Most likely its GOG inconsistent curation policy, and the games ARE coming here, but Paradox can't say until after GOG gives them the all clear.

I think that when Paradox started releasing various more or less recent games like Stellaris on GOG, it's because they made a specific agreement with GOG, probably with upfront payments. Now the agreement must have expired, so GOG will either sign a new one for these new games, or wait for Paradox's benevolence.

How many Paradox-published games have ever been day-1 releases here? I don't think it's very many. (And games that they acquired after release obviously don't count.)

Sadly no answer, but one thing is almost certain: If you ask a Dev/Publisher why a game is not released at a certain place there is almost never any clear answer or no answer at all. Sure, this question is asked way to many times but they could give a standard-statement and issue solved. Anyway, i do not think it is truly worth it trying to beg for games from publishers not even trying to communicate with the customers. Apparently they got "better customers" somewhere else... thats how it seems to work. Unless the "better customers" will not show to much greed anymore on companys not worthy enough of having a good customer-love.

Probably the main issue with GoG simply is: There is lot of bargaining going on because GoG is trying to give a realistic offer and many publishers may fight for even better conditions... if they got interest at all of course.

As for Epic Games Store, the DRM makes stuff easyer, but Epic Games is aswell sacrificing billions of dollars in order to give publishers and customers the "best offer possible". So there is nowhere a better condition than at Epic game store. Although, the sales is generally lower vs. GoG and Steam, but as long as Epic Games is able to afford very low margin or even losing bucks for games released... they are to many devs and customers "nice to have".

GoG can not compete with Epic Games Store when it comes to the cost. However, Steam is still the most expensive way in general... but as long as Steam/Valve got the biggest customer-base Steam/Valve can basically ask whatever they want: Pretty privileged situation.

Of course, if i would be in command on "how it works"; i would release my games on all 3 platforms and dependable on possibility on 2 or 3 console platforms. Other stuff is not interesting to me, because this is the place for "true gamers" and i assume CD Projekt Red got the same opinion and is aswel releasing on all those platforms.

While I wish it was true, I seriously doubt EGS has "lower sales" compared to GOG.

In term you are able to compare a game directly, for example a freshly released Cyberpunk, then GoG is the second force. However, obviously, if there is a new game released and it is available on Steam and EGS, then GoG is "out of competition"; because without a release there is no comparison.

So, overall... as long as there is equal conditions... GoG is above EGS. If there is unfair conditions (timed exclusives or whatelse) of course... GoG can only bite the dust... not hard to guess.

In general, gamers still are pretty much hunting "new hype games"... so a fast release is critical for having "good numbers". Sure, DRM free is a hinderance but it is truly unique and a true customer demand.

Still, i would never touch another Skyrim again... no matter 10+ year to late (to be fair, the Legendary Edition is just a few years to late) for release... the GoG version is usually superior to me. Numbers mean less... true and unlocked gaming means just everything.

And yes, even Hades was without equal conditions... pretty much released everywhere, even DRM free... but not on GoG; surely weird because no one knows the reason. My guess is: Supergiant games was "bought" by EGS for limited exclusive; when it was over Supergiant was knocking at the Steam-Door because of course.. much of bucks to achieve on such a huge community "waiting for them". And finally... they never was asking GoG at all... and at a certain point maybe even GoG got upset and they did not make a special offer at all... just not worth it anymore and a act without honor. Only guessing but probably not far away from the truth. I just hope in future this difficult relationship with Supergiant will improve once again.

I dont know about Paradox but those stories simply may be useful to know "what may be going on".

Your idea of 'equal conditions' is a game that is created by the owners of GOG, that, unlike most games has no Steam keys but GOG keys instead?

This is at best an exception that's swung entirely the other way, not an equal condition release.

No, GOG is not the "second force" when the game is released day one on GOG. Not even close. EGS has vastly more customers, and also a vastly higher market share, than GOG does.

Can you show me your source of your claims? Thank you.

Because indeed, it sounds weird to me. However, exact numbers are rarely known to me because simply not revealed to the public.

What i can say about EGS: They have many cheap offers and handing out free games. This is a huge "customer-catcher". and EGS knows it...
However, i almost always are able to find cheaper Steam keys compared to EGS, so even as someone looking for very cheap games i would just go get me a Steam key. You may not believe me how cheap i could get some of the Steam keys. Actually i got me many cheap Steam-keys already. I would NEVER buy a Steam game full price... this is foolish. The only games i buy sometimes at launch and full price is either a GoG-game or some of the greatest PS5-games ON A DISC.

Most gamers enjoy it because they can get a huge collection of games almost free. At least this is what they believe. (they have been tricked and they do not own any game at all, huge lol).. but as ss soon as they got 1000 games they magically may feel empty in their moneybag and they do not even realize how many cash they was handing out. But anyway... not my issue and i got only a dozen of Steam games, but several houndred GoG games. TO ME, GoG is first force even, and Sony (PS5) is second force. I see no way how this could change ever.

And i can tell you another funny fact: On Steam a account IN AVERAGE got just about 15 games or so. On GoG an average account got OVER 100 games. So on Steam simply the extremely sheer numbers of new customers they are able to "catch" is actually the reason for having so much sales. GoG is the place for true hardcore gamers or gamers with true knowledge... the gamer base is generally much more serious about games. On Steam, i think about 5% are hardcore and 95% are only occasionally playing games, but their numbers of casual gamers is so extremely huge that it can outpace GoG by far... even Epic (EGS) maybe... who knows: But i lack accurate numbers.

The probably fun revealing is that it does not even matter to either EGS or Steam if they got maybe 5% "huge collectors" with 100 to 1000 games, as long as they are able to catch about 150 million of gamers buying in average just about 10 games... because the extremely sheer numbers of "newbies" is all what really counts for sales. They know it and thats why they surely are doing a lot of advertisements.

In average, i think no one is paying more than the average GoG-customers... however, the issue is that the numbers of customers are pretty low compared to either Steam or EGS.

Still, DRM got a bad smell to me.... almost no value. Sure... thats what those keys are used for, getting something without value.

I assume, EGS is doing advertisement like crazy (probably in the US, i dunno.... i watch no media at all) and then they catch a huge amount of new customers looking for "almost free games":.. the 08/15 customer really is acting like this, sounds fun but true. This is their motivation, getting something for as cheap as possible.

I see of no other way why EGS would be outpacing GoG by far, on games with EQUAL CONDITIONS... you can not compare their service with GoG... GoG is another "league" to me in many terms; you really feel free... at least this is what i understand when i talk about freedom. The Online- issue have to be sorted out but there is no Online-Game without a launcher attached... it simply can not work another way, so it will need a Galaxy-Launcher even without DRM, this is simply common sense. Although, the dev support is currently very low, this have to change. It surely is a thing with some controversy.... difficult to be solved. Of course this only counts for TRUE online games, not for games with some unnecessary "online-functions".

I can tell you, the last game if got me FULL PRICE was Steelrising on GoG. This game was released with equal conditions on GoG (vs. Steam and EGS) and this is the only way i would pay FULL PRICE for a new released PC-Game, having a GoG-release with equal conditions... this happened many times already and there is really no other way for me making me pay full price for a PC game, just to make it clear.

I would even have paid full price for the Skyrim release on GoG, but funnily enough... i got it at a discount at the very beginning.... okay... no other choice i assume. Its not always about getting the very best deal because good does not always mean cheap to me: Good is a relative term and sometimes good means "a game in a condition i truly enjoy", no matter the cost. Cost simply means "You truly are enjoying it and you want to support some companys... so there is certain sacrifices to be made". If you get stuff almost free... do you really value it? Not sure at all...
Can you become happy without truly putting some value into it? Not sure... There are many cheap Steam keys for Cyberpunk, so i can not understand your claim. Maybe not at launch but usually there is no "cheap keys" right at the launch of a game... this would be weird.

Cyberpunk as an example has been releaed on all platforms simultaneously and as far as i know on equal conditions. So i think it is a good comparison. Of course when it comes to "cheap keys" then GoG is "only" the third force because this is exactly the kind of customers Steam and EGS is catching in a sheer number... no secret at all. GoG does not enjoy cheap keys because this is not really their customer base with highest amount of "another motivation". Still... even GoG got a high amount of customers looking for cheap offers... just not the cheapest (GoG is more expensive than Steam or EGS in average).

I remember, there is many customers shouting "GoG is expensive, the same offer is cheaper somewhere else", maybe true... sure... if you look at the cheap keys then GoG got no chance. But this is not the way GoG is working, because the main motivation is not getting a GoG game for as cheap as possible, but simply to get just the stuff you truly may enjoy. I do think the condition was equal because "cheap keys" are usually not handed out on release of a game and nowadays you can get cheap keys just for any platform you enjoy.

Alhough, even if GoG now got a "better condition" you may now realize what truly matters why certain platforms are so successful because they simply almost always got better conditions. Nothing to do with the quality of games or service... simply a matter of selling conditions. So it truly matters "who got the bigger stick and who is actually in charge of stuff". It seems like, the mainstream customers is enjoying "big genitals" and big genitals usually means "I (the company) got the bucks and you are able to hand it over to me... as easy as this". The mainstream customer usually says "Yes master, i got it... please accept my few bucks". Then they are walking away happy that they was saving some bucks and the company is walking away aswell with the highest bucks earned ever... and no one is questioning the weird matter... because we lack the visibility "how stuff actually works".

Sure, i would enjoy comparing Steelrising sales with all 3 platforms (fair competition because not "in house"), but very difficult finding accurate data or any data at all. All what matters to the customers is "cheap keys", this is the main result i always get on Google, but the important statistics is very hard to find. My guess is, Steam is first and EGS third... not second. Unless EGS was handing out a super cheap "special key":.. who knows, they got many cheap tricks.

Can aswell compare Darksiders 3 or any other game with equal terms, but terms have to be equal, else its not a fair comparison. Regarding Linux: On Steam not even 1% is using Linux it seems... so this matter is actually rather idealistic than useful. So people can ask for Linux but this is nothing more than a idealistic dream some freaks got.

Besides, the biggest money-maker are just about 10% of all games and by far the biggest money-makers are the 1% of all games only. Not much meaning going by "all games" as a comparison. You have to compare same stuff with the exactly same stuff.

Nearly half of Steam games have not made over $5,000 in revenue. (Kontus, 2020)

Only a quarter of titles earned more than $50,000. (Kontus, 2020)

The top 10% of games, which would be the territory of AA and AAA titles and really successful indie games, have made more than $430,000. (Kontus, 2020)

The biggest moneymakers are the top 1%, which can make over $25 million. (Kontus, 2020)

GOG has many cheap offers and is handing out free games.
They have a different way of doing it than Epic, but they are doing the very same thing.

Im not blind, i see many "GoG sales", but this is not how GoG enjoy it to be. It is a customer demand and without making sales... you are doomed; this is the way the industry now works, end of story. However, overall... GoG is the most expensive competitor. GoG simply can not undercut the other 2 shops because not enough sales in order to cover their expenses. So, sales yes but the cheapest keys are elsewhere.

GoG was occasionally handing out a few free games if you allow "marketing" in your account, however, the amount is nothing compared to EGS or even Steam... just a few games. If you want free games... look elsewhere.

Not talking about demos or crap games... this is not on my list of free games.

EGS is handing out free games REGULARLY, this is a whole other level of "giveaway". If you want to compare this to the few GoG giveaways, okay... but i have another view.

I dont want to say "cheap offers are generally bad"... it is part of a competition and the customer should be the king. Although it is the main motivation for customers buying a game at a certain place, this was my statement i made and why the force is usually on the side of the ones able to make truly cheap offers As for EGS, the weekly giveaway (of pretty solid games) is probably the main reason for a good growing of their community. In order to make it happen EGS is willing to bloat the worse revenue of their shop in order to "wipe out" the competition who are not able to hand out so many stuff for free... unless they are willing to become negative in earnings aswell.

Amazon made the exactly same thing for many years... sacrificing billions of dollars in order to achieve "market domination" with offers no one was able to undercut. At some point they had a real domination and then they was able to raise all revenues to a level making them very rich. The style is not new... a well known strategy in order to grow in a pretty rapid way. In my mind a critical thing not very tasty at all, because over time it will wipe out competition and as soon as done so... the conditions will become worse for everyone, so it can be considered critical supporting it.

Let's be perfectly logical here.

Many game providers (DEVs or PUBs) either never supply a game to GOG or do so somewhat reluctantly, and when they do GOG is nearly always a secondary consideration.

This mostly translates to releasing at DRM stores like Steam and Epic first, where they would prefer gamers to buy their game.

Then at some future point, they decide it is time to sell more copies by releasing at GOG, no doubt because sales have slowed right down at DRM stores.

It is not common, even for those providers who regularly provide games to GOG, to do a simultaneous release at GOG.

The same often occurs with updates and DLC.

This. GOG's comparatively small market share / revenue is just a much smaller priority, and from a business perspective that obviously makes sense. So, in a way, it might be best to view big-name/AAA games showing up here as "pleasant surprises".

You avoid the fact that the "smaller revenue" actually is forced by not releasing games on equal conditions.

You can try out the same issue on Steam and Epic... release a franchise on GoG first and Steam and Epic 5 year after... how much of revenue do you think the "2 powerful shops" still may be getting? So, you see my point... big companys simply enjoy DRM and it is hard changing this view: A few of the bigger studios got another mentality, for example "Larian Studios" but there are just a few of them.

Still, yeah.. almost any bigger franchise truly worth it will be cracked way sooner than the publishers actually enjoy. So i do recommend not ignoring the reality and showing GoG some love. The customers simply should be WILLING to pay. A customer that doesnt want to truly pay may almost always find some other way. Paying for a game has never been easyer... because cheap sells are nowadays very common, even on very freshly released games. Simply need to provide equal conditions and then we will check out if the "smaller revenue" is still true.

Of course, nothing wrong with the mentality: GoG should release the game as soon as it gets "good and old", because on GoG older games are always welcome and a good game will never truly age or become "out of date"... it will stay a legend for countless years.

However, fact is... the highest income from any publishers is usually in the beginning; so thats why DRM methods are playing such a big role to them.

Yet, i still do not think someone who doesnt want to pay at all can magically be forced to pay because of DRM... this is rather a fairy tale to me. The most likely wrong believe of "we can force them to pay" is somewhat hard to get ride of. Ultimately it may even hurt paying customers because they may become upset with unnecessary DRM methods.

Personally, i am humanistic in nature. If someone can not be bothered or be forced to pay... i do not feel the urge punishing or forcing them. We got a rather short live and the live should be valuable and enjoyable for everyone. The best way of gaining money and support is from people who truly feel a good motivation doing so. If someone feels forced or robbed... this is just "bad karma", i do not think it would be helpful on longer terms. Achieving trust and acceptance, ultimately respect... is the true way of earning "valuable money"... money that truly is handed out by free will and heart!