First: Why are the classic DnD titles (Krynn, Dark Sun, etc.) no longer going on sale?

I’ve had them on my wishlist for almost 2 years now, and there’s only been one sale during that time (which was pitiful by the way - $8.49 instead of $10). Now I’m not saying $10 breaks the bank, but when you consider how many classic DnD titles are on GOG it adds up, and the fact that most other games on GOG go on sale pretty frequently, it’s just strange that the DnD titles are never included in those sales.

This brings me to SNEG, the publishers for the classic DnD games here on GOG and on Steam. If you haven’t heard of them, I’m not surprised. I’ve only managed to turn up two articles about the company: one is a forum post and the other an interview with the founder of SNEG.

It seems like a GOG employee split from the company in 2020 and took the DnD license with them. Now, if you look at IsThereAnyDeal, the DnD games haven’t gone on sale (especially not to the degree that they used to when published by GOG) since 2020, when they were ostensibly transferred to SNEG. And since then, the only thing SNEG has offered is a shoddy “bundle” of the classic DnD games they released. (Go look at the release thread for the bundle - not only does the price of the bundle not account for games you already own, it doesn’t even link the store pages for games that it includes.)

Now, I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, and I’d love for someone to change my mind, but as an outside observer looking at a very opaque company, it seems that SNEG is just trying to fleece anyone who wants the older DnD titles. Again, I’d love to be proven wrong, but at the very least I think we as consumers deserve a bit more transparency from SNEG.

They were just on sale, not too long ago. Maybe I got a discount because I had already bought them, though. Bought a bunch of them as a gift and saved quite a bit of money. This was at the end of last month.

I prefer to think that SNEG is working undercover with GOG to sell their games to other stores without raising unnecessary attention. GOG paid for the initial DnD bundles (Forgotten Realms: The Archives - Collection, and such). So it seems like SNEG did split from GOG, but what about the money that was invested in reviving those old DnD games? Were they just gifted along with the publishing rights? Only GOG, SNEG and the tax collectors know ;)

Wouldn't GOG stand to gain more from keeping the DnD titles as GOG exclusives though (if we assume in this scenario that SNEG is acting as a GOG publishing arm)? Regardless, it does look like SNEG prefers the Steam versions of their games, offering more frequent sales and bundling them with the gold box companion and all-seeing eye programs.

Whether or not SNEG is completely independent from GOG or not, Steam user base is bigger than on GOG so are the sales. More sales would mean more income, even if GOG is the sole owner. Same applies to the Witcher games.

What you said about Steam versions bundled with ASE and GoldBox Companion is preposterous! Why can't we have the same stuff?

I evaded that problem by simply buying them directly at release for full price.
Nice side effect: no grey hairs due to waiting for the right sale...

;)

SNEG stands for secret new enterprise (gog). So not entirely gog, but almost!

Which is it? Secret New Enterprise GOG?
or So Not Entirely GOG?

Close, it's Still Not Enough GOG

Looks like a sale to me. Not on sale, the Forgotten Realms collections are $9.99 each.

Matt Chat 504: Oleg and Artem of SNEG

"SNEG is bringing back some of the best CRPGs and strategy games of all time to GOG and other distribution platforms. Gold box, Black box, silver box and more! Oleg and Artem are super fans of the games they're publishing and have ambitious plans to bring back even more games from the golden age!"

On the Buck Rogers Gold Box games and Neverwinter Nights (1991):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD1WOhtpyB8&t=2583s

Oleg Klapovskiy:
"Plus again, I think the best tool for people who want some old games to be back is actually to go to GoG.com, and vote on the fantastic wishlist because, trust me, it's being used by the GoG business development team and not only by them."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD1WOhtpyB8&t=2711s

On the Phantasie series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD1WOhtpyB8&t=3146s

Name-dropping Sword of Fargoal, Black Crypt, Hired Guns (1993) (not the 2007 unofficial successor to Jagged Alliance 2 one Oleg assumed Matt was talking about), Alien Fires: 2199 AD & the Faery Tale Adventure series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD1WOhtpyB8&t=3747s

Browsing the most voted ever games on the community wishlist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD1WOhtpyB8&t=4070s

Well, if 5% of Steam users buy them, it's more sales than GOG has seen. Hell, if 2% buy them it's more copies than GOG sells. GOG loses by hosting them here because the small user base does not help them. But GOG doesn't advertise. They depend on strong second party releases from CDPR to carry the brand. And then they let their website look and perform like hot garbage. The people at the top seem go be unwilling to spend money to make money.

So no, they need all the cash infusion they can get, and if they get a portion of the sales from other stores then they stand to gain a lot more by getting them up for sale on other sites, particularly Steam.