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General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
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Posted February 21, 2014
The DRM-Free Revolution Continues with Big Pre-Orders and Launch Day Releases!

Good news! GOG.com is going to bring you more fantastic launch day releases, preorders, and other exciting new content from some of our favorite developers. We've lined up 3 big titles that we will be bringing to GOG.com in the next couple of months for sale or preorder that we think will be hits with all of our gamers; and we have more equally exciting games coming up soon.

If you've been a member of the site for a long time, you may recall that when we launched sales of The Witcher 2 on GOG.com, we had to add in regional pricing. The game cost different amounts in in the US, the UK, the European Union, and Australia. We're doing something like that once again in order to bring you new titles from fantastic bigger studios. Since we don't accept currencies other than USD on GOG.com right now, we'll be charging the equivalent of the local price in USD for these titles. We wish that we could offer these games at flat prices everywhere in the world, but the decision on pricing is always in our partners' hands, and regional pricing is becoming the standard around the globe. We're doing this because we believe that there's no better way to accomplish our overall goals for DRM-Free gaming and GOG.com. We need more games, devs, and publishers on board to make DRM-Free gaming something that's standard for all of the gaming world!

That brings with it more good news, though! As mentioned, we have three games we're launching soon with regional pricing--two RPGs and a strategy game--and while we can't tell you what they are yet because breaking an NDA has more severe penalties than just getting a noogie, we're confident that you'll be as excited about these games as we are. For a limited time, we will be offering anyone who pre-orders or buys one of them a free game from a selection as a gift from GOG.com, just like we did for The Witcher 2.

If you have any questions, hit us up in the comments below and we'll be happy to answer (to the best of our ability).

EDIT: Since we've answered a lot of the common questions already here (and lest you think that we've ignored you), it may be handy for you to check out the forum thread about this and search for staff answers by clicking this link here. (hat tip to user Eli who reminded us that the feature even exists. :)
Posted February 26, 2014
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IAmSinistar: Yah, that's why I wrote "Personally I know I could retire with four quarters of $900,000 profits" in my response, as I had picked up the numbers represented only one quarter. It's a pretty fair chunk of cash, and frankly surprises me, especially given the 80% sales and such. I didn't realise this was such a strong revenue stream.
Plenty of evidence that it is. That's why I wonder - how much can the folks that almost exclusively buy on sales hurt the pre-orders and day-1 sales of these three games? I suppose that The Witcher 3 is out (plenty of people pre-order out of pure support), but what about the other two?
Posted February 26, 2014
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silentbob1138: Still, if you want DRM-free there are alternatives to Gog. I can't think of another store that offered DRM-free and fair prices and kept old games running on modern computers, though. That combination made Gog unique. DRM-free was a big part of the uniqueness, but not unique on its own.
That's assuming that certain games would still be released DRM-free elsewhere if they were not being released DRM-free here. Most publishers will just offer Steam keys elsewhere :/ Just look at the Humble Store's most recent releases, for example.
Posted February 26, 2014
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HypersomniacLive: Plenty of evidence that it is. That's why I wonder - how much can the folks that almost exclusively buy on sales hurt the pre-orders and day-1 sales of these three games? I suppose that The Witcher 3 is out (plenty of people pre-order out of pure support), but what about the other two?
I honestly can't say. My understanding of the average purchase is obviously way out of skew with the reality. I hear so much about piracy that I had assumed GOG was lucky to break even in their sales, but clearly that's not the case. So I have no idea how much sway any of our individual purchases can make. Especially as it seems probable that the majority of GOG customers are just buying games and don't even monitor the forums.
Posted February 26, 2014
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adamhm: That's assuming that certain games would still be released DRM-free elsewhere if they were not being released DRM-free here. Most publishers will just offer Steam keys elsewhere :/ Just look at the Humble Store's most recent releases, for example.
Sadly true. For the moment, we have to decide whether there shall be furthermore big DRM-free releases or none at all. As someone wrote in another thread: Worldwide pricing is another fight for another day. I will preorder Divinity: Original Sin and The Witcher 3 if they show up on GOG in order to support DRM-free launch day releases in the future. Perhaps if this fight is won, we will take a second look in the pricing matter.
Posted February 26, 2014
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adamhm: That's assuming that certain games would still be released DRM-free elsewhere if they were not being released DRM-free here. Most publishers will just offer Steam keys elsewhere :/ Just look at the Humble Store's most recent releases, for example.
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RS1978: Sadly true. For the moment, we have to decide whether there shall be furthermore big DRM-free releases or none at all. As someone wrote in another thread: Worldwide pricing is another fight for another day. I will preorder Divinity: Original Sin and The Witcher 3 if they show up on GOG in order to support DRM-free launch day releases in the future. Perhaps if this fight is won, we will take a second look in the pricing matter.
But we are angry because they dropped a more important issue to fight for less important issue. An issue they have been using in marketing for years, that is betrayal of customer.

The fight for DRM-free could have been left for other day.
Post edited February 26, 2014 by Ekaros
Posted February 26, 2014
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IAmSinistar: I honestly can't say. My understanding of the average purchase is obviously way out of skew with the reality. I hear so much about piracy that I had assumed GOG was lucky to break even in their sales, but clearly that's not the case. So I have no idea how much sway any of our individual purchases can make. Especially as it seems probable that the majority of GOG customers are just buying games and don't even monitor the forums.
One thing I observed regarding piracy - if it doesn't need cracking it's not of high value to bother with. The various scenes seem to have some sort of competition among them - you know, e-penises and all.
Posted February 26, 2014
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Ekaros: But we are angry because they dropped a more important issue to fight for less important issue. An issue they have been using in marketing for years, that is betrayal of customer.

The fight for DRM-free could have been left for other day.
From my point of view the fight for DRM-freedom is far more important. If you're only interested in small prices, you can go for any Steam sale.
Posted February 26, 2014
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Ekaros: But we are angry because they dropped a more important issue to fight for less important issue. An issue they have been using in marketing for years, that is betrayal of customer.

The fight for DRM-free could have been left for other day.
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RS1978: From my point of view the fight for DRM-freedom is far more important. If you're only interested in small prices, you can go for any Steam sale.
Steam uses regional pricing also. That fight must start somewhere...
Posted February 26, 2014
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Ekaros: But we are angry because they dropped a more important issue to fight for less important issue. An issue they have been using in marketing for years, that is betrayal of customer.

The fight for DRM-free could have been left for other day.
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RS1978: From my point of view the fight for DRM-freedom is far more important. If you're only interested in small prices, you can go for any Steam sale.
He is interested in fair/flat prices, not small prices.
Posted February 26, 2014
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RS1978: Sadly true. For the moment, we have to decide whether there shall be furthermore big DRM-free releases or none at all. As someone wrote in another thread: Worldwide pricing is another fight for another day. I will preorder Divinity: Original Sin and The Witcher 3 if they show up on GOG in order to support DRM-free launch day releases in the future. Perhaps if this fight is won, we will take a second look in the pricing matter.
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Ekaros: But we are angry because they dropped a more important issue to fight for less important issue. An issue they have been using in marketing for years, that is betrayal of customer.

The fight for DRM-free could have been left for other day.
Really. You'd rather let publishers retain control over what you "buy" from them (including giving them the ability to revoke your ability to play for any reason) and endure arbitrary restrictions on when/where/how you can play etc. as well as suffer the hassle that DRM inevitably creates when it screws up? You'd rather hand control over to the very same people who want to screw you with regional pricing, and you think they won't try to screw you with that?

DRM is a much more important fight. Regional pricing might mean getting ripped off every now & then, but I'd rather buy something that's overpriced and "own" it than pay 70% of the cost and merely "rent" it. Also, regional pricing is an issue that will not and can not be resolved simply and quickly. Not while physical retail is still alive and (more or less) well. DRM is an issue that can be resolved in a much shorter timeframe.

Here's a hypothetical scenario- If GOG decided to adopt DRM (by selling Steam keys, as it would be pointless to try any other DRM scheme) and kept worldwide pricing. What do you think would change? How would that help them? Answer: not at all. They wouldn't get any more signficant titles. Certainly none of the major titles, as those would still be bogged down with retail agreements mandating regional pricing. All that would happen is you'd start to see indie developers selling only Steam keys here, that they would also be selling elsewhere at the same price through e.g. Humble Widgets on their own site.
Posted February 26, 2014
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RS1978: From my point of view the fight for DRM-freedom is far more important. If you're only interested in small prices, you can go for any Steam sale.
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vampiro13: He is interested in fair/flat prices, not small prices.
I was pleased with the flat pricing here on GOG as well, but I appreciate the DRM freedom far higher. So if I have to choose, my decision is clear. Of course, I have to think long and hard about all new purchases, but if I want a new game, it's always better to pay here for a DRM-free version which I really own then the same price on Steam for a rental game.
Posted February 26, 2014
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vampiro13: He is interested in fair/flat prices, not small prices.
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RS1978: I was pleased with the flat pricing here on GOG as well, but I appreciate the DRM freedom far higher. So if I have to choose, my decision is clear. Of course, I have to think long and hard about all new purchases, but if I want a new game, it's always better to pay here for a DRM-free version which I really own then the same price on Steam for a rental game.
This is my stance too. I don't like regional pricing (and I do hope it'll change for the better eventually), but DRM-free is a much more important factor to me.
Posted February 26, 2014
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vampiro13: He is interested in fair/flat prices, not small prices.
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RS1978: I was pleased with the flat pricing here on GOG as well, but I appreciate the DRM freedom far higher. So if I have to choose, my decision is clear. Of course, I have to think long and hard about all new purchases, but if I want a new game, it's always better to pay here for a DRM-free version which I really own then the same price on Steam for a rental game.
I understand your point of view and that you value DRM-free higher than flat pricing. For me, both is more or less equally important. I do have a few games on steam (Blackguards from the EA Flash Sale, Civ 5 because I just had to play it eventually and bought it in a sale as well; most games are from humble sales). As soon as it gets too intrusive (e.g. always on) I would not buy any game (e.g. Ubisoft).

For me, the flat price has been incredibly important on GOG, just because it's a rip off. The regional pricing is not even fair (in the sense of depending on average income, as if that would be fair...). Bulgarians pay 55 USD for AOW3, lots of Bulgarians don't even earn that amount of money / month (at least not after paying for rent and food). In Germany, the average income might be quite high, but recent statistics show that the income gap (rich versus poor) is the highest in all of Europe.

I basically just wanted to point out that the conclusion that people opposing regional pricing just want to pay less is not correct (a guy from the US posted he would show solidarity for example). I GUESS that most (if not all) opposing regional prices had not started a shitstorm if the prices in general (as in USD for everyone) had gone up a bit. It is more a matter of principle rather than affordability.

I am sure GOG will not make major losses because of the people who value DRM-free higher. But those opposing regional prices do not do so, at least not in general, because they want smaller prices. They could easily pirate a DRM-free copy from a buddy who bought it on GOG (and share the costs).
Posted February 26, 2014
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HypersomniacLive: One thing I observed regarding piracy - if it doesn't need cracking it's not of high value to bother with. The various scenes seem to have some sort of competition among them - you know, e-penises and all.
Very true, there is a lot of e-street cred to be earned by hacking the supposedly unhackable. But there is also a contingent of folks who just want "free stuff". What amazes me is that there are still so many ethical customers willing to pay for these games that they can generate revenue like that. I think my opinion of humanity on the whole may be undeservedly low. :)
Posted February 26, 2014
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vampiro13: The regional pricing is not even fair (in the sense of depending on average income, as if that would be fair...). Bulgarians pay 55 USD for AOW3, lots of Bulgarians don't even earn that amount of money / month (at least not after paying for rent and food). In Germany, the average income might be quite high, but recent statistics show that the income gap (rich versus poor) is the highest in all of Europe.
That's a point I can absolutely agree with. Personally I would grant Bulgarians or Romanians lower prices, but I can hardly understand why Americans get always far better prices than we Germans. I'm not exactly a wealthy man and it will thoroughly hurt me to pay 55 Dollars for The Witcher 3 or Divinity: Original Sin, but I'm willing to bite the bullet for two desiderated releases I can really own.

Btw. I can quite comprehend your point of view and I've never intended to affront you. :)
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Community
General discussionAnnouncement: Big Preorders & Launch Day Releases Coming!(4041 posts)(4041 posts)
(4041 posts)