Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit.

Amanita is one of my favorite indie developers, and every nerve in my body is crying for me to defend them. But I can't come up with any way in which this ISN'T a dick move.

I didn't pre-ordered Botanicula but I wanted to buy Machinarium. Now, I won't buy it. I will never support devs that screw their customers.

1 sec

I'll see if I can get some clarifications on what is/was going on. I doubt anyone at Amanita could foresee what would happen, they are artists first producing peculiar great games and business men last.
Still, keep the discussion going!

by the devs Full on damage control has arrived!
see my post above

I think that Amanita hasn't been correct with GOG.
GOG risks his reputation allowing the pre-order of a so "peculiar" game, and in the day-one the same game comes out at 1cent.
GOG, I love you, but I'm sorry to say that this time I'm very happy that I haven't preordered the game. Next time, choose better your partners!

It's an optical illusion. As if a guy got married to the love of his life, the next day met a girl he figured was even nicer and lamented at how awful his wife suddenly was. It makes no sense unless you believe in such bs as opportunity cost and you think value is relative as hell.

When I saw the Botanicula preorder, I figured "$8.99 ? That too much, no fricken way". Some thought "OMG ! I'm saving A DOLLA' !" and bought it. Now they think "OMFG - I LOST $8.98 !" while I think "$9.99 ? That's a lot. $0.01 ? That's not really a lot".
Why some people will claim to have actually (almost "physically") LOST money is beyond me. I mean - I understand the thought process but it doesn't really make sense to me. Before I buy something, I think A LOT. After I deem it worthy of my money - I spend it and never look back. It might as well be free the next day - I DON'T GIVE A DAMN (Fallout 1 giveaway, anyone ?). I've made the right decision back then, nothing right now is going to change that.

I've been searching for the right link for a few hours now but just take my word for it: there is a fallacy out there that goes like this:
A gambler can bet on the outcome of a fair 6-sided die roll. He can either bet $10 on the result being 1-5 or $10 on the result being 6. The die is rolled and 6 comes up. The gambler concludes: "I should have bet on 6, now I know that was the correct choice".
IT WASN'T. Assuming that the probability of rolling 6 was 1 in 6, the choice to bet on the result being between 1 and 5 was and forever will be the rational one, no matter any dice rolls made before or after.

Now, is this the time for me to cry outrage and feel cheated because what kept me from pre-ordering the game was their statement that only those who'd buy from Amanita would get the full soundtrack? And now I won't get the art-book because I only bought the game from GOG on release day for the full price and paid $2 more than those who pre-ordered ($1 for the HIB soundtrack)? ;P

You're right about that, of course, but what this particular thing boils down to is "our fans who preordered the game are getting a vastly inferior product compared to what they could have gotten on release day". That's not an optical illusion, that's being a dick, plain and simple.

To give is not to take away.
Also - there's a parable that sums up this situation rather well. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_(Albert_Camus_novel)]Not to mention - gives me an opportunity to piss off anti-religious people ;P.[/url]

Wait, why would you be? Be pissed for GoG, sure since they lose out on money and get burned. But we pre ordered a joyous, beautiful and very well made game. The devs behaved disgustingly in this situation.

I gave GoG money, got a great game in return. I'm not pissed at all. I can't be the only one.
How on earth does GoG risk their reputation?? The devs screwed them, in the official release thread on here, GoG stated that they knew nothing about this humble bundle stunt. You cannot do anything about stunts like these. Take your attitude to the devs, since they are the ones to blame, wholly.

They choose good partners in good faith, then back it up via good business. You can't choose better on that, anytime. I'd rather them follow this philosophy then that of say, valve.

I didn't pre-order because I've spent all of my budget for games this month, but even if I had it wouldn't be the price difference that bothered me.

GOG put effort into marketing the game (which costs them money) with the expectation that they would make that back on sales. The bundle is undercutting GOG and so a lot of people will buy that rather than buying it from GOG. Even people who weren't going to buy the game right now (like me, for example) may get the bundle because it is so much cheaper, which means GOG loses out on potential future buyers too.

So Amanita got free publicity for the game and GOG may end up losing money. That's what bothers me about this.

Excellent post. This is the crux of the matter. GOG agreed to publicize the game and their reward was Amanita secretly making a deal with HIB to offer the game for $0.01.

Bad Amanita.

just because you can do something, doesn't mean it's ok to do it. you're reasoning suffers from the false dichotomy fallacy. something can be permitted by capitalism and unethical. they are not mutually exclusive.

your statement that you can sell products wherever you want and do whatever you want with pricing is incorrect. most capitalist countries have legislation which deals with trade practices which do put some restrictions on pricing.

in addition, there is often a concept of misrepresentation by silence. if the devs had decided on doing the HIB before they agreed to gog selling the game, but did not disclose that to gog, gog would have an argument that there had been misrepresentation by silence. although the quantum of damages suffered would be difficult to quantify - rescission may be the answer.

if you can't see how the actions by the devs are unethical, all i can say is that i am glad that you are in the usa and therefore its unlikely you will be doing business in my country.

now THAT'S not something you hear everyday on the internet :P