How did you possibly get that impression? All the signs indicate the exact opposite of that.

Contrary to what your post says, "thinking about it" isn't going to help them.

Rather, the only good way out of this situation for them is to:

1. Publicly apologize for lying about why they banned the game, and also openly admit that it was not because "many gamers" told them to.

2. Unban the game and release it on GOG before the end of this month.

Short of doing both of those things, together, then there is nothing good that GOG can do about this matter.

There is no way for them to weasel their way out of this debacle via clever 'thinking,' as your post seems to be implying there is.

If they don't do those things I listed, then there no possible way that GOG can spin-doctor this issue in a good light. No amount of warm words can fix this if they are not simultaneously backed up by the concrete actions of GOG finally choosing to do the right thing.

Should they attempt to spin-doctor their way out of the situation, but without fessing up to & also reversing their sins, then GOG customers are not stupid enough to fall for that, just like we didn't fall for the "many gamers" lie in the first place. If GOG does try for a spin-doctoring speech solution, then that is just going to make the situation way worse than it already is. That would be like pouring gasoline onto an open fire.

...which is almost certainly exactly why they've said nothing about the issue so far....because they know that them manning-up and doing the right thing is the only good way out, and they apparently don't want to, and lack the courage, to do that.

What he means is bull though. Because he basically implying that caring about freedom of expression is just pointless politics that shouldn't be important. Yes we care more about it because it limits freedom of expression not because the game itself is THAT important to us(it might have been a good game, who knows, i like horror games). What is the problem with that? If anything is noble. If it was just about wanting to play the game so desperately only then that would be the actual bad thing because it means we just care about our own self indulgence and not caring about something a lot more important like freedom of expression.

They have a bit of a history with, shall we say, naive impulsive decision making, that immediately tends to backfire on them and this current debacle is one of them. They were desperately trying to do good on gamers because of the Cyberpunk release mess and jumped on this opportunity believing to do good, without thinking twice and got duped by CCP bots, naively believing them to be legit gamers.
This could be a totally wrong read on the situation but i am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here, because of their good past deeds, at least until their response, if there ever is going to be any.
To turn this around they should at the very least apologize and unban the game and also officially and categorically distance themselves from the CCP and promise to never undermine anyone's right to freedom of speech ever again.
Think about who is really bothered by the Winnie the Pooh Memes? Is it the Chinese people? Is it the CCP, because they are insecure? The CCP reigns through FEAR! The Memes undermine the fear the Chinese have for their Leadership. And in a totalitarian society, when you are not afraid of your leadership, you are more likely to question the narrative, more likely to dissent.
The CCP is very afraid of that, that's why they so fiercely go after these Memes.

If GOG wanted to do good, they probably should've done more research on the matter concerning Devotion and made sure all their ducks were in a row before making that announcement.

This is a bogus argument. Devotion is Red Candle Games' follow up to Detention, which is a fantastic horror adventure game. It's one of my leading contenders for "games as art" which I encourage everybody to play. There's no jumpscares, btw, just pure eerie dread.

Like, look, I don't care about some overhyped bug filled looter shooter or what some histrionic redhat or bluehair has to say about "the culture war." What really pisses me off is peddlers of false hope to politically marginalized people who absolutely have a right to publish their artistic output, especially when I was a real huge fan of their previous work.

I wasn't really a part of conversation until now for a bunch of reasons.

2 things (I don't know if that already got brought up):
1.It's LITERALLY reducing developers' right to free speech (human right)
2.When GOG as a COMPANY decided to refuse to fulfill already set contract with a developer then it's absolutely IMPERATIVE that they give a reason that is LEGALLY VALID and not a "sloppy general direction without a proof".

Yeah, Devotion isn't some random C-list indie title that got famous for political outrage. Detention was already a huge hit without generating any sort of political controversy and spawned a movie and TV show version in Taiwan. Red Candle Games' titles are art and were even recognised so by Harvard Library which added them to their East Asian collection.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/02/22/devotions-short-lived-horror-will-be-preserved-at-harvard-university/

“This February, the Harvard-Yenching Library at Harvard University officially added both of our titles ‘返校 Detention’ and ‘還願 Devotion’ to its collection. It is an incredible honour which belongs to not only Red Candle but also our supporters/players worldwide.

“Harvard-Yenching Library, formally founded in 1928, is known as the largest Eastern Asian library maintained by any American university. As game designers, never have we thought that our works could one day be added to its prestige collection. While we truly appreciate the recognition, we had also taken this opportunity to rethink the possibilities that our games could achieve.”

Which game?

Exactly!

If you consider the international market, the irony is that a game like Devotion is steeped in chinese culture, and would make a better vector of soft power, for Taiwan as well as the PRC, than any of that mafia-like strong-arming.

Agree completely. If China thinks that whacking people with their 50-cent army is "soft power", they clearly don't understand what the term means.

Shut up. You people should know what oppression and dictatorship is like yet you stabbed Red Candle Games in the back so you can kowtow to Winnie the Pooh and China's totalitarian government, so why the hell should we be "civil" to you about a game that doesn't exist here and you're putting down a small Taiwanese developer that apologized for the incident! That's not even getting to how you people lied to with a broken console release of Cyberjunk 2077 that got pulled from PlayStation 4, how you are putting partial DRM in the game, and CDPR is already revolting because of your inept management and crunch development with stocks already plummeting.

Dude (gal). Relax.

Thing is, they're completely correct. This is a stunning display on CDPR/GOG between the two debacles. I used to be greatly hopeful that they'd be a force for good, but it is on full display that the suits don't give a damn about principles or making games that work. There needs to be a serious and swift course correction if CDPR/GOG hopes to regain trust with customers. At least Epic is openly in bed with the CCP, GOG just insults longtime customers with poorly crafted lies.

There have been so many missteps and never really any personal consequences. There cannot possibly be any change if the same people are still in charge incapable or unwilling to change or to fulfill the countless promises to do different. Find the people in leading positions that are not compatible with your moral/ethic code and just offer them a different position, that suits them better. I mean It's simple parenting 101, if there are no consequences to ones actions, no lessons will ever be learned.

As far as Epic is concerned, what makes you say that they are in league with the CCP? Because Tencent is owning 40% of their stock? During the Blizzard Hong Kong protest controversy Tim Sweeney stated "Epic supports the rights of Fortnite players and creators to speak about politics and human rights." which clearly opposes the CCP. Also Fortnite was banned in China in 2018, because of "Blood and gore, vulgar content", unlike Blizzard Epic refused to make changes to their game to cater to the Chinese market .When his stance concerning free speech was challenged because of the large share Tencent holds, Tim Sweeney essentially stated that nothing would happen to undermine that as long as he was in charge "Yes, absolutely. That will never happen on my watch as the founder, CEO, and controlling shareholder."
So far he has stayed true to his word.