I don't see this. Duke was removed due to license reasons. And if censorship is an argument - even the old Interplay versions of Fallout were censored (missing the children).

The point is that the left hand isn't knowing what the right hand is doing. For stuff like pr0n (or indexed games) a working age verification system is legally required, but none of the existing passed the test (the requirements are absurd), because it was in some way possible to bypass. That doesn't revoke the legal requirement though. Germany is weird in this regard, Kafka would be proud.

The boutique approach started when they stopped being "Good Old Games", to not end up like that Steam-dump. Keep in mind that GOG not only sells these games, they also offer (pretty good) support for them. From all I heard support on Steam is notoriously bad when a game makes trouble. They simply don't (and can't with those masses) care.
Postal 2 is IMO a brilliant satire/parody of the "American Dream" or "American Way of Life". The first part might have been a bit "for controversial's sake" (with solid gameplay though), but it's a cult-classic nowadays, which Hatred is simply not and never will be. I would probably buy it out of curiosity, but I don't feel GOG has to sell this game or "censorship!!".

Some are very open minded and want to allow such, though, so not everyone is like that here. Also(again) it's not just S*Ws doing such.....but some of your points about people complaining about games they dislike is valid.

Perhaps

I still try to set a good example, regardless, like others stick to their guns even if it only brings them some inner comfort and peace of mind and not much else in some cases.

(Also sigh the trolls hit the thread here as well....but will staff punish them? Nope, because apparently it's ok for others to abuse our reps every single day here)

That is fine if you want to believe such, but if you cannot or choose not to see how the site has changed as to games accepted(more VNs and indies, and less lewd/un pc games) then I don't know what I can say that might convince you short of actual physical evidence.

Fact is, many games have been rejected over the years since around 4 or so years ago(give or take a bit of time) & that usually includes anything lewd/filled with un-pc elements or made by controversial(their held beliefs) devs......and more VNs/simulators/indie titles have been accepted in their place, and I don't believe the "niche" excuse fits every single rejected game or is the real reason behind such. Something stinks, for lack of a better phrase....there's too many "coincidences" and things not adding up in the official narrative.

If the legal requirement cannot be met they should change said requirements or they have basically put into effect a de facto ban on certain materials that cannot be lifted due to said requirements.

Yet they made Galaxy 1 and now 2 to emulate that "dump". They should choose a side....either try to be like steam or be unique from steam.

Tbh I wouldn't mind more games here...not as many as steam but also not as many rejections either.....it would also mean more money for Gog. I am guessing they could handle a few extra games added to the catalog.

It is still a game that tried to be edgy to sell units, same as hatred in some ways....it is just more liked by some. Also it was added before curations came about, whereas hatred was rejected AFTER. Yeah, that's anecdotal, but still......

As for whether it can be a classic, eh it depends on tastes....some things I dislike are classics or cult classics, and some things I like or not.....I still think the store should sell them and let the market/people decide.

And yes, it isn't full blown censorship, but it is denying people a product likely based on the whims of the curation team's likes and dislikes.....to me that is in a way at least soft pseudo censorship(for the DRM free people who will only buy on Gog/etc, at least).

I don't understand your sentence. Both Elminage GOTHIC and Elminage ORIGINAL are available on Steam. Only Elminage GOTHIC is on GOG. I doubt we will see Elminage ORIGINAL on GOG.

Please excuse me, I've misspelled the name of the game. The correct name is "Infinite Adventures®" by Stormseeker Games: https://store.steampowered.com/app/607820/Infinite_Adventures/

Thank you for this recommendation! I will have a look at this game.

It's not "fact". I fail to see any proof for that. There's only three games that are mentioned all over:
Hatred - by all who played it, simply not a good game
Agony - the first version a buggy mess and a bad game, the Unrated version probably hard to sell (borders on pr0n)
Grimoire - probably a fine game, but a notoriously difficult developer who lashes out at people (including business partners) on Twitter...

I wouldn't mind seeing those here, but GOG had reasons for not selling them, and I don't think "censorship" was one of them. They also rejected lot of other games which weren't controversial in any way.

They made Galaxy to provide less tech-savvy people with a more convenient way to install and update games. Esp. the Witcher 3 which came out and brought a lot of new customers who were used to this convenience from Steam. Those people would simply be overwhelmed by tracking, downloading and installing patches manually after release. They would never have come back to GOG again.

In their core - the catalogue - GOG is unique from Steam

Everybody wants more games here, not just ANY games (like Steam). For every game they choose to sell or reject it's a simple business decision for GOG. Sometimes they made bad decisions (both ways). And the standard-rejection "too niche" is, as we all know, in many cases just the polite version of "your game sucks and it'll sell here like soaked used underwear", or "your game is a buggy mess and we won't handle your support for you".

All this crying about censorship sounds to me pretty unfounded. Hell, CDPR got a lot of flak from the eternally offended for The Witcher (sexist, racist, homophobic...).

Because I want to buy this game (and other blobbers) on GOG, and NOT on Steam. I want to avoid Steam as much as possible. The only alternative to Steam is ... GOG! That whole curation thing is intransparent and annoys me. In the end, GOG doesn't get my money. Or was GOG converted to a welfare centre with no obligation to earn money? I don't know. Tell me.

Said game *has not been released yet*.

Why all the "downvotes"? Some bitter member using a script?

it would be kinda hilarious if a game being niche was grounds to rejection, considering that following this train of thought a whole lot of older titles they sell could be considered as a niche market to which they cater to regardless.
Postal 2 is really being its own thing, its one of those games that isnt meant to be taken seriously and its also holding a mirror in front of society as a whole pointing out and making fun of a lot of hypocritical stuff people do ie people who protest against violent video games start to storm down the ingame RWS office building armed to the teeth and so on and so forth.

Its really less about being edgy á la Hatred and more of making the game over-the-top nonsensical.
then convince gog to approve this game to be sold here

Wow, just...wow

whatever kool-aid they were drinking when deciding this, it must have been some strong stuff.


i wonder if its because of the anime graphic style

some are just very Japanese related so that kinda gives the impression what Cleve Blakemore suggests. just look up why he suggested his game was rejected by GOG it does seem to hold some truth when you see the games they rejected.

We can't be sure, but it seems more of an explanation than what GOG is giving us. They say they are ''curated store'' and don't want trash games while some here never get updated or are constantly missing content.

yep, so much about curated content and all that sweet PR talk of theirs

its so ironic

My mistake, I worded it a bad wrong. It should say "Fact is, some decent games have been rejected...."

Also there are a good number who like hatred, Agony(don't know much about it) could be fixed and there are also likely some who like it/it could be sold censored like Huniepop. As for Grimoire....who cares if the dev is a bit hard to work with? It's still a source of income for Gog, and rejecting it is like them saying they don't like money to some degree.

Big note: There are many more rejected games...there is even a THREAD that is several pages long DEDICATED to all the games Gog has turned down and the blanket replies given over the years.....it is usually near page 2 or 3 most times.

And I don't think the niche excuse flies either, fwiw. As for other rejections: They CAN reject for more than just that reason, you know.


And emulating steam to make sales is emulating steam to make sales and keep some customers.....so they still copied facets of that store to sell units.

I will give you the fact that Gog differs from steam in several ways, though...the site, that is, not galaxy(which is very similar to steam's client) for the most part.


I think many more games should come here, and that the curation stuff harms business due to lost profit more than it helps, as those that want such have to go elsewhere.

Also c'mon....they have some games here that sell very few copies and their devs are allowed to release more games here, yet games like the one in the Op(but not that one specifically, per se) are rejected that many express an interest in buying. It's like Gog wants to lose money by doing so.

CDPR and Gog are run independently from one another...they don't answer to each other and have different goals(or so an insider told someone who told me...make of it what you will).

And yes, it might be unfounded, but i've seen too many things supporting that idea over the months since I returned and even in the recent past...as I said it just doesn't add up(the official story) and the censorship(as a partial reason for rejections) seems more plausible when you factor such in.

Could I be wrong? Possibly. What I DO know, though, is that Gog rejecting so many games to make itself unique from steam is losing them potential sales while they add more games that sell to only a "niche" market.

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Quite likely, or someone doing it manually. Me and many replies to me have been getting hit lately with downvotes in mass waves every day.

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To me it is still being edgy albeit a different kind of edge, and to sell copies...just like Hatred. To sell one and not the other stinks to high heaven & I don't trust the too niche excuse for a minute.

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He might be partially right.....look at the games released like cooking/burgler sims, pc building sims, Indie niche titles(the very niche ones I mean), and look at the games rejected.....classical RPGs/edgy games/games with too much lewd content/etc.

Nowhere did XSEED say this game was rejected for being "too niche", but you keep spreading this misinformation about any number of games. The only thing said was "Wizardry did not meet store requirements". That's it. Instead you keep spreading this false narrative for any game which isn't here.

Later we discovered there were licensing issues and instead of being released May 29, 2019, it is now scheduled for January 2020.

We don't have any idea why it was rejected, but being a console port, maybe GoG wasn't fond of the wrapper/emulator they planned to use. They may have had issues with the title. For all we know contract requirements with the existing Wizardry games on GoG prevent another title from appearing here. Maybe GoG was aware of the game from the PS3 and felt it was not good enough to be here. It really wasn't rated for well when it came out on the PS3 either. Maybe they had a review copy and thought the emulation sucked.

But quit spreading this ridiculousness about everything being "too niche". The fact is the vast majority of rejections are pretty obvious. Grimoire has horrible user reviews and user review score on top of the creator being a drama queen who attacks his customers. Any number of other games have been given away in bundles for under $1 within a month of release which that developer does regularly. Others, no one ever heard of until they were rejected. Others are far overpriced for their lack of popularity/quality.

And the one thing you and so many others forget...it costs money to bring a new product here. It costs money to review and troubleshoot. It takes time and money to update wrappers and installers to keep up to date with OS changes. A game must sell enough copies to make a profit. If it doesn't, it would be foolish to bring the game here.