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General discussion (archive)GOG and people's perspective on it(279 posts)(279 posts)
(279 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted October 08, 2013
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Senteria: So apparantly once again people are judging me and assuming I'm a pirate for wanting a certain game on GOG and not just exclusively on Steam.
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PetrusOctavianus: What kind of people? Steamtards?
This thread started so well too.
Posted October 08, 2013
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timppu: ... Unless they added the DRM-free version to GOG, it doesn't really tell anything about GOG. ...
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Trilarion: I guess we'll never see exact sales numbers from GOG or Steam or anyone else, so all we can do is speculate. My firm impresssion is that GOG is quite insignificant compared to Steam. I have to admit that even though I don't like it.
Well, we have this numbers from Defender's Quest. Gog is not insignificant, it is the #2 digital distributor.
Post edited October 08, 2013 by shaddim
Posted October 08, 2013
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Trilarion: I always thought Paradox and Stardock are well known for excellent niche strategy games that even for years in the past managed to do without much copy protection/DRM. Since I cannot imagine that GOG wouldn't like to have them it must be their refusal that is causing the absence of their games. Of course they are on Steam. Being on GOG could potentially increase their sales and profits but obviously not so much that they feel compelled to do so.
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Pheace: I imagine the problem here might be that both of them seem to have switched to all Steam lately. I remember a case of Paradox where due to demand they still released a DRM-free version of a game they made and it turned out selling even less copies than they were expecting.
They said that they are going Steam only for all future titles because it simplifies patching and multiplayer support. As long as GOG doesn't offer anything similar, they probably won't have any reason to release their upcoming titles here.

That doesn't explain why their older titles aren't here, though. Most of their games up to Crusader Kings II have non-Steam versions, so releasing those on GOG shouldn't be an issue. I hope they do get released; I'd really love to buy Europa Universalis: Rome and Crusader Kings II.

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timppu: ... Unless they added the DRM-free version to GOG, it doesn't really tell anything about GOG. ...
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Trilarion: I guess we'll never see exact sales numbers from GOG or Steam or anyone else, so all we can do is speculate. My firm impresssion is that GOG is quite insignificant compared to Steam. I have to admit that even though I don't like it.
Well, Rome wasn't built in a day. GOG may be relatively insignificant now, but that hardly means it will always be insignificant. Even today, it's grown significantly since its very humble beginnings and, frankly, is about the closest thing that Steam has to competition.
Post edited October 08, 2013 by Gandos
Posted October 09, 2013
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Gandos: They said that they are going Steam only for all future titles because it simplifies patching and multiplayer support. As long as GOG doesn't offer anything similar, they probably won't have any reason to release their upcoming titles here.

That doesn't explain why their older titles aren't here, though. Most of their games up to Crusader Kings II have non-Steam versions, so releasing those on GOG shouldn't be an issue. I hope they do get released; I'd really love to buy Europa Universalis: Rome and Crusader Kings II.
Paradox's Steam releases are apparently DRM free after the initial installation through Steam, including Europa Universalis: Rome - Gold Edition and Crusader Kings II, so that's a viable option if you're willing to consider it.
Posted October 09, 2013
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shaddim: Well, we have this numbers from Defender's Quest. Gog is not insignificant, it is the #2 digital distributor.
Disregarding direct sales (which is the #2 source of income), keep in mind that DQ was on sale on direct almost half a year before any DD stores sold it. But, being #2 is good, but it still only accounted for 8.5% of the income, compared with Steams 58%. Still it is good, but it is exactly the same as the Kong credits (but again, it had been on Kongregate half a year before any DD store). . Not dismissing GoG, and as they say - GoG and Steam will most likely provide a longer tail than direct and Kong credits, but the drop is huge.
Posted October 09, 2013
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Gandos: ...They said that they are going Steam only for all future titles because it simplifies patching and multiplayer support. As long as GOG doesn't offer anything similar, they probably won't have any reason to release their upcoming titles here. ...
I guess GOG cannot offer the same thing, since even if GOG would programm a similar library, it would not be compatible with Steams system making it still complicated to support Steam and GOG and also GOG would probably not be much better than what's already out there. Steam profits from having the large audience and a middle layer between OS and game. Basically competitors have a hard time competing against such.

The other thing is that Paradox and Stardock obviously concluded that the extra effort (as large or small as it is) which probably will always be there if you support more than one distribution channel is not worth the extra income.

And I would then still like to have the older games here (this is not whining, just a wish).
Posted October 11, 2013
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Trilarion: I guess GOG cannot offer the same thing, since even if GOG would programm a similar library, it would not be compatible with Steams system making it still complicated to support Steam and GOG and also GOG would probably not be much better than what's already out there.
Putting an update on Steam is apparently like dumping a bunch of files in a folder which then gets uploaded to the server; several games have had the wrong version pushed out on release day and other fun misadventures. GOG could make it just as easy for developers to upload files for distribution to a hypothetical client. For most games the only real difference between Steam and non-Steam versions is the main EXE and a couple of associated files.
Posted October 11, 2013
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Arkose: ... Putting an update on Steam is apparently like dumping a bunch of files in a folder which then gets uploaded to the server; several games have had the wrong version pushed out on release day and other fun misadventures. GOG could make it just as easy for developers to upload files for distribution to a hypothetical client. For most games the only real difference between Steam and non-Steam versions is the main EXE and a couple of associated files.
If it is only this then it's a simple synchronization issue. GOG could just use something like a Dropbox account and let devs post their files there. There are litterally hundreds of solutions for keeping a folder uptodate. I guess the big advantage of Steam is that synchronization is done automatic, so devs are sure that their updates are distributed with a high speed. Sometimes this is even bad, with Civ 5 save game compatibility was broken quite often.

So yes, GOG could/should just emulate all that Steam has except DRM with minimal effort. It should be possible. However still the devs would then have to support several systems (Steam, GOG) and I doubt they are really willing to do it.

(Origin and every other store should offer such a system too. Copying is a good strategy. After all Samsung just copied Apple except for the prices and it was very good for them.)
Post edited October 11, 2013 by Trilarion
Posted October 11, 2013
No forced auto-updates and I'm happy. Drives me insane on Steam when an update fucks up singleplayer somehow and I can't revert.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)GOG and people's perspective on it(279 posts)(279 posts)
(279 posts)