Talking about official GOG mass giveaways like Shadow Warrior 2 earlier, and Full Throttle Remastered right now.

What kind of arrangement does GOG make with the publishers in this case? I have a hard time imagining that GOG paid the normal cost for these out of their own pocket, but I also don't see what would be in it for the publishers to give away thousands of copies for free. Does GOG pay the publishers a reduced cost price for every copy given away? Or is there some other kind of arrangement?

Good question.

Even if I don't really care... :)

I don't know, but for instance Full Throttle Remastered was bundled just recently, so those copies are being sold for few cents now on all key reseller sites. It might be a tactical move from DoubleFine's part to give it for free now in order to make that reseller market practically speaking worthless.

Also, I guessed that Full Throttle Remastered was going to be the free game, based on that bundling, and I was right about that. So you can see certain patterns, if you study offerings and prices all over, not just GOG.

Beyond the Sun?

What pattern would explain Shadow Warrior 2? There's no Shadow Warrior 3 on the horizon, so how would it have been in DevolverDigital's interest to give SW2 away, even with a greatly reduced price? What is the value of this exposure to them in this instance?

The thing with Devolver's and GOG's relationship is [secret/censored].

I think I have recieved every Shadow Warrior game in a mass giveaway or another. It is kind of absurd.

When Mama Freebies and Papa Freebies love each other very much...

They are gifts from the GOGBear gods!

Don't listen to them,Santa Claus where else?

I don't play Shadow Warrior, so I don't know, but are you so sure about that ? A successful game is never going to have a sequel ? The dev or devolver aren't ever going to make another FPS ?
Please.
This is a good way to build a brand and a following. If nobody plays your game, nobody wll buy the next one. There is always gain in exposure.

There has been no announcement about SW3, which means it's not on the horizon. It might be beyond the horizon somewhere, but my statement stands.

Came here to post this :)


Though seriously, I believe I asked this question before years ago and the general consensus was it depends on the situation.

Out and out freebies (like Full Throttle in this sale) are probably a deal with the devs that benefits both parties, if the devs are promoting something they might let GOG give them away completely or they might charge a small fee per game (let's face it, it doesn't cost anyone anything for these freebies so it's not like there are expenses to cover). Because of the (presumable) bulk involved even if GOG only gives them £0.20 a game they might still make quite a bit.

For the ones you earn by buying I imagine GOG negotiates a discount price same as if they were going on sale and then pays the dev this for each one given away (again, unless the devs are particularly interested in the exposure gained, which won't be as much in these cases, then they might give them a further discount).
If the devs are willing to sell their game at 70% - 80% off then once you also remove GOG's cut you're looking at between 14% and 21% of the original price.
In the case of Everspace that would be around £4.83 or less per game.
Now GOG should make about £3.54 for each £11.79 spent, but most people will probably spend more than £11.79 and it will only really be the bare minimum who just spend enough to unlock Everspace.
Fantasy General is a different story as GOG owns it, so they can give that away as much as they want, so the total cost for each copy of Everspace might be anywhere between nothing and £1, which means they may not make any profit on people who only spend £11.79 in the sale and only start making profit after that point.

But considering GOG's game is still to build a user base then taking a hit to get more people owning games and buying games here is worth it. And that's assuming they haven't negotiated an even better deal so they are still making some profit (which I would imagine they have)

And I wil bring back your statement when the time comes.

When the time comes, it might appear on the horizon. Right now though, the horizon has no SW3.