This is the last week of the sale and before the new year. So far it's dead. Nothing notable. Did GoG just give up and make the last week of the sale bland and boring? Now would be a good time to release Dawn of War to spice things up!

It's not a good time to release something new. At the end of a big sale people have already spent their whole budget on games.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but yeah, it's the last week of the year. Most people have more important things to do than organize sales or releases.

And most customers are going to be more concerned with the end of the year stuff, too. Timing a big release to happen when THEY KNOW few people will be looking at the website... well, I wouldn't do it.

You're in for continual disappointment if you expect big-name AAA releases often. That said I am surprised we haven't had Dawn of War released yet.

We did get a lot of releases last week though, including various old games and The Hong Kong Massacre and American Fugitive.

I have been thinking about that for a long time.
When all these game stores are giving free games at the same time, who is actually going to buy anything? It seems counterproductive marketing after a certain point.

Obviously Epic's approach is a bit different, as they aren't that much into making profit but trying to gain a bigger share of the market, with possible profits somewhere in the future.

But assuming someone just wants some games to play, no matter what games and what store, Epic gives that about 15, GOG gives about 5, Amazon gives 5-10 each month and just recently one for GOG, then there are some other stores with other freebies...

Unless you specifically want some exact game from a certain store, you really don't need to spend any money!

The Winter Sale was a great big nothing-burger with zero notable releases. Ditto also for the Black Friday sale.

GOG really needs to focus way more energy & effort & money on schmoozing big devs/publishers, like Bandai Namco, to release games like Elden Ring and Dark Souls on GOG.

As for Dawn of War: if GOG are sticking to their plans to remove multiplayer from the GOG version, and/or offering a gimped version of multiplayer which has no Crossplay with Steam, then the Dawn of War release on GOG is going to be DOA and totally pointless and not even worth releasing, just like Spacemarine was.

I just wish Capcom and Konami would release more of their games here... :(
RE, DMC, MH, MGS, MGR... and so many others.
But it seems it really is something related to Japanese companies conservative thinking about DRM that stops them from doing so with their games.

There is still one more free game tomorrow, fingers crossed!!

If people weren't required to use Epic Games Launcher in order to play games (whether they are free games or whether they are Epic exclusive games), nobody would use it. That tells you it's crap right away.

I'm not getting your point, especially as you seem to be saying two contradictory things.

There is also the fact you can use Legendary for many of the Epic games, thus no requirement for the Epic Launcher.

I've been getting free games from Epic since 2018, and aside from a few I momentarily tested for DRM-Free Lite status, I've not played any, and using the Epic Launcher wasn't required.

It might seem strange to get games and not play them, but for me it is about choice and the unknown future. Aside from a dozen or so games I have gotten from Epic, some with DRM, I will possibly never play the rest, because I have a huge number of games from GOG, and an awful lot from Itch.io and some from ZOOM Platform, that will take preference, then a dozen or so from Steam, plus many free games there too, and then oodles of DRM-Free games from other stores like IndieGala and Big Fish etc. I will never go wanting for a game to entertain myself and family. In fact I don't really need to acquire or buy any more games, but I still will now and then, though I can be quite selective about that. It's a great place to be in, having all that variety and choice.

As someone who only plays single player, I'd disagree with that statement. I'm fine with GoG releasing single player versions of games; provided they make this clear on the game card for users who care about multiplayer, I don't see a problem.

Yep, totally the case.
It is a good time to be a gamer.
As you can spend all your money on a good PC, and enjoy all the free games, which you will likely never run out of.

The only possible fly in the ointment, except for enough money for a good PC, is the state of your web connection.

100% agree!

Although I have sometimes wondered why GOG doesn't run multiplayer servers for some older games to generate some interest in them. In some cases there can be obvious technical reasons, but there probably should be some games that could work without any major work.