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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
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evilnancyreagan:
It's okay, I think GOG knows what's up; they'll be fine.

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anothername: But right now it is my assumtion that regional pricing did NOT helped in any way even remotly to get the big title games from their DRM loving publishers here.
This is what I am thinking.
Post edited March 11, 2014 by cmdr_flashheart
Posted March 11, 2014
A healthy middleground was what I hoped for.

Announcements like: The whole new SOUTHPARK - The stick of truth on gog.com. Next two-three (whatever it takes) months for regional pricing & then world flat pricing.

But right now it is my assumtion that regional pricing did NOT helped in any way even remotly to get the big title games from their DRM loving publishers here.
Posted March 11, 2014
In light of the recent announcement, I do wonder if buying these 'regionally priced but not' games from GOG will actually benefit GOG financially now. They may get a few new customers from elsewhere, but will these customers be loyal or spend on more profitable games? I'm not sure.

What I am sure of though is that this policy will benefit the one group that should be punished most; that is the publishers who insist on such poor pricing policies in the first place. GOG's greatly diminished profitability will be the publishers' gain through increased sales via more competitive pricing (as paid for by GOG). It doesn't even benefit customers in the long term; it simply makes regional pricing acceptable for publishers, and in addition it sets a dangerous precedent that DDs will pay the difference. This is not what I, and I suspect many others, want. As such, even with the recent announcement, I think the best way to support GOG is to NOT purchase these regionally priced titles, even with the store credit offer. The only beneficiaries are the publishers who enforce these regional price policies, and these companies are some of the last that should be supported by this site. This may sound idealistic, but I really don't see why GOG should be effectively paying for the poor business practice of its partners, even if it is a problem that they got themselves into.
Post edited March 11, 2014 by Professor_Cake
Posted March 11, 2014
low rated
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evilnancyreagan:
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cmdr_flashheart: It's okay, I think GOG knows what's up; they'll be fine.
tell that to my foot!
Posted March 11, 2014
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Senteria: Also you will get your new titles as GOG will still have regional prices and so you got the best of two worlds. This can only work to their benefit.
Not really, GOG would have to be selective because they can't take risk on games that there unsure of when it comes to sales. This is likely something that in the future will only be done for popular new games that GOG knows will sell well here. And as someone stated GOG is losing $10- $15 per copy in some regionally priced countries.

GOG only takes a 30% cut from the price... so if the game is $40 they would get about $12... then you take the $10 they have to give you for the gifts to make up for the regional prices they only make about $2 off the sale. Not a lot of profit when you think about the cost of hosting and other things.

(I do realize I'm using dollars to represent this as that is my local currency.)
Posted March 11, 2014
While I firmly believe the fact that they were willing to give up that moral of a fair worldwide price so easily is a very bad sign and it'll take a lot to earn that trust and goodwill back, I also want to say they're doing a good job of at least owning up to their faults and wanting to do right by anyone they're hurting with this.
Posted March 11, 2014
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haleisback: These are different people complaining now,i would preffer drm free games over region pricing (even if i was effected by it)
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BKGaming: Exactly, and to say that us in the US (or other countries with no regional pricing) shouldn't be upset by this is ridiculous. Yes regional prices suck, yes you shouldn't have to pay more for the same thing we get cheaper. I agree 100%. But the difference is you had a choice, if you didn't think the extra cost was worth that game you had the choice to not buy it. We now will all miss out on publishers who won't play game with GOG or GOG will obviously be a lot more picky now in the new games they bring here because they will be paying out of pocket.

This ISN'T a choice for us... it's something that was made rather we like it or not. Something we have zero control over. In a perfect world there would be no regional prices and every new game would come here new... but it's not a perfect world is it?

Some of us care more about preserving gaming with DRM free copies than the price we have to pay to get them.
This.

We badly need another one of the major publishers to come on board with their old games, which is why I really hope the change back doesn't hurt the chances of getting those old games that still have yet to show up.
Posted March 11, 2014
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CarrionCrow: Have to ask the question, not sure if someone else already has. If so, apologies for being redundant. If GOG is eating that much difference (up to 15 US dollars a sale in difference for countries with shitty region pricing rates), how much from each sale are they left with? i mean, hell, I know I'm a full-on scavenger, proven multiple times to be ready, willing and able to do stupid things (like stay up for 2 or 3 days at a time) just to get a good deal, but even with that I still want GOG to make some kind of appreciable amount for themselves to stay operational. That's a lot of margin to be losing with every single sale.

Additional - All right, fuck it. Have to be that guy, as well. If the people at GOG were half of what a fair few people wanted to start calling them as soon as they made a decision that was unpopular to some? They would have looked at people talking, all the back and forth, and told everyone who wasn't happy with it to piss off somewhere else, because that's how it was going to be regardless.

Sincerely hoping that I can see a video of GOG people in monk robes telling complainers to go fuck themselves if bitching starts up down the road about limits on new games acquisitions. Regional pricing sucks, to be sure. But like Senteria said, now it's GOG getting nailed for it. Those "greedy spineless utterly unprincipled liars", as some fuckwits were more than happy to refer to them as.
GOG takes a 30% cut from the price... so you would have to do the math... they would make a profit probably still but it would be very small.
Posted March 11, 2014
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SAS_Kiev_UA: I bought many games on Steam instead of GoG because of its regional prices.
It's sad that GoG will not have them.
Dude, have you checked the regional price for Ukraine? You guys are charged EURO prices! At least now you'll get two free games if you still decide to pre-order.
Posted March 11, 2014
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GOG.com: . . .
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.
. . .
There is something wrong here, either with Visa (which seems likely) or with the statement above. You make it sound like people in the US who play using a US credit card don't incur fees. I assure you that I do live in the US, use a US Visa credit card, and every single transaction with GOG incurs a "FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE". I have incurred an accumulated $0.51 worth of transaction fees so far in 2014, all from GOG transactions.

I had assumed that because I got this fee that GOG was a foreign (to the US) company, possibly in Canada, which would make sense.

Are you sure I shouldn't be getting the foreign transaction fee?

Would you like me to send a you a photocopy of a bank statement? The account number is mostly Xed out.

Is this Visa doing something wrong?

I do like the spirit of this which I interpret as GOG wanting to put more equity into globalization.

NOTE: I have talked to my credit card provider and my card can NOT be used for debit so this can't be some weird debit fee. Debit use requires me to setup and additional account which I do not want. Yes, it is weird.
Posted March 11, 2014
Hm, I'm wondering what caused this change of mind. I'm doubtful that the reason where complaints on the forum, no matter how many. Did a significant portion of the userbase boycott GOG altogether, because of the regional pricing policy change? Were the new pre-order titles not as successful as they expected them to be? Would be interesting to get some more insight into this, but I guess only the GOG officials have access to all the relevant data.

Personally I was indifferent about the new policy to begin with, so I can't say I'm ecstatic about this U-turn. In fact, it's kind of irritating, if this means we lost the chance to see certain games on here, DRM-free. Meh, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the future holds for GOG ( and its customers ).
Posted March 11, 2014
Thank fuck you guys listened, I can understand the reasons behind the plans you looked at implementing but the fact that it cause such an outrage was a clear sign. The fact that you have listened and although its a somewhat embarrassing U-turn for you guys I personally feel that it will help you in the long run,

It also gives you ammunition for future negotiations in a way. X developer wants regional pricing you can point to this and say well actually our customers will tell you where to shove it if that's the case. While it may limit the incoming modern games to GOG I can live with that, I would rather that the site kept its integrity and had to wait a little while to conclude a negotiation than the GOG name drop its pant bend over and have regional pricing rammed up its arse.
Posted March 11, 2014
high rated
After thinking about this for a few days I was willing to bite the bullet and sacrifice flat pricing for the sake of getting more and newer games into DRM-free sale. Now that won't happen, thanks to all the wannabe boycotters.

Most of you people have no problems buying games at places like Steam where you have extra unfair regional pricing (something GOG intended to avoid if possible) and stinking DRM on top of that. But when GOG introduced regional pricing in order to strengthen the DRM-free aspect you suddenly acted like you had binding principles. You talk the talk, but do you also walk the walk?

This could've been the chance to get DRM-free AA(A) games from the last few years, or otherwise unattainable classics to your GOG shelfs. Perhaps you had to pay a little more than your neighbor, but it's still your choice to buy or not to buy. Now it won't "probably take longer" to get certain games here, it simply won't happen at all. Remember that, next time you complain about the indie-heavy catalog, or claim for Lucas Arts, Microsoft, The Elder Scrolls, Dead Space, etc. to make an appearance. But hey, no sweat. When shit hits the fan you can always head over to Steam, right?

To whom it may concern.
Posted March 11, 2014
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GOG.com: . . .
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.
. . .
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MrNybbles: There is something wrong here, either with Visa (which seems likely) or with the statement above. You make it sound like people in the US who play using a US credit card don't incur fees. I assure you that I do live in the US, use a US Visa credit card, and every single transaction with GOG incurs a "FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE". I have incurred an accumulated $0.51 worth of transaction fees so far in 2014, all from GOG transactions.

I had assumed that because I got this fee that GOG was a foreign (to the US) company, possibly in Canada, which would make sense.

Are you sure I shouldn't be getting the foreign transaction fee?

Would you like me to send a you a photocopy of a bank statement? The account number is mostly Xed out.

Is this Visa doing something wrong?

I do like the spirit of this which I interpret as GOG wanting to put more equity into globalization.

NOTE: I have talked to my credit card provider and my card can NOT be used for debit so this can't be some weird debit fee. Debit use requires me to setup and additional account which I do not want. Yes, it is weird.
I use debit via paypal (no account needed) and have never gotten an extra fee I don't think... that method works best I think... for me anyway. GOG is in Poland, so I assume they charge you because the money is going to Poland.
Post edited March 11, 2014 by BKGaming
Posted March 11, 2014
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Senteria: Also you will get your new titles as GOG will still have regional prices and so you got the best of two worlds. This can only work to their benefit.
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BKGaming: Not really, GOG would have to be selective because they can't take risk on games that there unsure of when it comes to sales. This is likely something that in the future will only be done for popular new games that GOG knows will sell well here. And as someone stated GOG is losing $10- $15 per copy in some regionally priced countries.

GOG only takes a 30% cut from the price... so if the game is $40 they would get about $12... then you take the $10 they have to give you for the gifts to make up for the regional prices they only make about $2 off the sale. Not a lot of profit when you think about the cost of hosting and other things.

(I do realize I'm using dollars to represent this as that is my local currency.)
And yet, there is still a big US market out there where they don't lose on anything. But I understand your point. Still, if GOG would lose a lot on it and this way of selling their games is not profitable, I don't think they would implement such a system in the first place?
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionGetting back to our roots(1418 posts)(1418 posts)
(1418 posts)