Dear GOG.com

On Facebook you say:
"As for New Zeland users I'm afraid I don't have good news as all the changes made for the Australian market will be also applied to the New Zeland market."

New Zealand is a sovereign country that has it's own ratings system. This Rating System includes an R18 Classification that may be appropriate for the content in the game (this has meant that many games banned in Australia have been released here with no issues). If there are no government requirements to alter the content then why is GOG altering the version we receive when purchased from New Zealand?

Please Explain.

As a customer of many digital download services I have always appreciated that GOG.com is just about the only place not engaging in regional pricing or regional blocking of purchases. It is sad to see both of these pillars of the service eroded.

Yes, it is becoming quite the disappointment.

Would like this answered too. If we're subject to australian censorship laws now despite not being australian then you just lost a sale and I will import the game instead

I concur, I have spent a fair amount on GOG over the years, but this is a clear sign from GOG that they simply don't care about me, or anyone else from New Zealand, as a customer. I will have to make other arrangements to get an uncut version of the game imported, and I will never be purchasing from GOG again.

"Please explain" is better than playing Jump to Conclusions.

It could be do to publisher demand, if Atari(assuming the North American publisher will be the one publishing in Australia and New Zealand) decided not to release the game uncensored then they could outright refuse to sell it if GOG offered an uncensored version.

I'm curious who thinks in what world someone puts so much effort into having an adult themed game want to turn around and then do everything it could to limit the availability of that work to as many people as possible.

Hey - no cheap shots from the West Island !

Oh wow, as if it wasn't bad enough that GOG is adhering to the Australian laws, they're forcing them on NZ?


New Zealand just got Germany'd*.





*Like when other European countries used to get games with green blood. =(

Hehe, on a more serious note, if your interested in getting Witcher 2 I would preorder now before the Australian cut off just in case we invade you (or GoG doesn't/can't resolve this issue)

Isn't that more like, it's bad enough Australia's draconian censorship laws are being forced on GOG?

Yeah, that. But it's even worse that they're forcing that on NZ.

Heh, this DOES seem pretty absurd...

Hopefully they meant the retail version only.

Selling electronic copies of old games is much simple than selling a new game that in the same time sells as retail. That's why GoG has to to implement various regional restrictions in this case.
Check gog staff answers in this topic for further details:
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/witcher_2_gog_com_version_will_be_censored_for_australians

Anyway, this does not clarify why New Zealand get the same version as Australia.