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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 28, 2019
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Erynar:
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Cavalary: See, about GOG being the only DRM-free store...
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Breja: I don't mean to bash on GOG right now, but I think it's been some years since there was any chance of anyone accusing GOG of "blind idealism". I'm afraid we even sailed past "needs-thick-glasses" idealism a while back. At this point we're at "just had laser eye surgery and threw the glasses away" idealism.
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Cavalary: You mean there's any trace of idealism left in them? Heh... THAT's in itself idealism.
The good news for GOG is that 9.75 out of 10 sheeple like living in the matrix.
Posted February 28, 2019
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surfersurfer: "17.3 It seems very unlikely, but if we have to stop providing access to GOG services and GOG content permanently (not because of any breach by you), we will try to give you at least sixty (60) days advance notice by posting a note on www.gog.com and sending an email to every registered users – during that time you should be able to download any GOG content you purchased."

Is "... we will try ..." really a legal obligation?
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Turjake: If GOG goes belly up, there's no absolute guarantee you'd be able to download anything. That's one of the problems with these digital stores.
It's also why GoG's approach of providing you the ability to download DRM-free installers that can be used long after they're gone is so critical. It's also why there's real value in buying Blu-rays instead of relying on services like Netflix. There's no guarantee that online services are going to stick around. Even the really profitable ones could go under at some point or change how they function in a way that makes it so that previously available content becomes unavailable. If you want the guarantee that you can continue to play a game or watch a movie or whatever in spite of the company you got them from going away or changing how it functions, then you need a local copy that does not rely on external services. You can certainly enjoy online services and what they provide as long as they're there, but there's no guarantee that they're going to be around next week let alone next decade, and when they go, anything they provide goes with them and may or may not be available from other services.

Not that it's likely for the likes of Steam to die any time soon, but if they did, I expect that suddenly a lot more gamers would care about GoG's DRM-free approach. Similarly, if Netflix disappeared, I bet that a lot more people would be buying physical media again for their TV shows and movies. Online services do provide benefits, but they also create a serious risk of content eventually becoming unavailable whenever you rely on them to continue to provide that content rather than having at least one copy of the content locally.
Posted February 28, 2019
Well shit. Bad news but unavoidable it seems. Keep up the good work GOG.
Posted February 28, 2019
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marantana: You can call me an obsessive collector - 675 on gog, 338 on steam and another several hundreds from other sources. Far too much for my remaining life time.

I always preferred to buy on gog, but with my recent (2 years) interest for visual novels, this policy got a massive blow. For whatever reason, all 18+ content has always been a no go for gog as far as anime characters are concerned. Not so much in other games -- I mean, Witcher 3 (of course, an in-house product)!

I wonder if by doing so GoG isn't deliberately disregarding a massively growing market and pushing customers in the wide open maws of other storefronts.
It does seem kind of hypocritical to allow 18+ content with games like The Witcher 3 and not allow 18+ visual novels, but at least with visual novels, you can frequently buy them from the US publisher DRM-free, and if it's from one of the publishers without a store, then they're almost always sold DRM-free at the stores of other visual novel publishers. So, while it might be nice if GoG allowed 18+ VNs, at least they're pretty much always already easily obtainable DRM-free, unlike most games. VNs are one area where DRM is not a big issue anymore. So, the fact that they aren't on GoG might be annoying if you want to buy all your games in one place, but otherwise, it doesn't really get in the way.
Post edited February 28, 2019 by Erynar
Posted February 28, 2019
Why i buy games in GOG? Well is a mix of variables:
* I am close to 40 and played Lucas Arts/Sierra games and firsts RTS so i like Good Old Games.
* drm-free philosophy
* Many games have good mods like doom, morrowind,HOMM3,etc and GOG games is more easy to install
* The price is the more important obviously. If the game is more cheap in steam or other store the wallet dont have fellings, If similar price or minimal variaton i go to GOG.

I want GOG overcome this bad situation but GOG can not live from the past.Millennials are needed:
* Months ago GOG enabled public profile but has bad reception. I dont like social network but GOG need link the players.In my case i like read reviews and how many hours played a game.
* Gamification: badge system for more games. more motivation. No need cards and crap.
* More support for old games: Windows 10 Games and Linux support: Battle Isle Platinum :(.
* I will glad more Mod content in the index and the page of the game. Articles of modd.db, tutorials and traductors indie(my respect Clan DLAN). With mods the games live forever!
* I want play old games dont available in any store(legal problems-copyright?): Darkseed, Heart of darkness, Dune 2,etc. Maybe GOG have good news?
* GOG you HATE Spanish speaker...The web don support spanish(LA).
Posted February 28, 2019
Just wanted to put in my two cents on the issue. This stinks, and I feel for anyone who's going to start getting shafted by regional pricing again because of it. That said, I live in the U.S., so regional pricing does not really affect me, and if ending the FPP is necessary in order to keep GOG from having serious financial problems, or worse, going out of business altogether, then I am willing to accept it as such. GOG should definitely stick to its principles, but if a sacrifice is indeed needed, I do not feel that regional pricing is the "hill to die on," so to speak.
Posted February 28, 2019
I think we can all thank epic for this raise in prices. Either way I'll still shop frequently with gog.
Posted February 28, 2019
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Fate-is-one-edge: Takes one to know one.
Only in this matter, it's about your self-knowledge.
You just don't give up, do you?
Posted February 28, 2019
My primary reason for always preferring GOG over any other platform is the lack of DRM. GOG is vital for anyone who cares about games as cultural artefacts worth preserving and archiving - Any game with in-built DRM will eventually become unplayable for future generations, and that is a very sad thought. For that reason alone, DRM must not win out. I back up the ISOs of my physical game discs, as well as buy a copy on GOG as a kind of offsite backup, to show support to this project, and because frankly downloading and installing the latest patched version of games with GOG is always much more convenient and easier than mounting an ISO, putting in a CD key, then installing patches and a no-disc fix. Even if I have an ISO for a game, I hope that it will come to GOG so that I can buy it here to show support and for the ease-of-use GOG provides. I only buy games on Steam if they aren't on GOG and I don't think it is likely they will be anytime soon.

The FPP was nice in principle, but the difference for me was only ever a few dollars, so it was never really a factor in my decisions. The only thing that would concern me is the loss of GOG itself, or the loss of the DRM-free policy (which I consider basically one and the same).
On learning that Epic are apparently giving a higher percentage of purchases to game creators, I thought that was good news, and did briefly consider signing up for ethical reasons. So if that is what GOG is doing, then I am glad to hear it.

In most internet industries, there seem to be massive monopolies that take about 70-90% of the market, with only one or two near-competitors that get maybe 30%. For example, Youtube, Google, and Steam are giants towering over Vimeo, Bing, and GOG. Yet everyone says that monopolies and putting all your eggs in one basket are bad, and that competition and diversity in an industry are good. So why do people tend to just pick the biggest industry player and stick with it? I suspect a big part of it is laziness and convenience, especially for digital goods like games: I already have a thousand accounts scattered across the internet. I don't want to sign up for and create yet another account with another password that I have to manage and worry about identity theft or getting hacked. I just want absolutely all my games in one central, convenient location to organise and download etc. Same for music, movies, etc. That would be the easiest to use.
So how do you compete with Steam? Others have made their big, tentpole releases exclusive to their platform (e.g. Origin). I'm kind of surprised that Witcher 3 was not exclusive to GOG, and maybe that's something CD Projekt should consider for Cyberpunk 2077. Of course, that alone won't magically make GOG as popular as Steam. But it might bring to GOG some lazy people who never even checked if there are alternatives to Steam. There is certainly a lot of hype for Cyberpunk 2077. Just a thought.
Posted February 28, 2019
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Mawthra: 3. Don't give developers the opportunity to deliver lazy releases here lacking features that the Steam release has (Achievements, Cloud Saves, etc.)...
Of course, force developers to add more code to games which relies on GOG's online-services to make sure the game does not work properly anymore in case GOG really should die and effectively counter the last advantage GOG has over other stores. ;)

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Mawthra: GOG is truly unique in the games marketplace... please do what you have to do to survive... but NEVER get rid of the DRM-free bullet point, or there's really no point in shopping here
Sure, at least you still can be proud of your DRM-free game even when it crashes on start because the GOG achievement server is not available anymore and the "lazy" developers you forced to add GOG specific features to their game have "forgotten" to test if the game still runs when those servers are not available anymore. ;)

The only chance to ensure that DRM-free games still run after a shop dies is to not add any shop specific features to them! Instead of forcing developers you better should keep a good backup of the old, real DRM-free game installers which are not tainted with GOG online features, just in case...
Posted February 28, 2019
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Mawthra: 3. Don't give developers the opportunity to deliver lazy releases here lacking features that the Steam release has (Achievements, Cloud Saves, etc.)...
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eiii: Of course, force developers to add more code to games which relies on GOG's online-services to make sure the game does not work properly anymore in case GOG really should die and effectively counter the last advantage GOG has over other stores. ;)

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Mawthra: GOG is truly unique in the games marketplace... please do what you have to do to survive... but NEVER get rid of the DRM-free bullet point, or there's really no point in shopping here
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eiii: Sure, at least you still can be proud of your DRM-free game even when it crashes on start because the GOG achievement server is not available anymore and the "lazy" developers you forced to add GOG specific features to their game have "forgotten" to test if the game still runs when those servers are not available anymore. ;)

The only chance to ensure that DRM-free games still run after a shop dies is to not add any shop specific features to them! Instead of forcing developers you better should keep a good backup of the old, real DRM-free game installers which are not tainted with GOG online features, just in case...
If it doesn't affect you using offline installers, you shouldn't really care... the point is, I can't tell you how many times I've read on these forums that the money went to Steam instead of GOG because a game didn't come with Achievements or Cloud Saves or both... so would you rather GOG continue to lose sales because of it? Just because those things don't interest you, doesn't mean they're not important to buyers
Posted February 28, 2019
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Mawthra: If it doesn't affect you using offline installers, you shouldn't really care...
It does not affect the installer, it does affect the game itself, that's the problem. For me the main point to buy DRM-free games is that they still run when the shop already has died. It's a question of priorities, I rather give up on some convenient online features when I get a really DRM-free* game instead.

* DRM-free in the sense of being guaranteed to run without any external constraints
Post edited February 28, 2019 by eiii
Posted February 28, 2019
You are still one of the best videogame companies ever. You do what you have to do to survive/be profitable.

I'd rather pay a bit more but contiue having GOG as an option, than pay cheap until the day you fold.

I would just love to see more classic games (fan of the Good Old Games), or new classic platforms (Amiga, Commodore64, Spectrum, Nes, SNES, Megadrive, etc.)
Posted February 28, 2019
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Inicus: My primary reason for always preferring GOG over any other platform is the lack of DRM. GOG is vital for anyone who cares about games as cultural artefacts worth preserving and archiving - Any game with in-built DRM will eventually become unplayable for future generations, and that is a very sad thought. For that reason alone, DRM must not win out. I back up the ISOs of my physical game discs, as well as buy a copy on GOG as a kind of offsite backup, to show support to this project, and because frankly downloading and installing the latest patched version of games with GOG is always much more convenient and easier than mounting an ISO, putting in a CD key, then installing patches and a no-disc fix. Even if I have an ISO for a game, I hope that it will come to GOG so that I can buy it here to show support and for the ease-of-use GOG provides. I only buy games on Steam if they aren't on GOG and I don't think it is likely they will be anytime soon.

The FPP was nice in principle, but the difference for me was only ever a few dollars, so it was never really a factor in my decisions. The only thing that would concern me is the loss of GOG itself, or the loss of the DRM-free policy (which I consider basically one and the same).
On learning that Epic are apparently giving a higher percentage of purchases to game creators, I thought that was good news, and did briefly consider signing up for ethical reasons. So if that is what GOG is doing, then I am glad to hear it.

In most internet industries, there seem to be massive monopolies that take about 70-90% of the market, with only one or two near-competitors that get maybe 30%. For example, Youtube, Google, and Steam are giants towering over Vimeo, Bing, and GOG. Yet everyone says that monopolies and putting all your eggs in one basket are bad, and that competition and diversity in an industry are good. So why do people tend to just pick the biggest industry player and stick with it? I suspect a big part of it is laziness and convenience, especially for digital goods like games: I already have a thousand accounts scattered across the internet. I don't want to sign up for and create yet another account with another password that I have to manage and worry about identity theft or getting hacked. I just want absolutely all my games in one central, convenient location to organise and download etc. Same for music, movies, etc. That would be the easiest to use.
So how do you compete with Steam? Others have made their big, tentpole releases exclusive to their platform (e.g. Origin). I'm kind of surprised that Witcher 3 was not exclusive to GOG, and maybe that's something CD Projekt should consider for Cyberpunk 2077. Of course, that alone won't magically make GOG as popular as Steam. But it might bring to GOG some lazy people who never even checked if there are alternatives to Steam. There is certainly a lot of hype for Cyberpunk 2077. Just a thought.
That's the reason I support GOG.... Personally, I wish GOG will be fine and well forever. In reality, every companies, no matter how big, may close someday. If a shop specific, online specific features implemented , it will render a game unplayable. I don't mind having shop specific launcher comes as an option, but providing offline-backup installer is always the reason I like GOG. Some may argue even you have offline installers, the game may not run in future generation of OS or system. Yeah, that may be true but that's will be one problem to be fixed or to have workaround in future. Having an online/shop specific features/dependent mechanism will add one additional obstacle on top of that problem.
Posted February 28, 2019
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Cavalary: And always demanded that games that can't be on GOG according to both their original values, so both no DRM and no regional pricing, shouldn't be on GOG at all. Yes, that obviously puts me and you, and plenty of others, on opposite sides of this "battle". No news there.
I understand your points and think you're absolutely right in pursuing them if they are that important to you, I just wish you would keep the sort of insulting rhetoric down, implying others who don't share your preferences are somehow unfit customers. As you have correctly established, we just have different priorities here.

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skirtish: You should decide for yourself, on your own, how much a game is worth to you, and buy it only at that price.
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Cavalary: what if what a game is worth to me includes it not being sold [...] for more than its base price?
I'm sorry, but could you clarify this? I don't understand what you mean.
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General discussionConclusion of the Fair Price Package program(910 posts)(910 posts)
(910 posts)