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General discussionConclusion of the Fair Price Package program(910 posts)(910 posts)
(910 posts)
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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
high rated
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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Ancient-Red-Dragon: I don't know; was it?

In any case, their policy now is not to allow uncensored AO games, and that's been consistent for quite a while, i.e. they censor HuniePop, and VNs, and refused to allow Agony Unrated onto GOG because it's an AO game, etc.
I see. I understand. One word; CURATION. Makes sense. Too bad, though, censorship is indisputable. I ain't supporting oppressors or cons, i never did. Nobody will decide in my stead what or in what state, i get to watch/hear/play a product/service, especially since i spend money on it and they guaranteed for it to have certain features; which they actually don't. I don't know about others, but Uncensorship for me, is exactly as important as DRM-Free.

At the very end, the ONLY principle of GOG that really was there (from start) and will stay to its end (gog's end), is the DRM-Free aspect of games.
Post edited February 28, 2019 by KiNgBrAdLeY7
Posted February 28, 2019
The ending of the FPP kinda blows but all things considered, it's understandable why it had to end. Just going to chime in that the number 1 reason I buy my games here is because of the DRM free policy, any other bonuses were just icing on the cake. I'll be fine with GOG and still buy from them as long they support DRM free.
Posted February 28, 2019
Cool. Hope you keep making a decent profit and existing.
Posted February 28, 2019
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PixelBoy: That's not what the game card says:

"Rating:
PEGI Rating: 18+ (Bad Language, Violence)"
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: Why are you using PEGI though? The ESRB rating is clearly not Adults Only, therefore it's not an 18+ game.
Because PEGI is the legal age limit in 40 countries. So is ESRB, but in only 3 countries.
If PEGI rating is 18+, then it is adult content, whether you agree with it or not.
Posted February 28, 2019
The ERSB rating system is voluntary in the US: https://apps.oyez.org/player/#/roberts6/opinion_announcement_audio/23000
Posted February 28, 2019
I am very price sensitive and will buy less games from GOG and waiting longer for bigger discounts. So less money for GOG.

When will the last "GOG is DEAD" sale start, to take advantage of fair prices one last time before the unfair prices kick in?

Also you should force more publishers to use fairer prices, maybe by giving fair price publishers a larger cut than unfair price publishers? Thus you would not completely abandon your misson...
Post edited February 28, 2019 by Lorien17
Posted February 28, 2019
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Inicus: 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?
https://revealedresources.com/the-lemming-theory-of-marketing/
Posted February 28, 2019
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Inicus: 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.
BTW: Vimeo offers DRM-free downloads of many good indie movies and everything from Devolver:
https://vimeo.com/devolverdigital/videos

If you want to support DRM-free movies, buy titles there which offer that like one of my favourite movies:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/alineinthesand

Related:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/drmfree_movies
Post edited February 28, 2019 by Klumpen0815
Posted February 28, 2019
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SPTX: That's pretty much what I explained. It's a play of words. Of course when you buy a Ferrrari you don't own the name Ferrari, that would be bonkers, but you can't say you don't own a Ferrari and that would be silly to be legally bound to call it nothing else but a car. And you can do pretty much whatever you want with it except reproduce/sell patented material.
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Zetikla: You didnt, you merely owned a license to use it and nowadays devs and publishers finally have means to enforce said Terms of Service which naturally caused outrage.
I'm getting tired of people telling me I'm wrong after simply repeating what as already been said that I have addressed times and times again. This is sophism.
I produced documentation; if you want to play this game, get on my level.

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Zetikla: Btw many indie games still release in physical packages with disks and all that if you are so insisting on those
Which still require a steam activation. You're still missing the point. Whenever I go to a store I look up for games that don't need an internet connection to install. Besides a few shovelwares, only the witcher 3 fills the bill. And as I already said (again) even games that are on GOG get retail releases with a steam requirement.
Post edited February 28, 2019 by SPTX
Posted February 28, 2019
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Cavalary: You mean there's any trace of idealism left in them? Heh... THAT's in itself idealism.
Well, we still do have DRM-free offline installers. It's probably more because of business calculation than idealism, but if I say there's nothing left now, what will I call it when they get rid of those too?
Posted February 28, 2019
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Erynar: It does seem kind of hypocritical to allow 18+ content with games like The Witcher 3 and not allow 18+ visual novels
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: Witcher isn't an 18+ game. If it were, then it would be rated AO for Adults Only, which it's not. Rather, it's rated M for Mature 17+.

GOG doesn't allow AO games unless they have been censored first before being sold on GOG.

So GOG's policy is consistent. It's not a good policy, but it is consistent.
I didn't look up its rating, but both the Witcher 2 and 3 contain about as much sex and nudity as some 18+ visual novels - though obviously, many visual novels contain way more (especially those where the story is only an excuse to string sex scenes together). Of course, visual novels don't normally get rated with ESRB ratings AFAIK, and they're pretty much always either sold as being for "all ages" or as 18+. So typically, any kind of sex scene means that it gets labeled as 18+, and if the Witcher 2 and 3 were rated like visual novels usually are, then they'd be 18+. But if the ESRB rated the Witcher 3 as being 17+, and the visual novels that aren't all ages are 18+, then they would look different in terms of ratings even if they contained the same amount of sex or nudity. So, if they're going purely off the rating, then I guess that it would be consistent because of that.

All in all, I think that it's a dumb policy, but I also don't care all that much, because it's easy to get visual novels DRM-free without GoG (unlike with most games).
Posted February 28, 2019
You guys are great, if that what it takes to help support you then i think that's the right decision, keep up the good work :)
Posted February 28, 2019
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Zoidberg: OK, sir, you should see by now that the frenchman is talking out of his own ass (a videogame eula restricting my civil rights?), just block him and be done with it. :P
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SPTX: Oh you. You're such a drone.
beep beep beep beeeeeep beep beep
Posted February 28, 2019
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Klumpen0815: At least stop the Russian discount too!
keep in mind that the goal is to maximize the result of: price-per-item x number-of-items-sold.
selling 10 items @70% discount still makes you more money than selling two @ full price.
You can certainly make the argument that the Russian discount at times seems a little over the top, but I doubt that removing it entirely would give GOG a higher income.
Posted February 28, 2019
high rated
Is there any script out there comparing US standard prices with the local price shown on the store page, so that one can easily know which games one should avoid in order to vote with ones wallet? Like having the standard price show beside the actual price, and perhaps also the difference in percent? If not, does anyone feel up to creating such script? It would be mightily convenient.
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Community
General discussionConclusion of the Fair Price Package program(910 posts)(910 posts)
(910 posts)