Could not have been an easy decision for you guys, but I'm gad GOG is sticking with the principles that made me their customer in the first place- ability to play single-player games offline, regardless of whether I have a connection, or if it happens to die for whatever reason while I'm playing the game.

As more and more games come pre-packaged with "live service" elements, I'm guessing it's gonna make GOG's job of keeping up with other storefronts and current releases without such self-imposed limitations more difficult; But there are plenty of devs out there making single-player only experiences that can always use more spotlight they'd get here, versus the absolutely massive marketplace that is Steam; And I can only hope this episode will help GOG to re-align its priorites to stick with the core values that brought us all here in the first place.

Good. Much as I wanted to shell out for Hitman 2016+, the DRM was exactly the sort of thing that kills games for me.

Probably the right call, at least for the time being. The Hitman situatioin churns up so many questions about DRM, online requirements, etc. that really merit sorting out first.

Absolutely! You're talking about games that you've made yourself, right?
If not, provide an official source (your relevant local law) to back up your statement.
You don't have to of course, you have the right to post fiction online.

While I agree with your opinion, I don't know if you're saying the above out of ignorance or if this spreading of false information is some form of activism.

Here's some reading material:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-circumvention

Here in Europe, these laws are rarely enforceable, because of privacy laws (when not-file-sharing).

--copy & paste of my post on the “Boycotting GOG 2021“--

Today's removal of "HITMAN - Game of The Year Edition" from the GOG store is one step on the right direction, but there are a bunch more left pending!

+Games that treat GOG customers as second class citizens
+Let's review the review system
+Games that need Galaxy for multiplayer and the ones that don't
+DRM-free multiplayer: list of games that actually are 100% DRM-free
+To CD Projekt Red - bring Witcher 3 and your other games to Linux please.
+The Unannounced Addition of Linux and macOS Versions Thread
+Quake Enhanced Update
+AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead And Undressed is a Steam-rip
+Piggybacking off Cyberpunk 2077
+What are your 3 biggest issues with GOG and how could they fix those issues?

Therefore my -boycott- stands (term used to encapsulate the lost trust, the lost appetite to recommend GOG to my people & to buy GOG games, terrible service, plus the bullets above among others)

I invite the rest of the GOGers reading this post to use their wallet power buying wisely, considering what/who/when/why you are financing with those purchases.

I am afraid I am not going to say thanks to GOG about the HITMAN removal because it's their job (duty). Seems to me GOG employees are spoiled enough of the diligent treatment from its customers no matter what.

I don't forget GOG lied, GOG has been lying, and GOG even continue lying!
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/special_event_bscummvm_20th_anniversaryb_90695

So, there is MUCH MORE GOG needs to Fix/Improve/Implement to retrieve my trust and my money.

More than regretting the purchase of games due my boycott, the most I regret is the full interaction with the GOGers community.

Despite the actions/thoughts every GOGer has to keep the -DRM Free- strong and if we agree or not on them: Thanks everyone! There is hope while we have a strong GOGers community!

Thank you, for ultimatively standing by your MOTTO of FCK DRM. Regarding this release it was the
right decision. Hitman hides way to much behind a online connection.

If IO Interactive ever decides to make said content offline too, i would be glad to see Hitman coming
back to GoG. Thank you as well, for listen to your customers here, who are on GoG for the DRM free
games.

Good decision from Gog, nice to see that in this case at least they listened to the backlash from the community.

Instead of everyone else here, I want to thank not GOG, but all of you from the loud minority. WE have achieved what GOG has so miserably ignored and failed to communucate to their partners and publishers. Namely, to make everyone aware again what makes this site so unique and that DRM should have no place here.
Thank you!

Have you ever had a job? At a big company? For all we know, the fine people at IOI have just had a meeting about whether they should have a meeting to discuss the possibility of re-reviewing their policy regarding this subject.

Took them a weirdly long time to make what should have been a very straightforward decision but they got there and I commend them for that. As I said previously on this thread (and you can guess from my avatar) Hitman is one of my favorite franchises ever but if I can't get it DRM-free then what's the point of buying this only to see them shut down the servers in a few years. If IOI can't patch it now then they won't patch it when they take the servers down either. I want to be playing these games still in my retirement days.

A little late but I can appreciate that you are trying to correct the problem and the apologies for this release. I also appreciate that you finally removed hitman from the gog catalog.

I'll wait and see in the next months if you can go back to be costumers friendly and if you can show that you actually care I will stop my boycott.

I will not do it tomorrow because you took your time and I want to see if you really are back or it's just a fake pr thing (I was about to give up on the gog store, 2 days ago, I'm here only because I cannot give up even when I say I will).

Know that hitman was only the last drop, there are many things that you tried to push that lowered the trust of your customers so you will still be on the watch even if and when I stop boycotting GOG.

I wish this is the last time gog disappoint me, the only reason why I say this is because I really care about a 100% drm free store.

Sure! Have you?

IOI has 200 employees, they're not exactly Alphabet, If they have bureaucratic problems now(i doubt that) one would shudder at the thought of what will happen to them with the planned expansion to 400 for the Bond trilogy.

Kudos on GOG, for doing the right thing: sticking by the DRM-FREE principle for single-player content.

The reason I would buy an old game here (other than it's say on sale or cheap, if it beats other stores, bundles, etc) is to get the game without any DRM around it.

It does sadden me to see Hitman 1: GOTY (2016 Reboot) get removed, as it's a great game.

On another hand, not sad - b/c off course this great game shouild've been re-worked to work offline in full - yep, disguises, unlocks, and all of that good SP-style stuff - in the first place, all ready to go to GOG in the 1st place.

I really hope to see Hitman 1 GOTY come back - and the rest of the New Hitman Trilogy - come to GOG, all working offline in full.

With so many stores - i.e. Epic, GOG, Steam, Uplay, Origin, etc - it must be a pain, having to re-work games to use other stores' proprietary stuff. And likely, as dev's and pub's keep leaning more & more into say stuff like that, like Steamworks features, Epic Store features, GOG Galaxy features, etc - the more dev's and pub's will have to re-work their game.

Dev's doing single-player stuff - they really need to re-think their strategy here. They need to have offline game profiles, offline Achievement systems, local saves, and all of that good stuff we used to have way before Steam began a thing - yep, all have that all built into their engines and also in their game from the ground-up level, from the jump - that way that version's backed-up, preserved, and ready to go, as their base to revamp from, so that this game can work offline period in full. This way, the game can always function in that matter, whether say Steam, GOG, or any other stores are dead, numerous years down the road - and this version would be a prime candidate to release on GOG, the DRM-FREE Store.

Once they have that base to work from - then when they are ready to make a separate Steam-version, separate GOG version, etc etc - then they can go from there. That way then, if they want to re-work or want to re-work a game for Steamworks, UPlay, Galaxy, whatever, and/or some other middleware or game-service - then they can do so.

EDIT - If GOG can convince IOI to make offline-working versions of Hitman 1,2,3 and get that sold on this store - yeah, that'd be great. I would love to see more companies follow suit, too. I'd really love to see say offline versions of Diablo 3 and even say The Secret World / Secret World Legends.

I mean, heck; there's gonna be a Dragon Warrior X Offline Edition, right? That'd be perfect to get a PC version and port over on GOG, as long as it truly sticks the offline part and is re-worked to work offline.

WOW. Honestly, I did not expect this outcome. You have made the right decision, and and I am no longer boycotting the store. Good job GOG team. Thanks for listening to our voice.