and that releasing a game on GOG will eat into developer's profit.

Here's an example:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/720560/discussions/0/2971771480507750808/

In reality, nothing can be further from the truth.

Here's an example:

There's a game called Kingdom Rush Vengeance which previous installments of were released here and on steam. But KRV is still not released on GOG. I don't know the reason for why it's still not here, but I do know that developers of these games work on multiple projects at once, so perhaps KRV release on GOG is not of the highest priority for them at the moment. Happens.

While doing some "research" I've stumbled upon KRV being pirated on one of the torrent sites. And when I checked the details of that torrent? Boom. Steam files. And within a month of that game being originally released on steam.

So while this misconception is completely false, I do believe that it might be doing some serious harm to this platform in terms of new indie games never being released for the fear of "losing money".

I think most games put DRM on it on those stores allowing DRM, just to try to do a few things to stop Pre-Release Piracy and/or Day 0 Piracy. These are often when games are at their priciest - i.e. $60-70 for regular edition; and maybe $90-120 for a Deluxe Edition w/ planned DLC Access - so...they slap DRM on those versions, of course.

They don't release games on GOG on Day 0 probably b/c....they want their $60-120 game versions protected; and to make some $. If a DRM-FREE version is purchased from GOG and you got the files - well, then it's probably easy enough for someone to put that up on a pirate web-site; and easy enough for Joe Smoe to go find it and download it from pirating website.

The thing is: games get updates. Keep updating them, dev's and/or pub's. So, if a game's getting constant updates on Steam, GOG, or whatever service - well, that would mean pirating places should or need to update their game. If a game is getting an insane amount of updates, that'd be really a pain for pirating places to probably try and keep up w/ this patching/updating; and have to keep checking file integrity.

This also isn't there old days. Back then, often dev's put patches on their own website or they were online on FileShack, for gamers to grab them. Not anymore. Most patches these days, you're going to have to get from Steam by owning the game...or whatever digital service you're using.

Also, then there's DLC or expansions. Often, base-games get cheap and/or then DLC's remain at a Premium...to get players to buy cheap or wait for sales on what they need. So, again - if there's updates constantly and/or DLC's getting released - well, then the pirate version is probably...going to be out of date and need to get updated AGAIN.

I also sometimes wonder...if dev's might just wait to release a Complete Edition later on GOG, once they are done w/ packaging and updating a game. And they might even wait until the game's dirt cheap on Steam or other stores allowing DRM in sales, before bringing it to GOG.

I also think that we here on GOG are a small blip on the PC Gaming radar for digital distribution sales. GOG just doesn't do the amount of sales, units sold, and whatnot, when comparing it to Steam and all. Steam owns this digital distribution PC market, for better and/or worse...no matter how we feel about Steam.

Yeah, lack of DRM doesn't equal more piracy. People who are going to pirate, will always just pirate regardless, and DRM in 99.9% of all cases only hurts the legit consumer, because the crackers make sure the pirates aren't affected by whatever DRM is imposed on legit consumers.

It's idiotic at best.

If you're releasing on Steam and not going to pay the hefty cost for Denuvo than you might as well just release DRM free, because Steamworks DRM is always cracked with no issues at all. Any game from a known publisher that is using Steamworks only will be cracked and posted immediately. So in those many instances there's no reason to not release on GOG also.

Limiting the potential audience your software has is going to result in less sales than any potential loss because of piracy would. And again, might as well not even use DRM if you're using Steamworks only. These studios need to worry about things they can control, and that's making a good game that people want to support and buy.

I mean, the game with the biggest digital launch ever released DRM free on all PC stores. DRM is there for idiots and people who have no faith in their products. You get no real protection from it except a bit in Denuvo's case, and at the end of the day your customers hate you for it.

There's only one rule of thumb concerning piracy: Steam is more popular and has more games, naturally the games there are being more often pirated. GOG's games can be put on a torrent just as fast or faster, as with DRM it can take little longer (depends if the DRM system used has already been cracked or not).

In fact, if you look closely you'll see that there are plenty of GOG's games on the marked, only that they're shadowed by Steam and Epic releases from known (and unknown) cracker/release groups, regardless if they have DRM or not.

"Loosing money"? In fact, they're loosing more by not releasing on several platforms, and devs should be flattered by people wanting to pirate and promote their games. The whole "sharing-is-caring"-culture is like that, and no-one wants to share or talk about things that are (outside of memes that is). Games that aren't known/popular or are considered crappy are not pirated, it's as easy as that.

No one wants to bother with using time, bandwidth (limits) and space to such things, other than making fun of it. That will never happen, and it doesn't happen anyway. Updates are released on pirate sites almost just as quickly, again, more likely if the game is known/popular. Doesn't matter if the game gets constant updates or not.

Besides, most games are abandoned after a short while...

EDIT: In fact it is the opposite - constant releases of patches when using mods are a pain, and gamers are more likely to either turn off updates altogether, or use a cracked/pirated version.

In the cracking scene, people crack games both because of the challenge, and in regards with opposition to DRM.
Since DRM-free games have no challenge, and is already free of DRM, they're rarely included in torrents.

so all these drm-s do is slow down the games and let stores control the customers?

So a misconception is... false? Isn't that already part of the word? I'm missing the point of this all... Is this a "life isn't fair" kind of rant? Boredom because - COVID-sitting-at-home-all-day?
Some companies don't release on GOG because they think the effort isn't worth the profit, others out of primitive fear, or because of <insert reason>. /topic

My best guess: why doesn't a publisher remove DRM from a 5-10 year old game and/or release it on GOG?
- Cost/profit
- The DRM free version will compete against a possible DRM'ed future remaster.
- Control (or the feeling of)
- Old fashioned fear
- Microtransactions that make more money than the game itself

Something that surprises me: there are a few (popular) games that, since their release quite a few years ago, have never been cracked. Why is their DRM system not more wide-spread? (among the big publishers - I'm sure they know, but I'm not going to give them any ideas)

On the subject of "harming the platform"; I can imagine that it can happen when it's easier to get a pirated copy than to purchase it legally (by the 'average potential customer'). I think this is unrelated to the usage of DRM.
Actually, that's what's abandonware is all about. How many people are going to buy a game for 200$ second hand just because that's the only 'legal source'?

Several games, even that paid the high prices of DENUVO to protect their games where pirated even days before the official release, if there are developers that think that DRM means no piracy they are so wrong.

Yes and no. "Respected" (like in "honour among thieves") release groups only release cracked games, not games that were DRM-free in the first place. From days past I know how the scene works. DRM-free is their own justification (for the release groups), for the crackers it's sports. It's its own culture and ecosystem. The actual crackers look down upon the releaser, because of course they do the actual work. The release groups are needed by the crackers to prove their merit though. Sometimes both are closely intertwined, like two sides of the same coin, sometimes they are really separate entities in a kind of "business relation".

Nevertheless DRM-free games (and there mostly GOG games, because quality) are uploaded and "released" anyway. For some less reputable RG it's all about quantity and "being first" (which makes day-1-GOG releases a problem for some).

I think the original mission statement of CD Projekt - when they started selling official, lovingly translated and packaged copies of Baldur's Gate in piracy-infested Poland - and made money - is still true: "Provide a better service".
Most people are willing to pay (within reason) for games, and those who aren't won't be your customers anyway, even if you could prevent piracy completely. But you have to create and keep up an awareness.

For me that moment came when the Razor 1911 crack intro of Pinball Fantasies (Amiga) said "But remember: A game worth playing is a game worth buying". Where I had grown up, simply getting copies of games was the norm, and I had never questioned that in any way. It had never occured to me that games should be bought, that people made a living on them and needed to get paid.
So yeah, a crack intro was actually an eye-opener for me, and I acted accordingly. The games industry should give Razor 1911 a badge for that, because ever since I've spent thousands (Marks and later Euros) on games. And I doubt I'm the only one in the world.

DRM purpose is to enforce vendor lock-in.
It has nothing to do with preventing piracy.

Everything should be questioned, especially "the norm". ;-)

True. But the challenge is to detect that in the first place. We're so stuck in our daily routines and rarely question them...
That's a big part of it nowadays. Back in the day it was really about "you can't copy that disk".
Today the surveillance data from the clients is probably the driving thing.

Played HuniePop -> probably single...

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