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General discussionConclusion of the Fair Price Package program(910 posts)(910 posts)
(910 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 26, 2019
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.
Posted February 26, 2019
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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
Posted February 27, 2019
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Kakarot96: Really sad to see this, i don't like it a single bit but it's understandable.

That said, this will surely lead me to buy less games: all those that have a very unfair regional price. Previously i could ignore that because GOG was covering me, but not anymore.

Time to update the list of devs and publishers that are here and (ab)use regional pricing. It's not about a few cents, but many times about a few euros. The difference always made me buy a few more titles, and i think a lot of people from different places around the world that already suffer this on Steam come here to get a more fair price. I wonder if they will still come here after that. A few euros here and there are a lot of money (this is the point for GOG, but also for us) and i refuse to pay 20-30% more than others because yes, why not. A 40 eur game, for instance, can be 8-10 euros more. A 60 eur game can be 12-15 euros more easily. That's a few more games to buy with the difference.

Add to that that some devs/publishers already put their games here at a higher price than in other stores. Add also to that some bundles for a game+dlcs that are also not here, where you need to buy them separately and at a higher price. The result is too much money and a no from me, sorry, i'm not rich and that's not fair. I will have to wait for big discounts before buying such games, or i will simply add those devs/publishers to my black list.

I used to recommend people from Steam forums coming to GOG to avoid Steam regional prices (obviously, to people who didn't care about drm-free anyway) when i saw them complaining about this to a developer (both professional and indie and i can say that a lot of indie devs are not really aware of this, because Steam sets "default" prices for each zone ) I am really, really sad that i will be unable to do this anymore, it was awesome to open some eyes and make some people to come and buy those games here instead of Steam.

Epic store and it's "exclusives" can wait for me forever, though. I don't even want their "free" games.
completely agree
it is not just a few eurocents... it's as if us dollar had an exchange rate of 1.2 to 1.5€ (even if or when the exhange rate was the exact opposite, like when 1€ was worth 1.2 dollars, many publishers kept selling stuff here as if it was the opposite... so, to quote another gog user earlier, ANY/EVERY foreign money IS crap money compared to allmighty dollar... Being crap money happens if 1) your foreign crap currency is of lower value than allmighty dollar AND ALSO 2) when your crappy foreign currency worths MORE than the said allmighty dollar)

so yes, usually, regional pricing hurt gog because publishers sort of push some price differences by 25 or 30% MOAR here than on us.
If/when the price difference is equal or inferior to VAT i COULD understand (i say could because it's not as simple equation as that us price + europe vat = regional pricing... it is an oversimplified view)
but when the price difference is higher (WAY higher) than VAT here, you have to find better arguments to make m swallow the pill

i remember one game that had a ridiculously high pricetag for what it was (even if it was a decent game anyway) at launch, because of publisher, like 44€(Vikings Wolves of Midgard)and gog FPP program helped me have it at launch at barely 29€ (which was a more reasonable price for such game)
since then it had been on sales once or twice based on its infamous initial price tag, then the price tag was lowered at least, then it was on sale a couple of more times based on the new price tag

so what do publishers and devs want here ? do they want us to wait a year or two to see if their game perform well or not and come on the carcass of it (during sales) to get it at very low price ? or do they need/want customer support at launch to get their dev costs refunded enough and be able to keep being afloat before any price cut ?
If it's the later and not the former, then they would rather not be that greedy and give fair price to other markets than us.
I dont have the stats but i can safely bet that customers base market of "all the world minus us" is > to domestic/us market alone

but hey, be my guest, keep on going like that
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elcook: Be patient, just a bit, please.
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BKGaming: Being patient is not my strong suit, can we get a ball park when this info might drop? Today? This week? etc.?

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elcook: No, it's not about GOG Direct to Account - we're literally informing about it all GOG users with the User Agreement update email.
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BKGaming: Lol, I know I was just messing with you a bit. :P
me neiher, being patient is not my strong suit, well it depends of time and topic.
regarding people or things which disappointed me or backstabbed me in the past, i have usually no patience left..

now... you are worryign me.. What is this damn "gog direct to account" stuff you all are talking about ? i'm not very confident or reassured by this... I suppose it's yet one new stupidity to enhance the "user experience" like the previous times (which turned out to add more tediousness, more constraint and more limitations in my use of the service)

thank you for letting me know about this new deviltry
Post edited February 27, 2019 by Djaron
Posted February 27, 2019
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SPTX: Maybe CDP should open a real store on GOG. I mean a PHYSICAL store.
Sell the games on GOG in a box, giving back DRM-free its true meaning. Now THIS would set you apart from the concurrence since steam KILLED the physical market (it didn't disappear naturally).
The physical market got killed, so CDP should open a physical store. Suuure... that makes PERFECT sense.
Posted February 27, 2019
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Graymatter: Thanks GOG for the feedback. Still my go to store for games. The only DRM free store.
But they also went back on that and sell games, that have serials, a need for external accounts or require the GOG client.
I understand the reasoning behind some of that, but I feel that GOG is slowly becoming just another store.
After bowing to social media outrage, I started to stop considering GOG as my go-to shop.
The only thing that keeps me interested atm, is the optional client, because I really don't want stuff running on my system
Posted February 27, 2019
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Djaron: now... you are worryign me.. What is this damn "gog direct to account" stuff you all are talking about ? i'm not very confident or reassured by this... I suppose it's yet one new stupidity to enhance the "user experience" like the previous times (which turned out to add more tediousness, more constraint and more limitations in my use of the service)

thank you for letting me know about this new deviltry
Basically allows you to buy games and content via third party sites that have partnered with GOG (think Humble maybe or something like that) and have said content automatically added to your GOG account. But the third party handles the payment and refunds, etc. GOG just provides the game to your account.

Should allow GOG games to be found outside of GOG more often... similar to how you can find Steam keys online. Or at-least that is our understanding based on said user agreement.
Post edited February 27, 2019 by BKGaming
Posted February 27, 2019
Nature's first green is gold
her hardest hue to hold
her early leaf's a flower
but only so an hour
then leaf subsides to leaf
so eden sank to grief
so dawn goes down to day
nothing gold can stay.
Posted February 27, 2019
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Djaron: now... you are worryign me.. What is this damn "gog direct to account" stuff you all are talking about ? i'm not very confident or reassured by this... I suppose it's yet one new stupidity to enhance the "user experience" like the previous times (which turned out to add more tediousness, more constraint and more limitations in my use of the service)

thank you for letting me know about this new deviltry
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BKGaming: Basically allows you to buy games and content via third party sites that have partnered with GOG (think Humble maybe or something like that) and have said content automatically added to your GOG account. But the third party handles the payment and refunds, etc. GOG just provides the game to your account.

Should allow GOG games to be found outside of GOG more often... similar to how you can find Steam keys online.
yeah right... and so, letting the personal data floodgates opened between third party and gog in both ways... Third parties that are either unethical and dont give a damn about GDPR and my homeland regulation and/or simply are not legally bound to respect them at all ?
Thanks but i'll pas on this one.

if i want a game to appear on my gog library, i go on gog website to purchase it on gog ! (even if the "user experience" of shopping on gog website had become a torture session with red hot iron and nails)

sadly i can bet that direct account feature in EULA will still open the floodgates regardless of wether a customer do purchase on third party or not, and that the entire gog's customers data will be handed gently to third parties in exchange of a little contractual deal money...

Thank you for pointing my eyes on "yet another new trick of gog to abuse its customers without them having any way to oppose it (except... well... deleting account and stop using the service... which is always a choice but a radical choice, and if it's the only choice given, is not really a choice at all but hyppocrisy and a game of deceit)

PS: will G2A be one of the new third party partnering GOG ? :) it will be SOOOOOO beneficial for everyone (sarcasm)
Post edited February 27, 2019 by Djaron
Posted February 27, 2019
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Djaron: yeah right... and so, letting the personal data floodgates opened between third party and gog in both ways... Third parties that are either unethical and dont give a damn about GDPR and my homeland regulation and/or simply are not legally bound to respect them at all ?
Thanks but i'll pas on this one.
Yea you need to relax a bit. IF this works like most other services of a similar nature, nothing will likely be "shared" with third parties other than what you personally share like your CC if you bought something though said third party. It will then probably require you to login or link your GOG account which would be handed completely through GOG via the GOG direct to account API.

If you don't care for that, then simply don't buy games on said third party service and link your account and nothing will change for you and nothing will personal will be with said third party.

GOG will use the API to simply direct you to GOG from the third party site and then redeem said game here for you after said third party accepts your payment. So nothing will likely ever be shared in that process.
Posted February 27, 2019
You guys realise there are people like me who are willing to withhold - say - playing Bioshock until it appears on gog ;)
(In fact it was a real shock to me, I got it wishlisted on steam even when - bwam! - dream came true).

So you better be good and well, gog! You better be!
Posted February 27, 2019
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eisberg77: Wait? Was GoG even making up the difference even including the taxes? That is insane if they were, the taxes should always be the responsibility of the customer. For a 60 euro game that included a 20% vat, that would be a 50 euro cost before the 20% VAT, and if the game was being sold for $60 in the USD, the Euro was already paying less than the US price once you take away the VAT.

Here in the US, even though GoG was not charging me taxes on my game purchases, I was still legally bound by law to pay the taxes for my purchases, so I had to include them in my year tax filing and pay taxes on it later.

So yeah, they were giving a credit back without taking into consideration of VAT, then they were insane and should have never done that in the first place. This whole time they should have looked at the price before VAT was included and then determine if the FPP would apply.
I think it's a bit a case of cultural differences. In the US you see taxes to be on the customer side, but in most (all?) European countries, they are considered to be on the side of the seller (who of course in exchange would increase the price of the product to cover them).
Posted February 27, 2019
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Pat123: Hm. This is bad news. Might buy games via VPN now more often eventhough you guys dont like it.
But regional price difference is quite huge here for a lot of games.
And if you compare average German and Czech wage you'll see that we're suffering from regional pricing too. Most games are overpriced in regCZ. On same level as Herman region. :/
Posted February 27, 2019
The issue I can see with the Direct to Account feature is that the third party provider may restrict the number of activations for their game.
It also multiplies the possibilities of them disappearing, potentially leaving the games unplayable.
Posted February 27, 2019
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I generally agree with those users who support the DRM-free cause and are willing to pay more in regional prices. However, regional pricing by itself is a grossly unfair and stupid thing that exists because of publishers' greed. You could have made your reputation rock solid if you hadn't allowed regionally priced games on GOG at all.

As it stands, you did have a solid reputation previously. Remember "One World, One Price"? It was one of your core values. You have compromised it in order to continue your growth. The Fair Price package was a step back from that but the feeling was not the same anymore. And so it goes away now and no one is shocked. Definitely not as shocked as we were back in the day of the original Good News announcement about introducing regional pricing.

The thing with compromising core values is that even if you compromise them for the greater good, in the end they are still compromised.

Of course, taking a stand and refusing to allow regional prices could have negatively impacted your growth. Well...

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell."
- Edward Abbey
Post edited February 27, 2019 by Artoemius
Posted February 27, 2019
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Djaron: PS: will G2A be one of the new third party partnering GOG ? :) it will be SOOOOOO beneficial for everyone (sarcasm)
They're skipping that part by not handing out keys but instead only hand out direct activation on the platform same as Steam did for a while on Humble. Not entirely sure why they stopped that after a while though.

Still remains the question whether the links to those activation might be shareable so there's one concern.

The other is regional locks. Ideally any link sold for a different price would be locked to it's own region so it won't be resold for profit or vpn'd by interested people (again, assuming it's still possible however tedious the process may be)

GOG Direct to Account info:
Direct to Account Distribution

6.8 We have a direct to account distribution feature (we’ll call it ‘GOG Direct to Account) where distribution platforms who partner with us would be able to sell games or other content to you, where you could choose for that game/content to be automatically activated within your GOG account, without the need to redeem any codes. Just to be clear, the whole purchase process is handled by the other platform, so in case of any issues with the purchase process please speak with them directly. We say a little bit more about this in the Refunds and Returns section below. Of course, anything connected to our platform’s services is still our responsibility.

7.5 Direct to Account purchases: Like we mentioned earlier, if you buy a game/content via an applicable third party distribution platform partner of ours who is using the GOG Direct to Account API, and you choose to activate the game/content on your GOG account, then the partner (not GOG) is responsible for the game/content – including for consumer law remedies like refunds and returns. For this particular matter therefore we cannot offer you Our Voluntary Returns Guarantee (because GOG didn’t sell the game/content).
Post edited February 27, 2019 by Pheace
Posted February 27, 2019
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elcook: We have some intel that many GOG users will be happy about it ;)
Could it be Skyrim?
Could it be Borderlands?
Could it be Bioshock Infinite?
Could it be Dishonored?
Could it be Mass Effect?
Could it be Command & Conquer?

COME ON, SURPRISE ME! :)
Posted February 27, 2019
@GOG:
It was about time ;-)
And this maybe even helps with Games being added from the Community Wishlist.

@Critics:
Shush, many of you eagerly stuff 60 bucks for 1 new game
into the Game-Developers... uhm... Purses. So a few of bucks won't kill you.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionConclusion of the Fair Price Package program(910 posts)(910 posts)
(910 posts)