adamhm: Agreed. Something people fail to consider is that the vast majority of big titles are now ending up tied into Steam, which will greatly reduce the probability of them ever seeing a (legitimate) DRM-free release - or if they do eventually get a DRM-free release then they will most likely be missing features, such as multiplayer.

Steam already has something like 80% of digital sales, with the rest mostly being Steam key sellers... and that's all with both regional pricing and DRM. So it'll be hard enough for GOG to convince the developers/publishers of big titles to release them here even with regional pricing; but demanding worldwide pricing as well as DRM-free? Not gonna happen, unfortunately :/

Khadgar42: Good job gog!

We all know you won't satisfy everyone at once but at least now you can blame us conservative "one-world - one-price" fetishists that you can't get a hold on even MOAR DRM-Free games.

I can see in the comments; it is already beginning to work...

"oooh my god, I won't be able to get more games of some unknown super publisher just because gog staid true to their core-principles and listened to the boycotters"

I don't mind really, they can blame me all they want for their missing game-opportunities.
They didn't care about regional Pricing, I don't care about their wish to get obscure game x from demented publisher y who only cooperates with gog if there will be regional pricing.

Simply put:

I vote with my wallet and I was already set to stop buying from gog the moment my prices changed to €uro.
But since that won't happen anytime soon now I'm going to celebrate and order one game from my wishlist, not that I have time to play it, or the download bandwith at the moment but as a loyal customer I show the most loyal support possible and will buy something.

What the Heck, I think I want to buy the Red Baron pack. Perfectly fits the occasion, don't you think?

GOG.com: 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

Garran: ...reasonable way to deal with the issue, since in many cases the developers/publishers simply CAN'T agree to non-regional pricing right now.

IAmSinistar: But I know nothing placates these "where are the games" grousers.

IAmSinistar: Land's sakes, you can't please all of the people all of time. Especially the ones who post.

For everyone who thinks this adjustment on GOG's part is going to slam down the gate on getting more games released, please sober up. They've made it clear there will still be exceptional cases, only that they are going to try to fight harder for their stated principles in those negotiations. This beats the hell out of preemptively rolling over and saying "please don't kick my stomach TOO hard", which was their previous new stance in attempting to woo the most assholish publishers.

But I know nothing placates these "where are the games" grousers. GOG released three titles today (well, two and preorder), and yet still you find the tired old song of doom being wailed. The same you can also hear every Tuesday and Thursday, like the morning call to despair. Even when post after post points out "GOG has released X classic games this year, Z more than last year", you still see the sandwich-board prophets declaring "The End Is Nigh!".

GOG has made a mature decision and a complex compromise that is the best under the circumstances. Let's let it run for more than 24 hours before we decide "I will get no more games forever".

(Apology to Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce for that last bit.)

jase23: ...I agree with your previous position of prioritizing the addition of DRM-free games to your catalog, and not worrying about the price being exactly the same in every country. If you are in Denmark or Germany and you get a great price on an excellent DRM-free game from GOG, better than the price you could get anywhere else, then why should you care whether or not someone in the USA gets a slightly lower price on the same game? ...

JohnnyDollar: ...It doesn't sound like a total reversal, more of an alteration. ...

WhiteElk: It is very simple: GOGs sales have impacted the existence of DRM on new games. This only occurred because GOG began selling new games. People speak of founding principles, well GOG used to mean Good OLD Games - it was in their freaking name! People whined hard when GOG began selling new games. But had GOG not adjusted, then a number of new games would not have been DRM free. And GOG itself would not have grown as rapidly as it did.

GOG and its customers have NO influence over regional pricing. We do however have influence over DRM. The selling of regional priced games would have added yet more influence for GOG, and would have allowed greater growth, thereby affecting DRM to yet even a greater degree. Instead, we limit GOGs growth, reduce our potential for DRM change, and truly threaten GOGs continued relevance in the DDS market.

HereForTheBeer: All I know is this:

- anyone who said they were jumping ship for the previous announcement had best be shouting from the heavens to all far and wide about how great this place is.

- I don't want to hear a single friggin' gripe in the future about the slow release pace of DRM-free classic and new games. gOg tried to address that and the community squawked, so don't be surprised if it's the same-ol' same-ol' for the growth of the catalog: two or three games per week.

- I also don't want any gripes if the released new games are almost all either A) indie platformers, or B) indie adventures. Again, gOg tried to address that.

Thoric: This is great. Thank you.

The store credit you gave with TW2 certainly made it easier to swallow the price difference. Maybe if we're lucky this will become a more common practice.