Ancient-Red-Dragon: GOG's current status reminds me of situations like restaurants that no one attends any more because the owners did some bad things to alienate & repel their customers.
Sometimes what happens in those cases, is that those restaurants have all of their managers replaced, and then they put up a sign in the window that says "Under New Management," and offer some deals to entice back their former customers who no longer patronize their business any more.
This strategy can actually work to reverse the fortunes of a failing business.
When the management is replaced, usually the public are willing to give the company a second chance, so long as the new managers take it in a different direction and do not repeat the sins of the former managers who had driven them away.
IMO, GOG should utilize this exact same strategy.
That might be the only way to turn things around, and make GOG profitable again, and thus hopefully to ensure that GOG will be around in the long-term future.
I'm not just making this thread solely & exclusively because of the Hitman GOTY debacle (although that's definitely a big one!), but rather, also because GOG has had an endless series of habitual & frequent debacles over the last few years.
Short of GOG replacing the management, I don't think there is any way to restore GOG's reputation back to having the good status that it once held many years ago.
What do you think of these ideas?
A great idea in theory maybe.
And it might even work if they could fool us enough.
But in reality, we would not want to risk new ownership ... as new management implies.
I kind of feel we are safe with GOG, so long as the original, presumably altruistic, people still run the show. Safe as can be expected anyway in this volatile world.
In reality, GOG only need to declare a specific and acceptable direction, backing that up with action, to win many back. An apology and some excuses would also help greatly. The important thing, is that they see the light and admit to the error of their recent ways.
We are not privy to all the ins and outs, all the facts etc, nor are we big business managers.
GOG could well and truly be between a Rock and a Hard Place, and some compromise is inevitable for survival.
Generally, customers, especially old ones, don't like change, don't accept compromise is necessary ... which is due to their vested interest and fears chiefly ... and some would say bias.
GOG I imagine have a plan and a long term goal. Generally they involve bumps along the road, and unhappiness for some. What the end game will be, and whether we like it is pretty open right now. Many cannot tolerate the thought of DRM at GOG (or more as some would say), but at some point we may need to consider what is better ... a store with a mix of DRM and DRM-Free, or no GOG store at all.
Of course, if GOG were to just turn into another Humble Store, then who would want that. So GOG would still need to be primary as far as DRM-Free is concerned.
I think it is beyond possibility now for GOG to downsize and survive. GOG need clout to ensure their ongoing future. So long as GOG keep selling great DRM-Free games, customers will keep coming, even if DRM ones are also in the mix ... so long as they clearly differentiate between the two.
It would be a sad day if DRM is openly supported here, but perhaps better than losing the DRM-Free portion of GOG altogether.