us any earned trust on the part of our community? We will do what we can to make regional pricing as fair as possible. Trust us, for the moment, and see what happens.

Over the last 5 years, I believe that we have shown ourselves to be a company that is relentlessly focussed on treating our customers better than anyone else in the industry does. We think this change can be something that's good for you, because you'll find great games DRM-free on GOG.com that wouldn't be DRM-free without this. These games are going to be the same price everywhere in the world, except GOG.com will be giving something for you guys out of our pockets to help make up the difference between regional prices.

I understand that the lack of clarity for our policy is bringing confusion, and confusion brings a certain amount of fear with it. I ask that you--and the rest of the guys in the thread--think about our track record of how we treat our gamers with respect. What you're feeling is understandable, and I've found myself in the same situation before. I've found that the track record of the organization that's making promises is worth keeping in mind in circumstances like this, and I think our established history speaks for itself in that regard.
The difference is that this was one of the 'slippery-slope'-concerns people had when you introduced new games and which those of us who defended it said wouldn't happen.
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Fictionvision: If this will end up leading to more negative changes down the road, I'd say its not worth it just to get a few AAA games here.
This. Oh, this! I don't give a damn about Mass Effect 10 or Call of Duty XMCII. I like GOOD games from smaller devs, or from back in the day when it wasn't all AAA "blockbusters" just churning out the same crap over and over and over.
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Niggles: Blame the people who wanted new AAA games on GOG :/
I guess Roman's going to be happy :-P
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Fictionvision: If this will end up leading to more negative changes down the road, I'd say its not worth it just to get a few AAA games here.
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mkell_226: This. Oh, this! I don't give a damn about Mass Effect 10 or Call of Duty XMCII. I like GOOD games from smaller devs, or from back in the day when it wasn't all AAA "blockbusters" just churning out the same crap over and over and over.
The funny thing is: The games we're talking about can hardly considered as AAA games (Divinity: Original Sin, Age of Wonders 3).
I just realised TeT referenced Larian's Divinity Original Sin as one game which is regional pricing on early access.
Im going to assume this is going to be the case on here as well? ( this was coming here anyway).
If so bit disappointed (i missed out on the KS - pricing was attractive as well). :/
Post edited February 21, 2014 by Niggles
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blotunga: So what will stop people to use a proxy or VPN to buy the games from another region (where it's the cheapest)?
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TheEnigmaticT: What stops people from going to pirate bay and getting everything for free forever?
Wait a minute. Are you saying you can't reliably police this in the first place?
high rated
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donsanderson: Whatever happened to simple the "Don't like it, don't buy it principle"?

Jeez TET, I hope you got hazard pay, or at least a good bottle of something strong to have to do this. ;/

Folks, the way to approve/disapprove of a companies offerings is with your wallet.
Not by having a fricking riot!
Well, I've voted with my wallet hundreds of times already. My wallet said, 'one price, one world'. Why should I have to suddenly change that? Why would I want someone else to have to pay a differing price to what I paid for, especially more expensive, because a publisher thought they could pull a fast one on GOG?
Edit: nvm, my mistake.
Post edited February 21, 2014 by SCPM
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Darvond: Strange, so that explains how the 10,000s of votes for various games actually only have 100 votes! That also explains why the most popular games on GOG's wishlist are Call of Duty: Ghosts and such...

Wait no, that's not the picture I'm seeing.
And why is that? Oh right because this was a site geared to old games... obviously people want old games here. But apparently nobody wants new games or indies... the publishers keep putting them on here because they don't sell. Sorry yea that's fail logic.
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Wishbone: Are there any of your so-called "principles" you didn't throw out the window today?
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TheEnigmaticT: I understand that this change is one that people will be concerned about, particularly because the nature of this announcement is that we can't give complete answers to every question simply because we don't have answers to all of your questions ourselves.

But I guess it's worth asking: when we rolled out new games in 2012, a lot of people were really concerned. I saw a lot of comments like the ones here in this thread. Since then we've released games like System Shock 2, the WIzardry series, the Leisure Suit Larry series, Neverwinter Nights 2, I Have No Mouth and I must Scream, the complete Wing Commander series, and many more classics. I think we did an excellent job of adopting a new type of release on GOG.com while still sticking to the classics that we have been known for since we started. I think users who trusted us to keep our word that we would continue to release great classics even though we were releasing newer games as well found that we have rewarded that trust in spades.

Here we have said, "This is a big change, and it's one that we know will worry you. We're excited about the games that will be coming to GOG.com, and we're promising that we will do everything that we can to keep our regional pricing fair for everyone." At some point, doesn't the fact that we've been fighting the good fight for 5 years give us any earned trust on the part of our community? We will do what we can to make regional pricing as fair as possible. Trust us, for the moment, and see what happens.

Over the last 5 years, I believe that we have shown ourselves to be a company that is relentlessly focussed on treating our customers better than anyone else in the industry does. We think this change can be something that's good for you, because you'll find great games DRM-free on GOG.com that wouldn't be DRM-free without this. These games are going to be the same price everywhere in the world, except GOG.com will be giving something for you guys out of our pockets to help make up the difference between regional prices.

I understand that the lack of clarity for our policy is bringing confusion, and confusion brings a certain amount of fear with it. I ask that you--and the rest of the guys in the thread--think about our track record of how we treat our gamers with respect. What you're feeling is understandable, and I've found myself in the same situation before. I've found that the track record of the organization that's making promises is worth keeping in mind in circumstances like this, and I think our established history speaks for itself in that regard.
I totally agree with everything you've mentioned here, and I'm definitely one of those people who is willing to see what happens after the dust has settled. I came here for great games DRM-free for a fair price. So far all of the games I've wanted I've purchased based on what I thought was worth what amount of money. People can only comment and criticize on what currently exists, and while I hold the same complaints and worries as many other people who have posted here, I'm willing to give you and everyone at GOG.com the benefit of the doubt until I have cold hard facts and a product in front of me to decide what to do with.

I'm willing to give this site the benefit of the doubt - just make sure you do your best to give us a good end result :)
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TheEnigmaticT: -snip-
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Darvond: You might want to nuke this announcement and start over. Clearly something's gone wrong, and we aren't going to be reasonable in the current status of panic. Also, you might want to tell the publishers to lower their shields and open communications instead of being horribly silent on the matter. If they can't trust us, why the heck should we bloody trust them?
I don't disagree with you, but if publishers believe that the audience is too adversarial, they'll just write them off as people who would never buy (either go without or pirate). The thing that might be helpful is if GOG would maybe do the no regional pricing things for games over, say, a year old. That way they could potentially sign new games, and by doing so encourage developers to leave DRM out of them, and still have something that's of value to people who feel strongly about lack of regional pricing. Those people would then have a known quantity that they can accept the regional pricing or wait a year and by from GOG then without it. I'm sure that'll work out different ways with different people depending on their current gaming time and game backlog. However, the surge in GOG sales when regional pricing went away would also give those studios a solid number about how many people consider that a dealbreaker.

All entertainment markets gouge at first and lower price over time. Happens with books and movies too. I don't consider it particularly contemptible that game developers do the same. If game developers could be convinced to eliminate DRM and excessive EULAs, I'd be willing to buy things when they come out overpriced instead of waiting several years until they're $5 (my game backlog is pretty large, as in probably won't get through it before I die, so I can wait).