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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 12, 2014
I don't think I have ever witnessed a company in this business actually changing a decision due to customer feedback. Usually, it just makes them feel like apologizing and explaining why it's too late and they have to do it anyway.

Having an open ear and honouring customers' wishes – it sounds like the most logical thing for good business. But the concept seems to have gone way out of fashion. Above all else, that's what I think will keep GOG around for a long time (and have them take over the world of games). Customers that feel like they've been taken serious and treated respectfully, are customers that will come back again and again.

And it induces the urge to recommend the company to all one's friends. Personal recommendations are powerful. I will tell everyone: GOG decided to change their principles, and people didn't like it, so they listened and reverted their decision. No one will believe me.
Posted March 12, 2014
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undef: Hi, I love GOG and I'm really fond of the service GOG provides.
However there is one little issue I can't wrap my head around.
Why don't you offer Linux versions of the games that have a natively running Linux version?
This is actually the one point were the humble store wins out in some cases, it's just nicer to have the flexibility to run the game on my Linux laptop as well, especially when I'm not at home with my windows computer.
There have already been some cases where I would have bought a game on GOG if the Linux version would have been available (e.g. Democracy 3, FTL).
Linux you say ... hmmm ... let us chew on this ... ;)
Posted March 12, 2014
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Cavalary: Hm, was rather expecting this thread to remain even more active than I'm seeing now. But yeah, that math missed how VAT actually works. Not that I claim to know the specifics, but by what I remember I think they'd be $2 in the black at 20% VAT, and 85 cents at 27%? This has probably been gone over a lot since those posts, but only checked the blues and these last few now...

Either way, I'm glad the choice about local pricing was clarified and it's the way it should be, or near enough at least. That counts for a whole lot.

About the other issue, it is definitely wrong for GOG to foot the bill in full and allow publishers to go on as if nothing happened, but should at least work as incentive to persuade them to stay well away from any other such contracts in the future. (I will only consider the compensation as properly "counting" when it'll be in exact store credit instead of codes though.) Now if they could work with said publishers to at least split these costs, it'd make for added incentive for the publishers to drop them as well, seeing as their profits per sale would be lower but the number of sales would still get the full negative effect of the higher price.
The fact that it is costing them money is a strong incentive to push for flat pricing agreements or at least agreements that may start under the regional pricing model but move to flat pricing sooner than later.

I doubt that any publisher/ developer would be wiling to share the burden that GOG introduced (I'd be very surprised at the very least), but I think that they're not going to object in GOG doing it, if Gamersgate and their blue coins program is anything to go by - I know it's not exactly the same, but it's at least some sort of precedent.

Though I do understand the whys and hows of the compromise GOG made, my major issue is that it leaves us as customers in a rather tight spot while probably sending the wrong message (not sure if the model itself and the messages it conveys can be used as a negotiation point to reach a flat pricing agreement). As you said, it changes nth for publishers/ developers, so if we buy these games we effectively support regional pricing (from their point of view) while causing GOG to operate mostly in the "break even" level; OTOH, if we don't buy them at all, we still hurt GOG, probably even more, as that would colour them as inviable and thus not worth bothering with, which in turn would lead to their growth to stagnate.

I guess we'll just have to see how things pan out.
Posted March 12, 2014
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undef: Hi, I love GOG and I'm really fond of the service GOG provides.
However there is one little issue I can't wrap my head around.
Why don't you offer Linux versions of the games that have a natively running Linux version?
This is actually the one point were the humble store wins out in some cases, it's just nicer to have the flexibility to run the game on my Linux laptop as well, especially when I'm not at home with my windows computer.
There have already been some cases where I would have bought a game on GOG if the Linux version would have been available (e.g. Democracy 3, FTL).
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iWi: Linux you say ... hmmm ... let us chew on this ... ;)
Please stop teasing us! Just tell us how it is!
Posted March 12, 2014
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HypersomniacLive: I doubt that any publisher/ developer would be wiling to share the burden that GOG introduced (I'd be very surprised at the very least)
Highly unlikely. The game developers have development costs to recoup. For GOG it's simply a matter of selling the game for their 30%

Even at T's old example of a $2 loss for Regionally priced sales, it's extremely likely they wouldn't be making profit off the game. Steam's latest Dev video showed theirs sales are 41% US, 40% EU. Any US sale would give GOG at least $10 so they'd have to sell 5 EU copies to lose that again. It's extremely unlikely they'll sell 5x more regionally priced versus the rest, so in the end, they'll make a profit off offering the game.

On top of that they make a good impression, and draw in customers who wanted those games.

If this was a bad thing for GOG, they wouldn't do it.
Post edited March 12, 2014 by Pheace
Posted March 12, 2014
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serpantino: This is a good step but it's a shame the physical meetup is in a Country where this issue was irrelevant.
This is the first one and its because we are over in US for GDC. The next one will be in Europe.
Posted March 12, 2014
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undef: Hi, I love GOG and I'm really fond of the service GOG provides.
However there is one little issue I can't wrap my head around.
Why don't you offer Linux versions of the games that have a natively running Linux version?
This is actually the one point were the humble store wins out in some cases, it's just nicer to have the flexibility to run the game on my Linux laptop as well, especially when I'm not at home with my windows computer.
There have already been some cases where I would have bought a game on GOG if the Linux version would have been available (e.g. Democracy 3, FTL).
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iWi: Linux you say ... hmmm ... let us chew on this ... ;)
An enigmatic hint, from iWi!! :)
Posted March 12, 2014
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iWi: Linux you say ... hmmm ... let us chew on this ... ;)
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donsanderson: An enigmatic hint, from iWi!! :)
Do note that "enigmatic hints" were around long before TET arrived (they just weren't called such yet). If I'm not mistaken, Marcin was the one responsible back then.
Posted March 12, 2014
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donsanderson: An enigmatic hint, from iWi!! :)
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Maighstir: Do note that "enigmatic hints" were around long before TET arrived (they just weren't called such yet). If I'm not mistaken, Marcin was the one responsible back then.
Yeah but you've been around since the dinosaurs roamed the earth! ;)
This is big news to us relative noobs.
Posted March 12, 2014
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iWi: Linux you say ... hmmm ... let us chew on this ... ;)
To be like the Li-nux. To feel like the Li-nux. Why is this not part of the plan?
Post edited March 12, 2014 by IAmSinistar
Posted March 12, 2014
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saberwolfxm: Ok, I'm confused. Have you gone back to worldwide pricing or not? At the beginning you said that you would work for a one world price and if that failed and you had to do regional pricing you would give the difference in credit. Then at the end you said we might miss out on some games and publishers. If you willing to cover the difference why would some publishers not work with you?
It is always the content owner's choice if they want to have the game up on GOG.com or not. With the fair price package we pay it out of our own pocket, but I imagine, that some companies out there might not like it due to possible complains/risk from retailers in EU or Australia. Is this risk real? I do not think so, as again - we pay the difference ourselves, but ... the fear of possible problems is quite often what decides.
Anyway, we will be fighting hard to get all good DRM-free games up on GOG.com and I want to have them day1. We just wanted to make sure, that we clearly mention the possibility of not getting some games in future.
Posted March 12, 2014
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iWi: Linux you say ... hmmm ... let us chew on this ... ;)
Ye-ye-ye.. Maybe some day..
Posted March 12, 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.
We hear you and will be discussing this at GOG. We will hopefully come up with a plan and once we have it we will talk openly about it. For now I have to admit, that coming from Ukraine (or Russia) you will get a better deal for the new stuff elsewhere and yes, we should fix it and we will.
Posted March 12, 2014
Why didn't you write "Good News" here? (;

Thank you. Rather for listening to your community, than anything else.
Most times, it feels like decisions of big companies are written into stone, not changeable or only to change over a long period of time. You showed us that we, as people, have the power to change things. And this gave me more hope for lots of games coming DRM-free, than any game you could add to the store.

You once said somewhere, that it was all about making fans.
I can promise that you made at least one today. (;
Posted March 12, 2014
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HypersomniacLive: Though I do understand the whys and hows of the compromise GOG made, my major issue is that it leaves us as customers in a rather tight spot while probably sending the wrong message (not sure if the model itself and the messages it conveys can be used as a negotiation point to reach a flat pricing agreement). As you said, it changes nth for publishers/ developers, so if we buy these games we effectively support regional pricing (from their point of view) while causing GOG to operate mostly in the "break even" level; OTOH, if we don't buy them at all, we still hurt GOG, probably even more, as that would colour them as inviable and thus not worth bothering with, which in turn would lead to their growth to stagnate.

I guess we'll just have to see how things pan out.
Making the local pricing entirely optional and announcing that, even if not immediately, any price difference for regionally priced games will be returned in full in store credit, not only in codes, were enough steps for me to get off the warpath now, but that doesn't make any sort of regional pricing acceptable, so why exactly should the publishers who push it be supported by purchasing those games? They shouldn't be sold that way and, if they are, they shouldn't be here, so if GOG chooses to add them anyway it's entirely their problem. And excuse me but I certainly don't want to see any of their growth being due to said games, but only to those that stick to both principles. If it'll be severely limited because of that, so be it.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionGetting back to our roots(1418 posts)(1418 posts)
(1418 posts)