amund: It's great that you get their jokes but I think it would be awesome to be called "anti-DRM Knight Templar", sounds like a very honorable title.

KeyperOS: Ok, I must say I was pretty pissed off when I first read it but now I must admit that I kinda understand that there is no clear-cut "bad guy" here and that this thing quite simply sucks all-around.

There are only so many "Good Old Games" to be revived and the truth of the matter is, GoG had already succeeded in doing that a year or so ago, now adding mostly obscure/less well-known titles that might not really stack up against the alpha-dogs of yore (unless they'd somehow magically succeed in getting the Lucas Arts catalog or the old Blizzard games which would be a happy day indeed).
It was clear that GoG needed to add regional pricing because (a) new and/or AAA games' publishers weren't gonna go for flat USD pricing and (b) a lot of non-US users were clamoring for it, however, when they tried, you had the other users clamoring about losing what they already had (which makes sense really).
So GoG finally decides to take the hit and pay out of their own pockets the regional pricing difference for those said new/AAA titles if it means getting newer titles which will allow them to grow further.
However, seeing as most of the time they are either the biggest or indeed the only ones selling the older games and with profit margins so much smaller, it would make sense that they wouldn't/couldn't afford to do the same with them as well.

For the most part the bigger publishers will look the other way because these games were dead weight that was not bringing them any money anyway but for those that are on many distribution platforms or for those publishers with very few games or mostly semi-old ones, these are their livelihoods and it might not make good business sense.

Now, the truth is, I still don't know how to feel. I do understand Frictional Games' point; with only a handful of games in their catalog, they couldn't afford angering their other distributors (and angering Steam to stay on GoG is just plain mad) but I must admit that I can't really use the same argument and justify Nordic Games for not being able to come into some kind of agreement with GoG, even on a per-game-basis.
I mean, first off, the GoG versions are the least problematic and not only because GoG actually put the time and effort to make it so but also because apparently, the Steam overlay doesn't play nice with many of the games' aging code.
Add to this that, even indirectly, many of their games wouldn't even make it to Steam at all if it weren't for GoG and their revival of old games plus now that they are there, I find it pretty hard to believe that Steam would force them to comply or ditch them altogether since they'd be removing a heck of a lot more than 35 games from their catalog.

I do believe that in their case it was simply a matter of not wanting to bother with GoG's business and the compromises that come with it since they can simply get more from Steam and easier which TBH makes good business sense but also makes them look pretty bad (and I mean, EA-bad) to the gamers which is basically a 180° turn from their previous image.

I have many (1/3?) of the games being removed and indeed most from the entire Nordic catalog (between GoG, Humble and Steam) but still the cost of buying the rest is pretty high for me plus, even if I can appreciate the business side of their decision, I still can't help but feel angered with that stance that I have half a mind to not wanting to give them my money (i.e. my business).

One thing is for sure, if I'm not buying them from here, I won't be buying them period.

(Wow, I didn't even realize the wall of text that I made :O )

DampSquib: *snip*

Wurzelkraft: I didn't redeem anything this time but I have to say THANKS all over again. Your code drops are huge!

KeyperOS: One thing is for sure, if I'm not buying them from here, I won't be buying them period.

LeonardoCornejo: snip
LeonardoCornejo: Early access is not realy a good idea, an incoplete game is not something the customers will always be willing to pay for, specially knowing that if they do so the game might never be completed because the lazy devs were paid in advance.
GOG has no exclusives because publishers are not willing to give them exclusives, If I ever manage to fulfill my wish of making a cool videogame, I will make it a GOG exclusive for at least two years, and I would never elease it on Steam, Origin, or any other retailer that makes me angry later.
The GOG community is growing, and it is not a minority, just because Steam gets more atention than GOG it does not mean GOG is marginal.
LeonardoCornejo: snip

haleisback: I really want drm free games,thats why i own nearly every game i want from gog already,However at the end of the day do you know what i really want?Games.If one steam or someone else sells one that i want and you don't then i'll be buying it from them.games like terraria,kerbal space program and civilization V are some examples of games i own on steam,Minecraft is a different example (no chance of you getting that though lol).If you get it later on and i like the game enough then i'll buy it here.some examples are AI war and don't starve.

i'm not going to refuse to buy a game that you don't sell when you don't really seem to be trying to get more.Your losing games you have and don't get many new games.over the past few months you keep changing your regional pricing stance and seem to just screw your customers who want games over by listening to the vocal minority.I haven't been looking at steam much for well over 6 months but i'm starting to look over there now.
I hate drm but i'm not going to miss out on great games over steams drm (i'll it for more invasive drm though)

i hope to see gog get more and better games in future but it doesn't seem likely with your actions recently.I guess i'll go look at steam now...

ktchong: Over a year ago, maybe almost two years ago, when I mentioned in the Steam forums that I also shopped at GOG and actually preferred GOG (at that time, but obviously not anymore,) many Steam users (who mostly had disdain for GOG users) jestingly asked me if I was an "anti-DRM Knight Templar" or "DRM-freedom fighter aka terrorist", and if I was on one of my "crusades" and was going to "terrorize" them over DRM. I did not get their jokes at the time. Now I got it.

shmerl: No. GOG should continue. I was waiting for a long time for anyone to roll out a DRM-free video service. All those the likes of Netflix and other DRMed services are sickening. Headweb is interesting and DRM-free but it's available only in Scandinavia. Surely GOG will have hard time convincing stupid publishers to release films DRM-free, but someone should start the effort! It worked for games, it can work for video as well.

haleisback: I really want drm free games,thats why i own nearly every game i want from gog already,However at the end of the day do you know what i really want?Games.If one steam or someone else sells one that i want and you don't then i'll be buying it from them.games like terraria,kerbal space program and civilization V are some examples of games i own on steam,Minecraft is a different example (no chance of you getting that though lol).If you get it later on and i like the game enough then i'll buy it here.some examples are AI war and don't starve.

i'm not going to refuse to buy a game that you don't sell when you don't really seem to be trying to get more.Your losing games you have and don't get many new games.over the past few months you keep changing your regional pricing stance and seem to just screw your customers who want games over by listening to the vocal minority.I haven't been looking at steam much for well over 6 months but i'm starting to look over there now.
I hate drm but i'm not going to miss out on great games over steams drm (i'll it for more invasive drm though)

i hope to see gog get more and better games in future but it doesn't seem likely with your actions recently.I guess i'll go look at steam now...

Zoidberg: You DO now what VAT is, right?

SeduceMePlz: (That seems to have been directed at me, so I fixed the quote tags for you.)

You DO have basic math skills, right? (Don't get all pissy; I'm just teasing you in return.)

Let's look at the classic GOG model. From the "Payments, pricing and promos" section of the GOG FAQ: SeduceMePlz: Thus:

For countries without VAT/sales tax: $9.99 = game price

For countries w/VAT: $9.99 = game price + VAT

Via the wonders of algebra, Europeans have in fact been paying lower prices than Americans on GOG for years...

...unless GOG is paying VAT out of its own pocket, meaning that it's usual share of 30% would be reduced to 5-15% per sale (making European customers much less profitable for GOG).

Equal pricing would be:

For countries without VAT/sales tax: $9.99 = total price

For countries w/VAT: $9.99 + VAT = total price

However, as I've said here and elsewhere, I don't hold this against you or make a point of complaining about it. I explain it here only because you do not seem to grasp the concept. And were I somehow mistaken about this (I doubt it, as it seems to be rather simple low-level stuff, but feel free to school me if so), it wouldn't change the point that I made in my previous post.

---

How about that poll that's been mentioned several times now? Put it to a vote on the main page, limit it to those with an account with at least one purchased game (to minimize cheating; heck, maybe require a minimum of 5 purchased games for a stronger deterrent), and honestly post the results afterwards. This will not only help settle the matter somewhat on the forums, it'll give GOG valuable information for conducting its business.