Well there's probably some hope, seeing as CDPR/CDP stock took a nose dive of around 25%+ recently(between this and the 2077 problems).

Well they are a paper tiger. They don't accomplish anything. They can only copy. That is literally all they do. I have a lot of experience with them and their tactics. The block will be specific and it will mean nothing. You can keep doing what you want. I don't have a problem with people protesting against them in any way that they want. My only goal here was to dissent against the guy who was wanting more authoritarianism.

That's because that fiasco likely cost them a LOT more money, I am guessing.

Topic starter here..

After having had some time to reflect and this call for a boycott having been brought to my attention, an update.

Some free advice for GOG management that they'll ignore: I've never said GOG should not do business with China. I think it's stupid though. I highly doubt "GOG" has much marketing value in China. It would be wiser to set up a separate holding with a name that is more likely to appeal to Chinese people. A different storefront that could, for example, highlight games that are only available in Chinese. Trying to integrate western and Chinese markets in one store will probably lead to alienating both.

In light of the lying to customers, I also found this from Jason Schreier on Bloomberg: It's another stupid lie. And why? Why does the board from CDPR/GOG compulsively lie? There is no need. They never had to say "many messages from gamers" and they never had to say "complete and playable". Why do they do this to themselves?

Red Candle Games, the developer of Devotion, seems to have peace with GOG's decision. I still think GOG should actively reimburse them, but it's something.

I now think a boycott is actually not the most effective approach, mostly because generally speaking it won't last. If you boycott, you care. So you won't leave. But you don't have an alternative either. So you'll stay.

What I'll actually do will be more costly for GOG in the long term.

1. As aptly said by WinterSnowfall in the boycott topic, my "I'm not sure if I'll have time to play this game, but let me buy it here to support GOG" behavior has come to an end. That pretty much cuts 90% of my purchases. Shopaholic here. I have more games than you.
2. If a game I want is available DRM-free elsewhere (itch.io, Humble DRM-free, Zoom, etc) I'll get it there instead. Even if it's going to cost me more.
3. I won't be adding links to GOG to any wikis anymore. Just two wiki articles I created in the past that were triggered by a GOG release are generating about 500 views per month.
4. I won't recommend GOG to friends anymore.

And I guess I won't be the only one for 3 and 4, so that's probably a big hit to the free PR machine. What hurts most is that afaik GOG has just ignored the whole thing. They waited for it to pass, and they think it has. They want to play a waiting game? I beat cats in staring contests.

Very well written and I totally agree with it. It is understandable that GOG caves in to political and financial pressure. It's not nice and not what I would prefer, but it is economically understandable. They are a company that wants to make a profit after all. But such a blatant lie is just an insult to their customers. Unfortunately GOG will prefer not to take notice of this thread or any other suggestion to actually communicate with their customers. They seem to be very set on their new-ish 'keep silent and wait for the storm to pass' policy.