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On March 31st we are going to discontinue the Fair Price Package program. Let us explain the reasoning behind this decision.

We came up with Fair Price Package (FPP) as a way to make up the price difference between various countries. Some games on GOG.COM have regional pricing, meaning the price of the same game in one place can be higher compared to its price in North America. In countries where the game is more expensive, we give users the equivalent of the price difference in GOG Wallet funds. In actual numbers, on average, we give users back 12% of the game price from our own pocket. In some cases, this number can reach as high as 37%.

In the past, we were able to cover these extra costs from our cut and still turn a small profit. Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore. With an increasing share paid to developers, our cut gets smaller. However, we look at it, at the end of the day we are a store and need to make sure we sell games without a loss.

Removing FPP is not a decision we make lightly, but by making this change, we will be able to offer better conditions to game creators, which — in turn — will allow us to offer you more curated classic games and new releases. All DRM-free.

We wanted to make sure you have some lead time to still benefit from the Fair Price Package. The program will last until the 31st of March, 2019, so if you would like to take advantage of it, now is the time. The funds you gather from the program will keep the 12 months expiration date from the moment you’ve been granted your last funds.
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First of all, thank you for your support. This was not an easy decision to discontinue the FPP program and we're grateful to you for understanding the reasons behind it. We see that quite a few of you raised concerns about GOG's future. As a part of publicly traded company, we can't comment on any financial results until they are officially reported, but we want to ensure you everything is good with GOG. Being part of a big gaming company, some reports - especially some given by significant media outlets - can often sound much scarier than reality.

You've been also concerned about your access to the games you’ve purchased on GOG. We've covered this topic years ago and it's been in our User Agreement for a long time (please check the section 17.3). This is not only a legal obligation to you but a core part of our ethics as a company.

But don’t worry, all is good, and we have a great plan for the future of GOG. We can’t wait for you to see some of the exciting things we have coming very soon.

EDIT: pinned
Post edited February 26, 2019 by elcook
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GOG.com: Removing FPP is not a decision we make lightly, but by making this change, we will be able to offer better conditions to game creators, which — in turn — will allow us to offer you more curated back-cat games and new releases. All DRM-free.
Makes sense in current market situation.

Always happy to see more DRM Free games here !
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ConsulCaesar: I have always said that regional pricing was implemented well on GOG because of the Fair Price program. I guess I won't be able to say it anymore.

On the other hand, maybe we were holding GOG to a higher standard than other stores. I believe GOG is the only one with a policy like that.
It wasn't implemented well at all, because they didn't have any compensation when they introduced it.
They only added that because there was a massive wave of complaints from the users.

I guess we have now reached a point where GOG really doesn't care about its users anymore.

That's OK, I don't really care about GOG anymore as a user. They have cancelled all of their founding principles, with DRM-free being the only one still standing on some shaky grounds. I don't think it will be long now that they cancel that too.
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Unfortunate but understandable.

Now maybe a less arbitrarily brutal curation?
We are already over charged (Australia) so a bit more won't hurt,doesn't mean that I'll start buying now or later thought.
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ShadowWulfe: Now maybe a less arbitrarily brutal curation?
Yes, please
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I called it in my post in the "Kotaku: Facing Financial Pressures" thread. GOG is preparing to take a lower cut. What people (developers) don't seem to understand is that services cost money. You want a lower cut, less service will be provided to gamers.
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Breja: They should have pushed this back for at least a month.
If they did then someone else or you still would have said there isn't enough notice. Certain people always seem to think the sky is falling. Someone's always complaining about something. I complain about the complainers, mostly. :)
Sad news. It is something that will be missed.
Unfortunate, but it is what it is.
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Barry_Woodward: "...by making this change, we will be able to offer better conditions to game creators, which — in turn — will allow us to offer you more curated back-cat games and new releases."

Not that it fully takes away the sting for those who are affected, but it looks like they will be lowering their cut per sale to stay competitive with Epic Games Store, which could attract even more publishers and developers here. Silver lining?
That'd be very nice, especially more games high on the wishlist and AAA titles.
Steam refused to lower significantly thier cut with devolopers and lost a lot of releases.
GOG seems to take measures to be competitive with Epic Games Store, but that significantly hits their revenue.
So they had no choice but to end this program.
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A step in the right direction. This is a good move, GOG. Fair pricing is bullshit pricing. If it's not popular, there's always an alternative. Your country can abandon its own currency and accept the USD. Mwahahahahahaha!!!
This will just force people to use VPNs for buying some games with extreme price differences, not to mention make GOG sales actually lucrative for arbitration (buy via VPN resell slightly higher, or worse buy with stolen credit card) - a "business" that mainly affected Steam etc. so far.

So I think this will actually come with some cost increase to GOG, as they will have to seriously step-up anti-fraud prevention, that was not really an issue before...

I'd recommend monitoring the costs for refunds, chargebacks etc. after a 12 month period and comparing it with the cost of FPP.
Sad news. That wallet funds served as a perfect bait to make me buy games...
Anyway, the FPP is going to be still present during a probable Spring Sale, so I'll give it a nice farewell.
In any case, devs are getting a better cut, so I hope this means we can enjoy a wider catalog from now on.
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So only the DRM free thing is better than Steam now?
And I get 10% off from Humble for Steam keys + Steam is Linux friendly.
Should I continue to support GOG?
I bought some games twice because no Linux support here...
I'm sad now T_T
It's the end?
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Was a nice bonus while it lasted, but hardly a make of break for game purchases.

Anything for the cause as always.