All right, since I have what should probably be the final form of that long post about this new change of plans and some suggestions regarding next steps, can't hurt to put a link here as well, so here you go.

The speculation regarding resoning part I won't summarize here, if anyone's interested you can go read it, only want to point out that it'd likely be a quite good thing if true.
The analysis part likely isn't for those active in this thread, as they've seen it already, and some have written those things, so moving past that too...

Suggestions, on the other hand, largely boil down to two categories, one is giving the community the final say when it comes to regionally priced games and putting limits on such additions, and the other is offering information about publishers making an effort towards fairer pricing and therefore offering people a much better opportunity to "vote with their wallet" and encouraging such efforts on the part of publishers. Summary below:

The latter part will probably go over well, as I was only suggesting badges and went with a "medal" system:
- Bronze means publisher is covering a part, but not all, of the compensation offered to those who pay more than base price. Different designs or amounts of "silver plating" may roughly indicate the percentage covered.
- Silver in case the publisher covers all the compensation for that game, as in they only take their share of the base price even for regions that have higher prices, but they still insist on regional pricing, for whatever reason.
(- Optional plain gold for flat-priced games that didn't require special efforts on the part of the publisher to be in the catalog like that. Should always remain the norm around here, one'd hope, hence the optional part.)
- Gold medal of a certain design for games that have a flat worldwide price thanks to great efforts made by the publisher, exempting GOG from existing contracts that'd have otherwise forced regional pricing upon them.
- Gold medal of an entirely special design, possibly with additional visual elements, for fairly priced games, as in no region charged above base price but poor countries charged less, with design variations possibly showing how many such countries are there.

The former part may not go over so well since I was quite restrictive about it, but I'm looking at it from the point of view of someone who'd still want all regional pricing banned from here yet again, and always will, so this is still a big compromise from where I'm standing. And yeah, it will be some trouble, but that's rather the point. The number of people who're unaffected and may not care about the principle itself may mean that no votes will have negative results anyway despite the weights and limitation of "voting rights", but the consultation and the limits it imposes are important.
- As an exception to everything else, games with over 10000 votes on the wishlist can get added right away even if regionally priced.
- Other games that'll need to use regional pricing can only be added if approved by user vote. Only one such poll can be running at any one time and a two thirds majority is required for approval.
- Votes should be weighted according to how the user will be affected by the pricing, with less for those who'd get a better deal and more for those who'd be paying more for the purchase (even if GOG'd cover the difference). Also suggesting restrictions on who can vote, like a minimum amount of time since sign up (less if one actually made a purchase) and at least a shred of activity (one post on the general forum and positive rep) in the community, as a minimum indication that said user may have some actual interest in this place and not just pop in to browse and/or purchase and then wander off again like in any regular store.
- GOG shouldn't even consider deals for games that'd require regional pricing and are over 2 years old unless they'd have over 1000 wishlist votes.
- Whenever a contract comes up for renegotiation, as well as when a game that was added without the 1000 votes due to being new enough ends up being here for 2 years or turns 3 years old (since initial release, I mean), if it'll remain regionally priced then there should be another vote, asking users whether they want that game to still be in the catalog, and outlining the new deal if different. Simple majority enough for a yes, and these repeated votes don't count against the only one poll at once limit.
- If a game will be rejected by a vote and the publisher will (eventually) make a better offer, there will be another on the new terms and the game may be (re)approved then, of course.

All in all, looking for ways to ensure that this actually helps the battle against regional pricing somehow, making publishers more accountable for this and putting pressure on them to change.

One way to think, is to believe that GoG catered to the will of that "vocal minority". Have you considered the chance that they may have taken back (partly) the regional pricing policy, because a non-vocal majority, like myself, voted with their wallets? That quite a lot of people that never posted anything in the forums about the "dispute", stopped buying from the moment this came up? That the drop in the sales chart was too big to be ignored?
Before accusing them on caving to the "angry mob", take a moment to think that maybe it was the silent people's money (or lack thereof to be exact), that forced them to withdraw the unfair pricing.

This is aweseome! Thumbs up! I strongly believe in using polite feedback with sensible reasoning instead of cursing and swearing and I'm glad to see, that it had a positive effect.

One question about free choice of the billing currency: Am I free to choose any GOG-supported currency I like or only "my" local one and USD?

Gog said that they will offer us a choice between local currency or USD at the checkout.

Glad GOG took a serious note and did a good approach to solve this.

I didn't get worked up either way about the pricing thing but it's always nice to see a company take a stand on something. That being said, I hope this doesn't mean GOG is going to have to pass on deals that could otherwise move the ball forward. I really want to see more new titles that don't come with internet lock-in BS, but publishers aren't ever going to take GOG seriously if all they bring to the table is a niche outlet for stuff mainstream gamers no longer want.

Perhaps a middle path could be found where strategically significant (AAA or foot in the door with a big publisher) have a slightly higher flat price than usual to account for behind-the-scenes price differences. As one of those mustache-twirling Americanskis who's supposedly getting favorable treatment, I'd be fine paying slightly more for DRM-free if the only alternative is a Steam rental.

You do know that most of the new games coming to gog will still be regional priced only that gog is going to offer the difference between US price and the overpriced local price in store credit to the user that takes the hit.

I neither agreed or disagreed with the proposed changes, but it was clear that a lot of people were adamantly against it. This is one thing I really love about GOG. IIRC, this isn't the first time they have retracted a proposed / scheduled change in order to provide us users with the experience we really want. I wish more businesses would follow GOG's example by communicating with their users and then listening to them; instead of blindly alienating their customer base. Thank you GOG team for treating your customers right, for your awesome communication skills, for giving us the opportunity to say yes or no, and for listening to us. I hope the team is doing alright, and not too discouraged; some of the extremes I saw in the posts over the last few weeks were... rough. I love what you are doing, GOG. Keep up the good work, and keep offering your good intentions.

By now this discussion is a serpent eating his own tail ;)

At his core, every statment had allready been made, several times mostly ;), and none of the faction that had formed up is willing to be "converted"...it seems to become more and more a matter of belief then of rational argument..the longer hte matter is discussed.

It is nice to see that many people that take the matter to their heart nontheless! but don't take it to serious.

In this spirit....have a nice day all together :)

My main priority is DRM-free, all else second, but I can see what people are talking about.

With Linux support coming up, I feel this place is fit for the future, one I feel I belong in.

Thanks GOG, you have my support and my money.

And my axe! :p

So glad the site that I was proud to tell all my friends about is back. I shouted and leaped for joy when I saw the news. Most companies it seems can't admit when they make a mistake; I'm glad GOG isn't most companies after all. This press release admits that this reversal is a response to the thousands of comments of those who wouldn't give up without speaking up. I would like to thank everyone who spoke up even once, and the tireless work of Selderij, Trilarion, and many others, without which this U-turn response would not have been possible.

I suppose that could come in handy!

sounds like there has been a big shitstorm :/

but i asked myself why dont you offer both pricing models

regional pricing for games where publisher would refuse otherwise
old pricing model for all the other games

people that are complaining about this woulndt have bought new games via steam/origin etc anyways

people like me (that use steam too) would party hard if some new games would show up @ gog

most imortant is that the games are drm free
if i got the choice to buy game via steam or gog (drm free) .. i would choose you ;)

i really hope you are able to sort stuff out ;) ... good old games are awesome but new shiny drm free games would be totally epic

That's mostly what they are doing now. Old pricing model for older games by choosing US-$ as currency. Regional pricing for newer games but with excess prices above US prices effectively capped by throwing in store credit from their own pockets.