True, on that level GOG failed the test long ago so to speak, however I do still think it is a distinct step for them to do it in (essentially) their own game, versus accepting a game from someone else with it.

This now gives significantly less leverage in negotiations, which we have perhaps subtly seen with the recent admission of accepting games with cosmetic content and other bonuses locked behind online requirements. GOG was imo basically stuck making this acquiescence now due to their own decisions with GWENT and more recently Cyberpunk "My Rewards" which absolutely should be available as offline installers.

In other words, if a developer/publisher was gating content away behind online requirements, what credibility would GOG have in asking them to make it fully DRM-free? The developer/publisher would point out that clearly GOG doesn't need things that way, since in CDPR's own games (GWENT/Cyberpunk) it is not that way, even aside from other offenders already on the store (which also hurt leverage in negotiations, just to a lesser degree imo).

A further shift towards DRMed games on GOG. Don't know about the articles. Don't think the profitability is quite relevant, given that, for one, something can be damaging long-term while profitable short-term.

This hits the nail on the head. In allowing DRM and locked content to creep into their own games, CDPR is talking the talk, but not walking the walk. They are not leading the way and setting an example with their own games. This is what people mean when they say that 'DRM-free' on GOG has become largely just a convenient marketing ploy.

Well, yes. There will be a reaction. Many will complain, but do nothing. Many, like you, will defend GOG. Will defend every instance of DRM as 'not really DRM'. Of will defend the pretended necessity of the DRM that can't be defined away. A hand full will leave, but not enough to be noticeable immediately. Many people are notoriously bad at acting according to their complaints and too few realize that complaining will achieve nothing if they continue to finance the company they are complaining about.

But I think in the long run GOG will shrink again and become unimportant. Once they go the full way of becoming just another regular DRM-ed store, they will notice that they can't compete with the big sharks. In the end, they will remain a niche store without a niche to fill, since they abandoned theirs. Other than that they will be the store front for CDPR and a key reseller for Epic.

I dont really see the post he has posted as defending gog
He has even agreed with the complainers on occassions.
It just that he see things a little diffrent

On the other points i agree
becoming a store like any other store wont make them any more appealing
Plenty of steam wannabees that have been forgotten over time

Granted. The 'like you' was maybe uncalled for. But if Gersen's intent isn't defending GOG, then he's just nitpicky and argumentative without reason. So what, if Gwent isn't 'sold', because it is 'free'? It's still distributed here. Quite aggressively so, until that backfired. And it is a micro-transaction based atrocity that shouldn't be here. Micro-transactions are the complete opposite of the pro-consumer stance that GOG likes to pretend they have. The only reason to include micro-transactions in a game is, to milk as much money out of customers with as little effort as possible. Unfortunately many people are stupid enough to fall for micro-transactions, so that this business tactic is successful.

People who are part of this should write: "BOY, I'm COTTING GOG. Get it? It's funny. :-)

Honestly if Gog ever decide to switch to DRM I would say it will be most likely because either they consider that it's their last chance to survive or because they have been bought and their new owner doesn't care about DRM.

In both case I doubt that anything could be done at this time.

And no, I am not "defending" Gog or especially not DRM, I gave the definition of what I consider DRM-free and this definition hasn't changed since I joined Gog and it's the same I apply to all other store including Steam. (And the reason why I joined Gog in the first place was because they were DRM-free more than because of old games.)

It's just that I rather see the glass at 99.9% full rather than complain endlessly about 0.1% empty one. Yes I would prefer if everything was included inside the installers and yes I find all those "incentive" to be pretty stupid (and as I said multiple times already the Cyberpunk ones are again CDPR shooting themselves in the foot), but they are insignificant enough for me to not care about them and I don't consider them any different than the usual store / platform exclusive bonus and skins that have existed since the beginning of DLCs.

No, I would simply tell you that games using DRM for multiplayer have been on Gog since 2010 at least, long before Gwent (and Gwent is technically Throne breaker multiplayer), long before Galaxy, so if it's a slippery slope it's definitely not a very steep one.

I have given my opinion about the whole Epic thing in its own thread, in case you haven't read it, my opinion is that simply having Galaxy as some sort of multi-store client, as in some sort of front end purchasing the game on Steam / Epic / etc,,,, I can understand the rational but I find the way Gog is handling it to be pretty bad and I think it will blow up in their face.

Im not saying youre totally wrong either
but he does have some point that the simmilar physical versions of card games there were no choice
you had to pay for cards
unless you were gifted some from somone else
buying extra cards is in this way no worse than buying physical card booster packs in stores
Actually gogs method is sligthly better
because you can aquire cards by crafting them
and i dont see this argument as just beeing nitpicky , defending gog etc

One can offcourse argue that buying large ammounts of digital booster cards packs doesnt give the consumer
a lot of value
and the practice is custommer unfrendly because its digital and not physical stuff
and maybe argue that in a way its gambling
and that there is a chance of loosing them since they are tied to the galaxy client ( Note : im not sure how the mechanics works in the game since i havent played or tried it)

So, how do you explain/rationalize GOG providing technical support for EGS games sold via Galaxy? Your position seems to rely on the assumption that GOG's official line is 100% open and honest. However, Galaxy simply being a front-end for EGS sales doesn't quite jive with the tech. support piece, does it?

The only explanation I can see is that they are in fact GOG sales of DRMed games, being disguised as EGS sales. Otherwise, there is zero reason for GOG to have anything to do with technical support for those games. The whole thing shows how desperate they are to help themselves to a slice of the 'DRM pie'. There is no way (unless GOG's management were clinically insane) that GOG would be spending their (already-stretched) resources on providing tech. support for someone else's games, if they weren't getting a cut. That makes them, by definition, GOG sales.

Yes, physical CCGs were always a rippoff and a money printing scheme. But at least with physical cards you had the hope to get a nice, valuable collectible. Hence the 'Collectible' in 'Collectible Card Game'. Digital CCG just keep the ripoff aspect and ditch the potential value for the buyers.

And yes, a CCG of the ripoff fashion does require micro-transactions and DRM. Otherwise the ripping off doesn't work as well. However, there was no intrinsic need to make Gwent a classic CCG. It would be entirely possible to earn all cards through in-game means, like Gwent was in The Witcher 3. You didn't have to buy 'kegs' there for real money and TW3 didn't need DRM.

The Gwent I was hoping for was just a standalone version of the Gwent game (basically Thronebreaker) with the option to play against friends (through LAN or internet). With cards that exist from the start in the game. Maybe some of them locked to some rank, or earned by winning a number of duels in a row. Gwent, as a game, didn't need to be a rippoff. The only reason CDPR tailored their Gwent around micro-transactions is, because they wanted to milk their customer for all the money they could get, no matter with what method. At that point, CDPR had already abandoned the pro-consumer mindset, that GOG still pretended to have. Otherwise Gwent would be a different game. GOG followed in the same direction. Every employee that was still of the 'old guard' or communicated too openly with the community, left over the years or was made to leave.

Another explanation would be that GOG simply gets paid by Epic. Either for the sales, by getting a cut (very likely) and/or for the support, because Epic wanted to outsource. But in any case, GOG is happy to sell fully DRM-ed games through Galaxy.

If they only want to milk money off the custommers
i dont see any reason to include a method of creating cards by crafting instead of just outrigth just buy them.
That doesnt make much sense if the goal was only to milk people.

It is possible that the mechanics can be unfair and you wont get any good cards withouth paying for them
a pay to win system in a sense
but that i cant confirm or deny withouth having tried the game

Ok, I can't take it anymore :D Why are all of your posts formatted so bizzarely? Is it a code? Are we supposed to read the first word of every line? Are you trying to write poetry?

Possibly because im not native english and im not sure how to format them always??!!
and isnt it a bit much to say all my post are formatted strange?
Earlier i got blamed for raw quoting
so that wasnt a problem with the formatting
another time i got blamed for something else

I don't speak norwegian (regretably), but I would imagine it is written in normal paragraphs and not in this strange way where it's never more than a sentence in a line and often even that single sentence is seemingly randomly broken into multiple lines. And as far as I can see, yes - all of your posts are written this way. I'm not trying to be an asshole, but it's very tedious to read. At least for me, I don't know about others.