How can you agree yet not acknowledge that there is a difference here? We don't know for sure that Red Candle even tried to approach Steam for a re-release.

It's not the same thing, though. In Steam, the developer pulled out from the platform. In GOG, the platform didn't allow them in. This makes Steam even better in this regard. Plus, there's also the way in which they did it, which was an insult to the intelligence of everyone out there. GOG also stands the least to gain from the Chinese market, as their entire library is DRM-less.

Your first point is really the greatest, but do understand that this isn't an isolated incident. There are internal meetings about the working conditions by CD Projekt RED employess and their concerns regarding the Cyberpunk 2077 release and the facts that Cyberpunk 2077 has had to be pulled out from the Playstation platform and its refunds have had to be fasttracked that hint that these hints are not isolated, but directly correspond to an increasing disregard by the board of directors for its company's reputation and commitments. This isn't boding well for GOG.

And you don’t think they did approach Steam? Why wouldn’t they approach the biggest storefront for a rerelease? If you believe that you’re naive.

You can make assumptions all you want, but at the end of the day, we don't know. Maybe Steam has a clause that games removed by devs can't be brought back, maybe Red Candle still felt bad about the initial controversy and didn't want to potentially implicate Steam again, we don't know. So you can call me naive all you like, but all you have on your side is speculation and assumptions.

Equally you assume that they’ve not made an attempt to get it listed back so we’re going round in circles here. I disagree with the point that the situation is different, it is not and I cannot believe for a single minute that the devs haven’t attempted to get the game listed anywhere else.

Yes, the way GoG handled it was appalling, but this is indicative of a much wider problem than GoG alone and if you’re all going to get the pitchforks out here then the same rules apply elsewhere.

They wouldn't have had to. If you have an army of trolls and resources behind an attempt to suppress a small developer, there are plenty of ways you can force a developer to pull out out of a platform without having to get the platform to do it for them, like charge backs and review bombings. Red Candle pulled out Devotion so they wouldn't have to pull out entirely, including their renown Detention. GOG doesn't even have Detention.

I'm basing my "assumptions" on what has been officially announced - which is that it was coming back to GOG, that's it. What are you basing yours on, exactly?

they just elected the usa prez so that much at least :D

I think you miss my point here. The way the forum is talking and behaving is that GoG is a pantomime villain here and are the only ones to refuse to put the game up. This is indicative of a MUCH wider problem of which GoG is only a small part of.

So what, we should just not complain when this kind of thing happens just because it has happened elsewhere before? Just let it all slide?

Look, I see your point - GOG aren't the only ones doing this kind of thing, but we are talking about Devotion specifically here. Please try to see *my* point, that the reason GOG are copping the complaints in this instance is that they agreed to bring it back in the first place and then changed their minds.

I agree, like I said the way they dealt with it was shocking. The complaints are completely valid. I just also believe that other companies are implicit in the same behaviour, including Steam.

In general, yes, absolutely. In this instance, specifically? Not quite... But I think we're more or less on the same page regarding it all.

This whole boycott steam vs boycott gog is a false dichotomy that smells more like projection to me than anything. I haven't purchased anything on steam in years. My last non-gog purchase was on Sony, but how else am i going to get games for a device i got for christmas a few years back? Even then, there's work on de-DRMing those things. Prior to that was itch.io. And before that was some other DRM-free platform i forget the name of, since it only had 1 game i wanted and wasn't updating it's catalogue. Before that it was steam.

I don't know why we have to go through this false dichotomy in every damn thread.

Unfortunately for you, hardware being made in China gives them the power to force their censorship laws on the world.