It seems like lately I'm seeing more and more games being released with a separate "deluxe" edition upgrade available which seems to be nothing more than the "extras" that are normally included to begin with. So what has brought this on? Is this going to be a new trend here on GOG to sell the extras at an additional price along side of the game itself? What are your thoughts?

It seems suspicious to me, or am I missing something? If it included extra gaming content I could possibly understand (like an expansion), but it's generally just things like artworks and soundtracks. Does selling this stuff separate have any effect on the original game pricing? Is every digital copy game shop doing this now?

Which games?

They're getting more and more day-one releases (and other still-very-recent titles), so it kinda makes sense (to me, at least) that they're having to sell the extras separately for these (or else not have them available at all). Musicians who make these game soundtracks (and the soundtrack does seem to usually be the focal bit of content in such cases) are probably not keen on the idea of giving a separate copy of their music away for free so soon after the game has come out. GOG still tries to have the extras as free bonuses included with purchase whenever possible, but it's probably a lot easier when the game's a decade old or more. =)

I presume it is more about the publishers wanting to charge extra for soundtracks etc., than GOG thinking it is a good idea.

I have no issue with it though, as I don't care for said extras. mp3 soundtracks, making-of videos and pdf cartoons, pfffffft! As long as I have all the gaming content in the base version, I am fine. If it costs less without that extra stuff, all the better. EDIT: Separate soundtracks I might find interesting (in case I liked the music in the game), but not enough to pay for them. I can live without.

Heck, I even threw the cardboard boxes of my retail PC games to trashbin in order to save space, only keeping the CDs and manuals. That's how much I care for the extra crap that isn't needed for playing the game.

It's a flat out money grabbing scheme by the devs and yes it's that simple.Been going on for years,and Gog and all distributors laugh all the way to the bank.

Its following Steam, what do you expect. Pre-orders, season passes, regional pricing, delux versions, "enhanced" versions of perfectly fine games, paid for mods (viking for M&B). This is the industry now.

Long story short, the deluxe edition with the added soundtrack and artwork is the normal one, the other is the stripped down for those of us who don't care about the soundtracks and do not want to pay that high a price, since it has nothing extra that we want. If you buy the soundtrack edition, the music artist also gets his cut for the work he did. If you buy the other one, music artist gets a smaller cut, if any.

Maybe, maybe not. The contracts for these are that the music for the sound track may be paid for at the time it is commissioned and the artists may not see extra for it. It depends on how the contract is structured.

Of course. Thus the "Long story short" part of it.

Fair enough.

*Pitchfork sharpening noise* Could have just given them to me :o)

An very old one, also known as "selling stuff".

Kardwill, who has to return to his own money grabbing scheme, known as "work" : I do stuff for my employer, and he throws money at me. Brilliant! I guess the artist will agree to be paid less if he/she gets extra afterward for those "complete editions". So it could still be seen as a way to have the base game for less.

Many of those artists sell these soundtracks on other sites like bandcamp. Paying extra to have them with the game makes sense.

Huniepop
Agarest : Generations of War
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

There's more, these are just some from the page after an "upgrade" search in the games, but those ones don't really come with any extra content other than the soundtrack or artwork.

Now ones like the Age of Wonders III upgrade I can understand since it apparently comes with an extra scenario. It's like an expansion pack at that point. I just happened to notice this when I decided to do a wide search vs just what is on my wishlist. I kept seeing these deluxe edition upgrades with no "real" upgrades to the game itself.

Either way, thanks for shedding some light on this. I guess if it is the artists wanting their cut, it saves the distributor money to sell it separate (preventing the artist to take a cut on everything) since some people don't really listen to the OST anyway. This way the artist only takes money from the OST sale itself since it literally has a price on it. I'm assuming anyways. I don't know.

Lately?

This has been going on for more than a year:
- Ether One Redux Deluxe Edition Upgrade [DLC] (March 25, 2014)
- Unrest Special Edition Upgrade [DLC] (July 23, 2014)
- Gods Will Be Watching: Special Edition Upgrade [DLC] (July 24, 2014)
- Shadowgate: Special Edition Upgrade [DLC] (September 16, 2014)
- Wasteland 2 Director's Cut Digital Deluxe Edition Upgrade [DLC] (September 19, 2014)
- Dreamfall Chapters - Special Edition Upgrade [Season Pass] [DLC] (October 22, 2014)
- etc. etc.

All in all, I'd say about 40 such DLCs (if you include soundtrack-only DLCs):
[url=http://www.an-ovel.com/cgi-bin/magog.cgi?ver=630&scp=d&dsp=ipgfsorlcmbaxyzXhDFGHT0512348&ord=j0&flt=fnm~0M~tds~white+march~tds~expansion~&opt=]http://www.an-ovel.com/cgi-bin/magog.cgi?ver=630&scp=d&dsp=ipgfsorlcmbaxyzXhDFGHT0512348&ord=j0&flt=fnm~0M~tds~white+march~tds~expansion~&opt=[/url]
or about 26 (if you don't):
[url=http://www.an-ovel.com/cgi-bin/magog.cgi?ver=630&scp=d&dsp=ipgfsorlcmbaxyzXhDFGHT0512348&ord=j0&flt=fnm~0M~tds~white+march~tds~expansion~tds~soundtrack~&opt=]http://www.an-ovel.com/cgi-bin/magog.cgi?ver=630&scp=d&dsp=ipgfsorlcmbaxyzXhDFGHT0512348&ord=j0&flt=fnm~0M~tds~white+march~tds~expansion~tds~soundtrack~&opt=[/url]