Man, really?

Really?

They Bleed Pixels is fantastic. That decision makes no sense, whatsoever. And there's more than a little irony to GOG refusing a game because it's too old.

Gee, if only my thread about this exact matter received the warm welcome as yours did. What is wrong with this community, that only certain people can point out things as opposed to others?

I don't get it either. You would really think that GOG would want as many great games as they can get, but for whatever reason they end up being picky in the most inane ways. They Bleed Pixels is only three years old, and it just got a major update in June along with Linux and Mac releases. There's no legitimate reason to not have it here, and the developers would still be happy to see it here even after being rejected, but based on this thread GOG's approval system just makes no sense sometimes.

Well, I wonder if he's at least considered bringing the game to Humble Store. I'd prefer to buy it here, but if GOG won't sell it to me, then whatever.

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Especially since they've "just" released Frozen Synapse, an indie game so old (despite it being extremely good) that pretty much everyone has it thanks to Humble Bundle.

The same is true for Aquaria. Maybe that's a good sign for us?

I don't know about Humble, but the developer did say in the email that:

"Just so you know the Steam version of TBP is DRM free, though you won't get access to Steam specific features like online leaderboards if Steam isn't running. We also hope to get a DRM free stand alone version up for sale on our website soon now that the Crimson Update is finished."

So at least their website should be an option in the future for those who want the game outside of Steam. Still, with a GOG release things like leaderboards could work with Galaxy.

Honestly, I think that's the frustrating part: only the tried and true PC-centric genres are well-supported. No matter how generic or - frankly - bad a game is, if it's an indie RPG or strategy game, GOG will be chomping at the bit for it. If it's anything else? Probably not. The PC game market is diversifying at a ridiculous rate, and yet GOG seems to go out of their way to constrain it.

"Word is they approached Yahtz and then turned him down, which is even more of a headscratcher. Honestly, while I would hardly call the visuals of The Consuming Shadow next-gen or anything ... there's worse on GOG. GOG recently rejected it because they didn't feel the visuals were up to snuff, according to him. For instance, not to pick on the developer thereof, but Richard & Alice is on GOG and it boots to a 320x240 resolution. Strangely, Charnel House Trilogy, that same developer's later game, also got rejected from GOG, and its objectively better."

https://twitter.com/Maiyannah/status/628262741287919616
https://twitter.com/Maiyannah/status/627752461877542913
https://twitter.com/Maiyannah/status/627753360482021376

Vote for the games on the wishlist:

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/the_consuming_shadow
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/the_charnel_house_trilogy

Question: "Will Snakebird ever be Steam-free? I will buy it if I can get it from GOG or some reasonable equivalent. :O"
Noumenon Games (devs of Nimbus): "That is the idea. Unfortunately not on GOG though as they rejected the game a while back."

https://twitter.com/NoumenonGames/status/609784076162179072

Vote:

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/snakebird (Trailer)
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/nimbus (Trailer)

Seems pretty clear that if GOG is telling the truth about rejection reasons to people that the "process" is random and completely arbitrary.

Whatever, Humble has some nice stuff that's been rejected here.

I messaged Support about They Bleed Pixels and my frustration with the approval process. I got this:

"I'm sorry to see that you are disappointed by our decision, but we must be very selective with what games we accept for release.
GOG has a boutique approach to games and our goal is to give justice to each game we release. Due to this, we have to limit the amount of releases, and to do this, we unfortunately have to reject many of the submissions, so that those that are approved get proper exposure on the storefront. Our BizDev and QA teams thoroughly research and evaluate every incoming title, but I'm afraid that I am unable to disclose the details as to how exactly they make their final decision.
I appreciate your understanding."

Now, I know that Support can only tell us what they're told to tell us in cases like this, so I have nothing against them for this message. That said, let's evaluate the two reasons I was just given for a game being rejected:

"GOG has a boutique approach to games and our goal is to give justice to each game we release. Due to this, we have to limit the amount of releases, and to do this, we unfortunately have to reject many of the submissions, so that those that are approved get proper exposure on the storefront."

Why not just delay releases then? This is a pretty flimsy excuse for rejecting a game, because there's no reason that they couldn't just tell the devs that the release will take a few extra weeks or even months because their schedule is already full.

"Our BizDev and QA teams thoroughly research and evaluate every incoming title"

This doesn't really help us understand the process better, because we still have a lot of inconsistencies with what's on the store and what's rejected. To be honest, I don't even believe this claim. Cook, Serve, Delicious! was rejected for being "too casual", but most people who have spent a decent amount of time on the game will tell you that's not true. Meanwhile, Surgeon Simulator is up for sale. Aside from inconsistencies like that, there's still the issue of games that are very well-received elsewhere getting rejected or ignored here, such as many games mentioned in this thread.

I've replied to Support asking about why they don't just delay releases, but I didn't bother trying to dispute the other reason since I know it wouldn't do any good. I'll let you guys know if I get a response.

It has over 800 wishlist votes, and there are games on here that look worse. I feel like this pretty much confirms that the Community Wishlist doesn't matter (with HuniePop as a rare exception that makes all of this even more confusing) and that there really is no rhyme or reason to what games get released here. It's depressing, honestly.

"would love to be listed on GoG, but they passed on Zigfrak after evaluating a beta :-("

https://twitter.com/zigfrak/status/342490853492789249

Vote: http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/zigfrak (Trailer)