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General discussionGetting back to our roots(1418 posts)(1418 posts)
(1418 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 11, 2014
Hey, GOGgers,

We're not perfect, we're exploring new frontiers, and we make mistakes. We thought DRM-Free was so important that you'd prefer we bring you more DRM-Free games and Fair Price was less critical and that it could be sacrificed in some cases. The last two week's worth of comments in our forums (nearly 10k!), show that's not the case. We didn’t listen and we let you down. We shouldn't sacrifice one of our core values in an attempt to advance another. We feel bad about that, and we're sorry. Us being sorry is not of much use to you, so let’s talk about how we will fix it.

One: DRM-free forever. Abandoning fixed regional pricing means it will probably take longer to get some games, but you've made it clear that sacrificing fair pricing for more DRM-free games isn't acceptable.

Two: We will adamantly continue to fight for games with flat worldwide pricing. If that fails and we are required to have regional prices, we will make up the difference for you out of our own pockets. For now it will be with $5.99 and $9.99 game codes. In a couple of months, once we have such functionality implemented, we will give you store credit instead, which then you will be able to use towards any purchase and cover the price of it in full or partially. Effectively gamers from all around the world will be able to benefit from the US prices.

This will apply to every single game where we do not have flat pricing, such as Age of Wonders 3 (full details here), Divinity: Original Sin, and The Witcher 3. If you remember the Fair Price Package for The Witcher 2, this will be exactly the same.

Three: We still intend to introduce the pricing in local currencies. Let us explain why we want to do it and how we want to make it fair for everyone. From the very beginning our intention was to make things easier for users whose credit cards/payment systems are not natively in USD. The advantages are simple because the price is more understandable and easier to relate to. There would be no exchange rates involved, no transaction fees, and no other hidden charges. However after reading your comments, we realized we have taken an important element away: the choice. In order to fix this, we'll offer the option of paying in the local currency or the equivalent in USD. This way, how you pay is always your choice.

Four: You are what matters, and we will be sure to involve you all more in what we're doing and why we're doing it. Let's start by meeting you at GDC - we’d like to invite you to meet us face-to-face Monday the 17th at GDC. Obviously, not all of you can come to San Francisco, so we want to invite all of you to an online event with us early in April to ask us whatever you would like. More details soon.

The bottom line is simple: there may be companies that won't work with us (although we will work hard to convince the most stubborn ones ;). Yes, it means we might miss out on some games, but at the same time GOG.com will remain true to its values and will keep on offering you the best of DRM-free gaming with Fair Prices.

Once again thank you for caring so much about GOG.com. We will work hard not to disappoint you again.

--Marcin "iWi" Iwinski & Guillaume "TheFrenchMonk" Rambourg
Posted March 11, 2014
This is a good step but it's a shame the physical meetup is in a Country where this issue was irrelevant.
Posted March 11, 2014
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JudasIscariot: Ohohohoho :)
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JinseiNGC224: What about "paying the difference"? Will this slow down releases any more than they've been for years past? I'd be content with the status quo, but I do hope GOG releases more classics and indies alike, perhaps some of these "AAA" titles you've talked about, without slower than normal releases due to GOG directly paying for the said difference. I for one don't want a bankrupt GOG because they want to make the masses happy, and I don't want you or anyone else losing their jobs because the company can't afford to keep you.

There are PC titles that I don't own that I won't buy unless I get them DRM free and specifically on GOG. I hope some of those show up here sometime in the future, even if not tomorrow or even years end.
Well, we know wich ones to thank if GOG has to reduce the workforce.
Posted March 11, 2014
... the squeaky wheel gets the most oil.
Posted March 11, 2014
Sweet. Making up the difference out of your own pocket means that you have a financial incentive for keeping the greedier publishers from screwing people over willy-nilly, so I like this despite typically not being one for compromise. Feels very checks-and-balances-y while still leaving the window open for some games that wouldn't find their way here otherwise. At least, I'm assuming the window is being left open because of the "if that fails" line that implies that it's not about the three games we already know about.

Anyway, if negotiations with certain publishers start to break down because of this, remember that violence is totally a legitimate answer. If it wasn't, then people wouldn't have to say that it isn't as often as they do. I can't help but think that games like Grim Fandango are one Zangief body slam away from being available on GOG.
Posted March 11, 2014
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ELFswe: Well, we know wich ones to thank if GOG has to reduce the workforce.
oh i forgot about their claim of having to sack staff if they didnt introduce regional pricing.... anyone care to guess who will be leaving first ?
Posted March 11, 2014
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PixelBoy: 1) If there were thousands of posts complaining about the change, and hardly any approving it, I think it is unlikely that there is a "silent majority" who actually was happy with that change.
I never said that there wasn't thousands unhappy, my point was they would have gotten over it because there isn't any alternatives. Every major digital store does regional pricing now. You as a consumer had a choice in purchasing if you didn't believe it was worth the price. Never said I actually agree with regional pricing rather that it was a necessary evil to get more DRM free games here.

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PixelBoy: 2) Most people here never cared to buy new games, but mostly old games. Whether either pricing method has any effect on how many older games show up on GOG can be guessed either way, however the number of people buying those older games will be much lower with regional pricing.
Where is your sales data for that? This is nothing more than a guess and because new games and new indie games continue to be sold and come here there are obviously enough sales through GOG for publishers to sell there new games here otherwise they wouldn't bother with the extra work evolved from a legal stand point to get those games sold here.

As far older games having regional pricing & the effect it would have had (which if I remember right was not exactly the plan anyway), so what if less people bought them? We still had an option.... those who who wanted that game DRM free still got that choice.

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PixelBoy: 3) I find it kind of funny that 99% of the people who post comments which either favor the proposed new pricing or show no understanding for the community response to it, has "From United States" under their avatar (be that their real location or not).
This is irrelevant, if the tables were turned I would still say the same thing... I as a consumer would justify to myself if the added cost of regional prices and my want to play the game was worth that extra cost. If not then so be it. I'm not going to be pitty and make others miss out on a game they want DRM free because they may get it cheaper than I can.

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PixelBoy: 4) Most of us are happy, and want to spend more money on fairly priced old games again.
Again where is your sales data? All this is teaching people is if you complain about something loud enough GOG will give in rather it ends up having negative effects (ie missed game & less profit) in the long run.

Life's not fair, there is no such thing as fairness... that is something most people in life understand... people on the internet however especially when it comes to gaming are never happy and always complain.
Post edited March 11, 2014 by user deleted
Posted March 11, 2014
Yaaay, the good old gog-banner is back!
Attachments:
gogisback.jpg (144 Kb)
Posted March 11, 2014
This is awesome.
GOG proves they are one of the very few companies that are in business for they customers not the other way around.
They kept my belief in them.
Posted March 11, 2014
When is Knights of the Old Republic going to be here? I'm tired of sitting in this ditch.
Posted March 11, 2014
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Trilarion: That's not what the message says and we don't really know. And don't forget that a $10 gift code is worth $5 or less in real money during a promo. So the compensation is there but far from complete.

So I wonder how you can be sure of this? Regional pricing is still there and maybe GOG is just generous on its own and the publishers allow that.
Obviously though to give out these gifts to make up for the regional prices GOG is most likely going to be a lot more selective in those type of games and take less risk. It has to be something they know can sell otherwise they will lose a lot of money.
Posted March 11, 2014
Gotta say, I really didn't expect this. I'm surprised and impressed that you guys have turned things around like this, showing that you actually do care for the customers first and the cash second. I think few will be able to find fault with these new systems, and of course, choice for the consumer is the best option for them.

Thank you for listening to your users, and I'm glad to be wrong about where I thought GOG was headed.
Posted March 11, 2014
So, Russians who pay a price lower than the index -- do they have to buy a gift for someone else?
Posted March 11, 2014
I just wanted to say that personally I like this and hope the new direction helps GOG.
It would be sad if Gog misses some games but when you take the core values away what would be the difference of gog compared to other stores.
For the future, maybe you could first post new ideas and provide pros/cons and ask the community.
Posted March 11, 2014
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Professor_Cake: Agreed, although I wouldn't say the selling points were dogmatic. indeed, the opposite points that say companies should embrace DRM and regional pricing are dogmatic, and it is this dogma that GOG is confronting with publishers now.
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Mentalepsy: I don't mean that GOG is promoting a dogma. Their policies are just policies, like any other company. I mean that they seem to think it's to their advantage to market those policies as not just selling points, but immutable ideals written in blood that must never be compromised.

GOG has put a great deal of effort into painting themselves as fair-practice heroes standing against the evils of the industry, such as with videos like "Regional Ripoff" that they probably now regret making. The result is that when they changed one of their policies for business reasons, they were met with extremely heated accusations of betrayal, of sacrificing principle for profit, of being worse than Steam (because at least Steam never promised anything), and so on. I never saw anything GOG offered me as a matter of principle, but clearly a lot of people did.
I see, in which case you are right. GOG's repeated proclamations of their principles in the past did allow them to paint themselves as principled crusaders rather than businessmen who offered a service with attractive selling points, and indeed customers did feel fooled when shown different.

That being said, it is interesting that many of the people who have posted here have been positive about the turnaround and seem less concerned about that fact that the principle was broken in the first place (and, strictly speaking, remains broken, although much less so). This indicates that perhaps there are people who view GOG more as a simple business and much less as a 'movement' (for lack of a better term). This may indicate that GOG does have a bit more room to move, however they need to be more innovative in how they do it. As I have stated before, people want GOG to succeed, but to do so without breaking those key principles / selling points.
Post edited March 11, 2014 by Professor_Cake
Posted March 11, 2014
Nice! Great work!
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionGetting back to our roots(1418 posts)(1418 posts)
(1418 posts)