This was in response to OP's introductory post where they claimed "things have changed for the worse" to note that that's only the case for hardcore fans and collectors. I generally agree with the rest of their statement that gamedevs / publishers should be publishing their priced goodies that are currently on Steam, but not on GOG.

And yes, your opinion is reasonable. However, there could be a reason based on a technicality from their viewpoint besides previously mentioned by GamezRanker and Swedrami. Steam and GOG versions will have the same game, but their releases may not necessarily be considered the same product. In other words, a DRM-free game is different enough than its DRM version bundled with goodies and to expect the same price for the DRM-version with free extras is debatable. In retail, product variants will have their own SKU even if they are even slightly different.

GOG does have some influence here in being unwilling to list games without getting the same goodies as Steam, but that could disqualify gamedevs / publishers from publishing on GOG if they can't secure publishing permission, especially when GOG doesn't have that much revenue negotiating power compared to Valve.

I'm still a happy fan of GOG and CD Projekt as a whole but I'll admit that I wish games were still releasing with craploads of goodies. It was one of many reasons why I love buying games on GOG, even if I've previously owned them on other platforms. I'm just glad CDPR's games still come with loads of 'em.

Luckily manuals can be found online(we even have a thread for listing missing manuals here in the forums), and other goodies as well sometimes. :)

Weird thing is... offer me a game, and then the soundtrack for price X, artbook for price Y, "supporter pack" for price Z... and I'll happily buy the game and ignore the rest (unless the game is so great, I simply buy the rest to support the devs).

Offer the same game as "Deluxe Edition" with base price + X + Y + Z I'll most likely buy that. Interesting how I always fall for that - does anyone else have the same issue?

I more or less do the same...buy the deluxe version if not too much more than the standard...especially if there's some nice extras worth the money, and even more so if there's a good sale.

If the extras are sold separate, then I usually only buy them if/when they go on sale at a good price(or a bit more if to support good devs in some cases).

Be that as it may, I really enjoy having it as part of the purchase. That way, not only do I legally obtain those goodies but it also further adds to the great value.

This poses the question how a manual can be considered an extra ... One, in games like Wasteland III, you got to pay extra for it to receive the ranger manual, say, plus whatever others it contains. To me a manual or charts, a tech-tree, shouldn't be sold but added to each version of a game when there are several.

I only very rarely buy soundtracks, what I do consider as real extra, because in the end it just sits around wasting space on my HDD. In the past most games came loaded with extras, plus manuals with hundreds of pages (out of necessity of course) but it was nice. Come digital era, DVD/CD, you got your plastic case and some small pages with a quickstart-guide. The golden era in which extras like T-shirts and cloth maps celebrating their comeback and it was great. Nowadays, with Internet become more and more partitioned and there are copyrights in some countries not in others, some extras can't make it here anymore. At least not without constantly negotiating with rights-holders and lawyers.

Much as I sometimes appreciate having extras here I could buy, there is no doubt in my mind if they exist - say on Steam, they should all be made available here as well. There are collectors out there after all and why shouldn't they get their treat?

DLC and other content should always be released here as on any other platform a game is sold! Not after months and years but days after their initial release. So, when this isn't the case, it's best not waste money in the hopes of seeing some DLC or extra content here. Some party responsible for this neglect will eventually have to have a change of heart otherwise their paying customers - who deserve better - will never enjoy the full experience a game eventually has to offer. Doesn't matter whether a DLC is non-mandatory, say horse-armor, or loads of new content, when they exist bring 'em here, period. If you know you can't be bothered, stop releasing anything here and withdraw the game, be mindful of consumers wallets.

Steam is so big that I don't think it moves specifically to sign exclusivity contracts for every single extra, I think it's more plausible a scenario in which the developers themselves are self-limiting by signing contracts for extras only with Steam. And here comes back the fact of their laziness and lack of vision that shines through in many of the responses I get from them.

If nothing else there's a silver lining, HUNTDOWN's soundtrack has finally been released on GOG as well.
Yeah, someone explain me for example why the manuals of the Batman games are freely available on Steam, while on GOG there is nothing. For me it's inconceivable, I shouldn't be forced to search around for a damn manual.

Totally agree. Obviously the DLCs issue is even more important, but luckily the developers guilty of their lack are far fewer in number, even if those remaining are still a stain on GOG.

But there is a special thread on the subject, here I wanted to focus precisely on these extras often overlooked, but that I think can make GOG lose several purchases when a collector sees that the thing is systemic on many titles.

People shouldn't be made to find such if the rights holders can include it elsewhere....still, it's not that hard to search for manuals online.

(talking about lazy devs: besides the actual lazy ones, I also think a number of people[in general, yes even me sometimes] are getting overly lazy if searching for things like manuals seems like such a big thing to deal with)

Addition: i'd much rather focus be put on new devs adding manuals as part of the standard package with their games(such as in the game folder or etc), and also that manuals be made as they were before.....i.e. with many pages of info/lore/etc.....not like the "manuals" we mostly get today(which are more or less thin pamphlets with controls/basic info).

Well it is more convenient/better if it comes with the game...still, if legality is a concern: one can find many manuals available for legal public viewing on sites like the internet archive ;)

Soundtracks have proven to be a nice additional bit of profit for devs, especially indie devs, so I don't see them returning as free extras very often. Same for art books and such really. Manuals don't exist anymore for the most part, so... it leaves a pretty difficult hurdle to jump over to add a bunch of extras.

I will say every RPG should have a free map included.

That or a sh*tload of graph paper ;)

Wait, so if someone who buys a game that has a manual would want to also get said manual with their purchase instead of needing to search for it on their own, it's their fault for being lazy? Tempted to file that under victim blaming...
What about, say, installers/uninstallers? Hey, why should devs and stores have to bother with those, users who aren't lazy can do that manually...

About the matter at hand in general, well, see my title. Actually just changed it to this a little before this topic showed up.
And manuals and any other informative material the player is expected to know or refer to (these additional pieces mainly being relevant for old games where not everything is actually included in the game itself) aren't extras, they absolutely must be always included, obviously at no additional charge, period.
Other stuff, well, between a cheaper game and more goodies, I'll typically take the cheaper game. But if some extra is included in a certain version of the game, it must be included in that version regardless of where it's purchased from. Maybe the one exception is if the dev or pub have their own store and they have something extra bundled if purchasing from there, to encourage people to cut out the middleman, but even then I'd say it'd be fairer to name that edition differently.

No, I was saying that if someone has no choice but to find such manuals/etc themselves and they don't want to do so because it's "too hard", then imo they're possibly a tiny bit lazy.

(btw I included myself in the category of sometimes being lazy earlier...and I was saying such earlier more so to point out that people seem to be getting lazier....i.e. not willing to do things themselves as much when there's no other choice. We all know the industry likely won't change quickly or in major ways, so sometimes people might need to take care of themselves[like finding manuals/etc online when needed] & they should learn to do so if/when needed)

What if the info is built into the game...like complex tutorial style info or a digital guide in the game?

As for manuals, as I said: I also wish they'd go back to the old style and less the pamphlet style ones we get now.