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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 21, 2014
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Marcomies: I have always liked and supported GOG and I can understand, if not appreciate, you willingness to change you principles to make more money by getting bigger release titles at your site. If these changes truly only affect new big publisher games that could not have made it to GOG catalog otherwise, I can definitely live with it and maybe even buy some of them here for the sake of DRM freeness. In that case most of our fears would have proven wrong but can you really answer all these questions now to prove our worries to be unnecessary:

Can you promise that only new, big publisher releases of new games will be affected by regional stuff?
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TheEnigmaticT: No, I can't; contracts come up for re-negotiation all the time, and when they do there's no telling what may happen. I can promise that we did not go into this change with the intent of re-pricing swathes of our catalog of classic games in a manner that's unfair to gamers around the world. I can promise you that we will strive our utmost to keep things fair for gamers everywhere in the world. But I'm not gonna make a promise on something like this and then find in 18 months or 2 years that things turned out differently than we had thought they would.

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Marcomies: Can you promise that Europeans will not pay 9.99€ for the same old games that Americans pay 9.99$ for. That anyone can pay in whatever currency he/she wants to if the game is not one of these "regionally priced" ones?
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TheEnigmaticT: Ah, that's pretty much a no regardless. Either a game is regionally priced or it's not. We're not going to have a "choose your own currency" system in place for games, because that strikes me as complete insanity for the end user to try and manage.

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Marcomies: Can you promise that you won't start distributing different version of games for different regions, providing certain games only for some regions and region locking gift codes or installers?
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TheEnigmaticT: As above, no. We can't promise this. We can promise that, especially for back catalog, we have no interest or particular intent in trying to offer regionally-changed titles. But we've already been forced to offer censored titles before on GOG.com, and there's no telling if it will happen again.

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Marcomies: Can you promise that every game (big, small, old, new...) from now on won't be released with regional prices and you just raise your hands in the air and tell it's out of your hands?
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TheEnigmaticT: Yes, actually. This announcement is indicative of a relatively small change in our current catalog offering. A small change that we believe will end up making a big shift in the titles that we are able to offer you. But we will never simply assume that regional pricing is the way to go. For newer games, there are frequently in-place agreements that simply cannot be circumvented that relate to competitive pricing in various regions of the world--think of mysterious examples of when we offer games that oddly don't seem to stack up to what you find on Steam for the same price and you can probably track down some examples where this has happened to us in the past--but particularly for classic games these agreements are substantially less common. For those games in particular, we will fight as best as we can to secure fair pricing everywhere in the world.

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Marcomies: Can you promise that GOG will never accept any game with any sort of DRM into its catalog for any reason?
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TheEnigmaticT: Yes. Well, provided that you don't call anything in the cataog already something with DRM, lest I break this promise before I even get started.
Thank you for honest and mostly unevasive answers.

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Marcomies: ps. For the sake of mutual respect between you and your customers, don't try to feed us shit and call it candy, even if you honestly think that it's particularly good shit. The message I quoted here was the message you should have posted on the news, not the one about "Good news!" and "more good news!". I don't appreciate it when I'm being talked to like some media-illiterate toddler and I doubt anyone else here does either.
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TheEnigmaticT: Well, here's the thing--and I've seen a lot of people echo this comment--it *is* good news. I think bringing Divinity: Original Sin and many other games that are fantastic examples of their genre to GOG.com is exciting. I think the fact that we're offering them for the same price as any other store in the world means that we're not necessarily directly competitive on price, but that's okay because selling on pricing is never a smart play in the long term. I think the fact that we care enough about our gamers to offer free games to you guys at our own costs--and that we have already gotten contractual agreements to do so in place for three games--should be good news to you as well.

You can buy a day-one game like Divinity: Original Sin from any store on the 'Net for the same price, but if you get it from GOG.com you get a free bonus game from us--and, of course your DRM-free copy of the game. We thought it's cool that we can do this, and while this kind of change is scary for both us and you, we thought that making a big change like this is something that will pay off in exciting new opportunities for GOG.com and the gamers who come and hang out here.

I'm not peeing on your head and telling you it's raining. It's more along the lines of "for every silver lining there is a cloud."
I admit that I said this pretty harshly. My main point was not as much the content of the news as it was the way it was told. Surely you can see that the announcement was extremely upbeat marketing speech and told the things as if they were all unambiguously good thing for everyone, yet a day ago most GOG believers would have thought that the answer to the questions I asked would have been yes.

As many people here have said you have given a lot of honest and straight answers to our concerns about the future of GOG within the legal limits you have. The problem is "for every silver lining there is a cloud." should have been in the starting paragraph of the announcement.

GOG is all about mutual trust and respect, a childish attempt to hide that cloud and only show those lovely silver linings displays neither. You don't have to follow the obsolete and disrespectful corporate tradition of trying to put everything in the most positive way possible, even though no-one at this day and age buys into it. You are better than that (I hope).
Posted February 21, 2014
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TheEnigmaticT: Yes. Well, provided that you don't call anything in the cataog already something with DRM, lest I break this promise before I even get started.
Sadly a lot of people define DRM to mean just about anything a game developer/publisher/distributor does that they just don't like, or even something that a government passes as law which they don't like. I've seen at least one person complain that GOG isn't DRM free because the games come with EULAs that tell you what you can and cant do with the game. That of course is a blatant mental disconnect between what DRM is and what a copyright license is, but some people none the wiser think such nonsense. ;o)

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TheEnigmaticT: You can buy a day-one game like Divinity: Original Sin from any store on the 'Net for the same price, but if you get it from GOG.com you get a free bonus game from us--and, of course your DRM-free copy of the game.
That is definitely awesomesauce IMHO.

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TheEnigmaticT: We thought it's cool that we can do this, and while this kind of change is scary for both us and you, we thought that making a big change like this is something that will pay off in exciting new opportunities for GOG.com and the gamers who come and hang out here.

I'm not peeing on your head and telling you it's raining. It's more along the lines of "for every silver lining there is a cloud."
Agreed... but just one request... No monks m'kay? ;oP
Posted February 21, 2014
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TheEnigmaticT: No, I can't; contracts come up for re-negotiation all the time, and when they do there's no telling what may happen. I can promise that we did not go into this change with the intent of re-pricing swathes of our catalog of classic games in a manner that's unfair to gamers around the world. I can promise you that we will strive our utmost to keep things fair for gamers everywhere in the world. But I'm not gonna make a promise on something like this and then find in 18 months or 2 years that things turned out differently than we had thought they would.
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Wishbone: Translation: Every game in the catalog will eventually be regionally priced, as and when the contracts come up for renegotiation. Since it is now an option, every publisher will insist on it in the future.
Well, no. That's not what I'm trying to say. What I'm trying to say is what I actually said there.

But let's suppose that when a contract comes up for offer, someone asks about a $5.99 game on GOG. It's been selling well, but they wanna know what we're doing about localizing our prices. While they make up their own minds about pricing, we can give them advice and make recommendations based upon our experience as experts in the field of "selling games online." There's, what, 3 stores on the 'Net that have 700 or more games in their catalog? 4? Our advice does carry with it some weight. Don't you think that, given what we've already said about our goals for keeping regional prices fair that it might not be a reasonable to believe that we're gonna push for that game to be 4.49 EUR or something like that instead of 5.99 EUR? That's indubitably regional pricing and regional currencies, but I think it's manifestly fair and probably even better for local users than what we have now.

Is that what's going to happen? Heck, Wishbone, I dunno. As I've made clear elsewhere in the thread, this is early days for this particular news. We're telling you guys about this now because we have some regionally-priced games lined up soon and needed to tell you guys about this before their releases, but this is also something that's developing as we speak. I realize that thinking of regional pricing as something other than "you're about to get screwed over" can be tough to conceive, given how other stores have approached this, but let's see what's possible before lighting a pitchfork,* okay?



*if you're lighting a pitchfork on fire, you've done something terribly wrong. Please consult your instruction manual or call technical support.
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Marcomies: Thank you for honest and mostly unevasive answers.
I appreciate the qualifier, there. :P
Post edited February 21, 2014 by TheEnigmaticT
Posted February 21, 2014
Man, GOGers are one insensible and ungrateful bunch. It's not like the sky is falling down, people. We will get games that we would not have gotten otherwise and the GOG team clearly feels uneasy about the necessity to introduce regional pricing for *some* games and wants to make up for it. This whole outrage is ridiculous.
Post edited February 21, 2014 by F4LL0UT
Posted February 21, 2014
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MaceyNeil: Nice Enigma nIce ;) and thanks for teaching me a new word today. Conflate... i shall have to figure out how to slip that into my science diploma somewhere ;)
Just be careful where you're standing below when he decides to defenestrate his bladder. ;o)
Posted February 21, 2014
Its clear from the replies the gog team is interested in maintaining only one thing DRM FREE games and nothing else matters , we should expect to see more worse things in future
Posted February 21, 2014
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MaceyNeil: Nice Enigma nIce ;) and thanks for teaching me a new word today. Conflate... i shall have to figure out how to slip that into my science diploma somewhere ;)
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skeletonbow: Just be careful where you're standing below when he decides to defenestrate his bladder. ;o)
If I defenestrate my bladder, we have bigger problems than who's below the window. Like why is my bladder outside my body and flying out a window? 0_o
Posted February 21, 2014
I know TET meant not the full catalogue of gog, only the new releases from the 'bigs', but I hope, I strongly(!) hope, the full catalogue will never set into regional pricing, and all the new ones will have one price worldwide after a certain time. Furthermore I hope to see a 'regional priced' sign on games, so we all can show the responsible publishers how much we all 'adore' them...

But if gog should also be infected generally one day with that rp-virus that 1$ means 1€, I won't buy here anymore...
I WILL NOT buy anymore any games anywhere! Did you copy that steam, desura, humble, gog, etc.?
This 'game' needs two players to be played, and I will not p(l)ay anymore then. And I guess I am not the only one who thinks so.

But as a pragmatist who I am, I see the good if that should come true: I'll save money and have time enough to play all MY good old games again and again. At least I have my principles in this more and more shitty world and nothing else matters.
Posted February 21, 2014
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fr33kSh0w2012: It's regional Pricing here in Australia that and certain games that were banned here for no good reason that I get on E-bay and get them shipped from places like great Britain the EU singapore and the USA it's MUCH MUCH Cheaper then buying here and I can get games NOW that I can't get over here because of ANAL Censorship Laws in the Northern Territory and ACT they have R18+ and X18+ I'd love to have X18+ rated games that means witcher 2 WOULD NOT HAVE been Censored like it was! LAWL!
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MaceyNeil: You realise importing a refused classification game is akin to bringing banned items into Australia right? While your recieving something in an illegal form... why not Pirate Bay.
Well I don't Like Pirate bay and waiting six Weeks for a torrent to download is not much fun! now is it! plus if I buy it Legit The Government can't touch me for it!
Post edited February 21, 2014 by fr33kSh0w2012
Posted February 21, 2014
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liquidsnakehpks: Its clear from the replies the gog team is interested in maintaining only one thing DRM FREE games and nothing else matters , we should expect to see more worse things in future
We can expect worse things in the future if that's how we want to perceive things, thinking the worst about people and expecting them to do the worst possible thing at all times ahead of all other options. Does anyone really want to be sitting here a few years from now going, "Man, GOG sure was great, they never compromised on a thing, and they piloted the ship bravely....all the way down."?
Posted February 21, 2014
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Wishbone: Well, I think you were well aware that many of your loyal customers would disagree, and so, regardless of whether you think it's good news for GOG, trying to pass it off as though it would automatically be seen as good news by all of your customers is quite patronizing and disrespectful.
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StingingVelvet: Patronizing and disrespectful? There are legitimate massive upsides to this, so it's not out there to suggest it's a good thing. If it was a pure negative then yes, it would be shitty to pretend otherwise, but this is not a pure negative. Some of us have been asking them for years to loosen their worldwide policy because it was blocking many games and partners from coming here.
So you think potential price gouging is fair?...cause thats whats going to likely happen....
Posted February 21, 2014
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F4LL0UT: Man, GOGers are one insensible and ungrateful bunch. It's not like the sky is falling down, people. We will get games that we would not have gotten otherwise and the GOG team clearly feels uneasy about the necessity to introduce regional pricing for *some* games and wants to make up for it. This whole outrage is ridiculous.
Although I would not have taken to insults, I must admit there is a great deal more negativity than there should be, if any at all. Well, rewording it, of course there's going to be negativity, but I didn't think "GOG will fall down if this keeps up" level of it :P
Posted February 21, 2014
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Wishbone: Translation: Every game in the catalog will eventually be regionally priced, as and when the contracts come up for renegotiation. Since it is now an option, every publisher will insist on it in the future.
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TheEnigmaticT: (...)
but let's see what's possible before lighting a pitchfork,* okay?

*if you're lighting a pitchfork on fire, you've done something terribly wrong. Please consult your instruction manual or call technical support.
(...)
Well done TeT, I needed that. Humour can be so disarming.
if you would try to light the metal prong, you will have an incredibly hard time trying to set it on fire. Lighting the other end will be easy, but will make it a bit uncomfortable to hold.
I laughed out-loud for about a minute, I hope my neighbours won't be awake and grumpy right now....
Posted February 21, 2014
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gamefood: But if gog should also be infected generally one day with that rp-virus that 1$ means 1€, I won't buy here anymore...
I WILL NOT buy anymore any games anywhere! Did you copy that steam, desura, humble, gog, etc.?
Since it'll be up to developers themselves to put the regional prices on games, I imagine any game that's on both Steam and GOG will share the same pricing scheme, which will no doubt include the $1 = 1€ for the publishers who are so inclined.
Posted February 21, 2014
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crazy_dave: I think people from countries that get hit hardest by regional pricing would disagree with you that it is only a minor issue ;)

It's easy being from the US and Canada to say it isn't important. We don't pay the price for regional pricing pun intended. Although to be fair those from Western and Northern Europe are typically paying the right amount due to regional pricing (that is who the EU regional pricing is aimed at after all) - it's those from NZ, AU, and Eastern and Southern Europe (probably parts of Asia too though not as clear to me) that get hit hard.
It's not a minor issue in absolute terms. It's a minor issue relative to the issue of DRM-free IMHO. In other words I'm saying DRM-free trumps regional pricing related issues as being more important. I'm not saying either issue is not important, I'm saying that DRM-free is more important.

Having said that, I think your assessment that some countries that are outside of North America end up getting pricing that is higher is a reasonable assessment. When you have varying pricing on something by definition someone is going to pay more for it and someone is going to pay less. The cool thing in this case, is that both parties have the option of whether or not to pay, and both parties get DRM-free software as a result. ;o)

You make me consider another thought though too. Could this actually lower pricing in North America for some games compared to what the price would be if it was one single global pricing model? If so, *AWESOMESAUCE* with bacon and poutine on top! Having our game purchases in North America subsidized by the Euro would be great! Even better than the economic bailouts in Greece etc. ;o)

I think Canadians should get the best prices anywhere under the new model because we're just so damned friendly to people around the world. ;oP

(I'm having a bit of lighthearted fun with this for those who might take my comments above too seriously, all in good fun.)
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Community
General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
(4041 posts)