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General discussionRegional Locked Games on GOG(743 posts) (743 posts) 
(743 posts) 
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 26, 2015
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Garret02: Wait, there's something I don't understand. Exactly what kind of law would GoG be breaking by not selling these games in Germany/Australia? Online shops are only legally bounded by the laws of a country they servers are in, no? So unless the servers are in Germany or Australia, they can do all of jack shit to enforce GoG to region lock these games.
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EBToriginal: Basically, your understanding of the relevant law is about completely wrong. They could be sued by both the government and competitors. And the government could compel the banks to not allow transactions or even order them to claw back fines and penalties. Not to mention the risk of extradition in a particularly egregious case.
Probably unnecessary, since Poland is part of the EU, The german government, or even a german private party could very probably sucessfully sue them in Poland.

What I think most of all can agree on, is that the region locking is a necessary if unfortunate act on GOG's part to legally cover their asses, if they start catering explicitly to german consumers.

So the question should be if the potential market share they might gain from this is really worth the loss of freedom.
Posted February 26, 2015
Germany is a country that is still doing well financially speaking, There is a ton of German income that will flow in here and the lack of ability to buy a handful of the games here (three out of close to nine hundred) is pretty much the cost of doing buisness for GoG.
Posted February 26, 2015
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EBToriginal: Germany is a country that is still doing well financially speaking, There is a ton of German income that will flow in here and the lack of ability to buy a handful of the games here (three out of close to nine hundred) is pretty much the cost of doing buisness for GoG.
yeah, but then there are HumbleBundles and Steam-Sales... :)
Posted February 26, 2015
I kinda itch to say that "told ya". You open Pandora's box and the next thing you see is that every crappy thing is out.
Posted February 26, 2015
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j0ekerr: if they start catering explicitly to german consumers.
Which they shouldn't.
Posted February 26, 2015
Hmmm, pretty sad to see Commandos Regional-Locked...
...anyways, we have to fight these laws! They are the ones that have to be banned!
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j0ekerr: if they start catering explicitly to german consumers.
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Klumpen0815: Which they shouldn't.
That´s right, there is no real need for a translation of the side or even the installers---GOG uses such everyday-PC-English near to every PC user does know!
Post edited February 26, 2015 by RadonGOG
Posted February 26, 2015
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EBToriginal: Basically, your understanding of the relevant law is about completely wrong. They could be sued by both the government and competitors. And the government could compel the banks to not allow transactions or even order them to claw back fines and penalties. Not to mention the risk of extradition in a particularly egregious case.
I still don't understand which law they should use to sue GOG?

It's not forbidden to import banned games or to buy uncensored versions from foreign shops. Unless they are not located in Germany there is not much that could happen to GOG.
Posted February 26, 2015
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MaGo72: Well Germany did lose the war. We still have american air and army bases.
So do we. ;)

But seriously, I'm just pointing out that for a country beaten down by two World Wars, Germany sure is a powerhouse.


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jtsn: Just like with printed books (yes, those get banned, too).
But not burnt. So, progress!
Posted February 26, 2015
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blotunga: I kinda itch to say that "told ya". You open Pandora's box and the next thing you see is that every crappy thing is out.
Is there still hope inside? :(
Posted February 26, 2015
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CharlesGrey: Is there still hope inside? :(
Yes, but not available in all regions.
Posted February 26, 2015
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EBToriginal: Basically, your understanding of the relevant law is about completely wrong. They could be sued by both the government and competitors. And the government could compel the banks to not allow transactions or even order them to claw back fines and penalties. Not to mention the risk of extradition in a particularly egregious case.
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PaterAlf: I still don't understand which law they should use to sue GOG?

It's not forbidden to import banned games or to buy uncensored versions from foreign shops. Unless they are not located in Germany there is not much that could happen to GOG.
If you do a significant business or presence in a country, you are considered to be doing buisness there. Before e launch of the German language storefront gog could claim the sales were incidental. Now that they have a dedicated storefront their lawyers have advised them to do this or risk being sued. And gog isn't anywhere the size of steam and really probably couldn't absorb another suit right now.
Posted February 26, 2015
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Garret02: Wait, there's something I don't understand. Exactly what kind of law would GoG be breaking by not selling these games in Germany/Australia? Online shops are only legally bounded by the laws of a country they servers are in, no? So unless the servers are in Germany or Australia, they can do all of jack shit to enforce GoG to region lock these games.
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EBToriginal: Basically, your understanding of the relevant law is about completely wrong. They could be sued by both the government and competitors. And the government could compel the banks to not allow transactions or even order them to claw back fines and penalties. Not to mention the risk of extradition in a particularly egregious case.
What? I can sue everyone for everything I imagine but that doesn't mean I will get my way with it (in fact, I shouldn't get my way with it). Also, I can illegally download half of the copyrighted content in USA overnight and the worst it can do to me is to request extradition. You can't penalise subjects that are not under your area of jurisdiction without explicit consent of appropriate area of jurisdiction. Nobody can forbid an Australian to come to Poland and buy banned game. The funny thing is, unless something changed recently or I'm completely mistaken, this concept applies to online shops in Poland since in Polish law there is no such thing as an "online shop". Government couldn't be arsed to create laws for online shops so they work with laws for normal shops. (but like I said, I could be mistaken here)

I can give you banks forbidding transactions to gog and removing them from google search for countries in question, which would be bad but in an indirect way. I still don't see how they could do any direct damage.
Posted February 26, 2015
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CharlesGrey: Is there still hope inside? :(
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IAmSinistar: Yes, but not available in all regions.
And discounted only in Russia.
Posted February 26, 2015
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MaGo72: Well Germany did lose the war. We still have american air and army bases.
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IAmSinistar: So do we. ;)

But seriously, I'm just pointing out that for a country beaten down by two World Wars, Germany sure is a powerhouse.
Three's the charm?
Posted February 26, 2015
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EBToriginal: If you do a significant business or presence in a country, you are considered to be doing buisness there. Before e launch of the German language storefront gog could claim the sales were incidental. Now that they have a dedicated storefront their lawyers have advised them to do this or risk being sued. And gog isn't anywhere the size of steam and really probably couldn't absorb another suit right now.
Well if that's the case they should turn off the German version of the site immediately. Don't know why it should be neccessary anyway. About 90% of the Germans should understand enough English to have no problems with any English storefront.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRegional Locked Games on GOG(743 posts) (743 posts) 
(743 posts)