I'm not sure if this is excessively gross incompetence, or if you are intentionally sabotaging your own company. Your business has time and time again, been completely tone deaf to its users. I no longer have ANY faith in your store surviving, and thus are no longer going to purchase games, because I am positive you will be shutting down in less than 5 years. It makes no sense to spend money for products which will likely just vanish in years to come.

-Despite being the number one requested feature by a huge margin, you STILL refuse to be anything besides outright hostile to linux users. You removed the GoG game downloader for linux a few years back, and have never replaced it with anything. The only way to download linux games, is manually though your library, with no way to even know which games have linux files, without clicking on each game first.

The majority of people who use linux, are anti-DRM, so your service is like a match made in heaven, yet your #1 customer base, you completely shaft and ignore constantly. You don't need to go and make a linux client that automatically installs and configures proton so the game works with 1 click like steam does. While it would be nice, no one is demanding that. They just want the bare minimum support for linux. It could even be as simple as officially partnering/supporting some other launcher, such as Lutris or Heroic Launcher, or something. Yet, you time and time again, refuse to do even that, but constantly are hostile towards your linux base. You have lost a huge chunk of your linux customer base, while steam is poised to be the sole distributor of linux games... Trust me, I'm active on many linux forums and social media pages, and almost ALL of your good will and support has completely vanished from there. Many linux users are outright hostile towards you now, and I'm not sure if you could ever get them back... I have for the longest time, have supported and recommended you on social media, and have no doubt had an impact on what success you have had.

I have never witnessed a company be so tone deaf towards its largest potential customer base. What a great tweet that was about the steam deck, which was and still is, the most talked about, hyped, and generally well favored hardware in recent memory. What a monumental gaff. Your store sells native linux games, but you tell steamdeck owners "just install windows", just wow.

-That leads to the next biggest problem, which is having multiple games that contain online/account requirement DRM, on a DRM-free store. You're selling games, that literally go against the entire core concept and philosophy of your store. You literally made a website called "F*** DRM" and was your marking slogan for some time, and at the same time, were selling games that contain DRM, and the worst kind of DRM, Online-only single-player DRM. Again, how tone deaf towards your customer base can you be? Do you really consider your customers to be this stupid, where they would not care you're selling DRM games on a DRM-free store?

-The next major issue, is game and update consistency. There are numerous games on gog, in which receive little to no updates compared to steam and other stores. There are a lot of games in which the gog version is objectively worse than all other versions. its one thing to not include things like "steam workshop support", because obviously that requires steam. But to not force developers to keep their games updated, and to allow them to completely neuter their games on your platform, is completely unacceptable. It's seriously like you do not gave one damn about your customers.

-Lets not forget the disaster that was Cyberpunk2077. I honestly have no words for this. You completely over hyped the game, and completely under-delivered. It took you like a year to get the game in a playable state that it should have been at launch. You execs completely abused their employees to meet impossible deadlines, and knowingly released a broken unfinished game. I'm not even sure if consoles ever got fixed, or ever will. This again, is yet another example of tone deafness towards your customers.

-Lastly, lets talk about your virtue signaling and your complete lack of ethics, morals, or principles. The biggest one, and the one that basically broke the camels back for me, was your removal for the highly sought after game: Devotion. You publicly said you would sell the game, and then a week later said, and i quote, "after receiving many messages from ""gamers"", we have decided not to list the game in our store". Bullshit. EVERYONE wanted you to release this game, except for the Chinese communist party. Again, you completely act tone deaf and hostile towards your customers, and remove a game a LOT of people wanted to buy and play. What kind of business sense do you have, in which you pull a product that people want to buy and play, just because a communist dictator asks you to?

Lets transition into your latest virtue signal. You ban all Russian gamers from buying/playing their games, and virtue signal about donating and supporting Ukraine. You're a company which sells video games... Why the hell are you getting involved with contemporary politics? People play games to escape reality, and here you are being tone deaf again. What goes on around the world, no matter how good/bad you think it is, literally, i mean literally, is none of your F-ing business. Your business is selling games. Nothing more. But to F-ing DARE to come out against Russia, when you have already capitulated to China, makes everything you say, completely hallow. You removed a Taiwanese game, at the behest of the government of China. Taiwan is a sovereign independent nation, but you pretend to care so MUCH about the sovereignty of nations? Yeah sure, OK, i totally believe that... When China does invade and annex Taiwan, I'm positive, you will not ban all of China from buying and playing games. The even bigger irony here, is China fully supports and backs Russia in their invasion. Of ALL people to say something about Russia, you are the very last who should believe they have something to say. Everything you say and do about this is so shallow, hallow and soulless, its absolutely disgusting. You're only doing it for PR/marketing reasons, but it doesn't even make sense. Did you really think it would give you some kind of return on this investment? What happened to "we want to focus on our store"?

The fact you believe spending money on Ukraine is more worthwhile than supporting linux, or actually selling games people want, actually making a DRM-free store, and actually treating your customers, like actual customers: It just shows your utter incompetence. You had such a great thing going for you, and you completely ran it into the ground with sheer incompetence. You have to be intentionally trying to run your company into the ground at this point. There's no other explanation. I will gladly help your endeavor, and give my money to valve/steam instead. They actually support and respect their customer base.

Is the same with companies sharing "the fight" with oppressed minorities like for gay pride day and things like that. If you're a company, a business whose only purpose is to make money by selling stuff, no one expects you to speak or even "share in" on political or societal subjects. And if they do, they completely missed the point of what a business is.

No company should ever show any hint of "expression" towards one side, or the other, and remain neutral to anything BUT the industry in which they dwell. So, for instance, if GOG wanted to give an opinion or an open letter or something about gamergate, or the current state of AAA gaming or something like that, sure, go ahead. But everything else should be kept aside.

As I understand, Poland and Russia have some history too, but you can't let your personal history affect your global business. I mean, I'm argentinian and I'm not hating the UK for the Malvinas (I do have opinions about it, and do resent particular administrations of that country and my own... but not the UK as a country and even less would make a business decision based on that).

The way I see it, "political correctness" has taken over the world in a way in which no one saw coming. And now we're here, where business talk about society and feelings, and regular people talk business. Maybe a new industrialization era is coming, where new companies totally destroy the current ones for losing sight of what they're supposed to be doing? Time will tell.

And for the record, I'm all for freedom of speach, I believe EVERYONE should be treated with respect and with the same rights (which is not the same as privileges).

Just my two cents on the matter with GOG.

EDIT: Typos...

GOG made Cyberpunk2077 themselves?

No matter how much people wish it to be so, Linux has like zero market power. Maybe it SHOULD have a lot of market power, but it does not. The people crying out for it are extremely loud ants in a world of giants. Try and keep that in perspective.

The "some games have DRM on GOG" thing has been beat to death, I won't regurgitate it here yet again. Suffice it to say no one else is rejecting AAA games left and right because they demand offline installers, so you're not gonna find a better dance partner.

I agree on patches, that sometimes makes me wonder if the principle I'm buying on GOG to support is worth it. I always decide it is, but it shouldn't be this way.

Ukraine issue isn't a simple political difference, and GOG can sell or not sell to whoever they want.

i am glad someone have finally summarised the 5 last years activity in the gOg forums in one single post

Ya, a linux version of Gog Galaxy would be nice... or it would at least be nice if gog would make the launcher open source.

I respect the thoughtfulness the OP put into his original post.

Although he's missing quite a few examples of many other SJW virtue signalling that GOG/CDPR has done over the years. It is certainly not limited to just the two examples which the OP mentions.

GOG/CDPR have been ruining their reputation by swimming around in that sewer starting with Witcher 2, which removed the woman cards solely for SJW-placating reasons, and there have been many other examples since then.

As for OP's point about Linux: I am sympathetic to Linux users, but I think he is also vastly over-estimating how many Linux-using customers GOG has.

Seems to me that GOG has a very small customer base, and the Linux users are a small fraction of that. So if GOG were to invest their money into making GOG games compatible with Linux, that might be financially disastrous for GOG, and accelerate the demise of GOG.

I do agree with the OP that GOG is unlikely to still be existing 5 years into the future from now. I don't think investing in Linux compatibility can be the thing to save them from that fate, though.

Well said! Couldn't have done it better.

It's a shame, early on this forum was a great way to connect with other old school PC gamers.

I stand with Russian and won't spend any penny here.
I have said this in multiple threads, but GOG locked them so I say it again.

If Russian can buy games here in the future, I will still consider buying games here.
That's how DRM-free work.
No matter how bad GOG is, I want DRM-free games.

I maintained a list for other game stores that have DRM-free games:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/list_of_drmfree_video_games_digital_distributors

Minor nitpicks aside, this was an excellent summation of GOG over the last few years.

Well said filenotfoundx404.

-The gog downloader as a way to download games just vanishing was comically terrible forcing users to slow download their games without GOG Galaxy.

-Some developers with good games have had to jump up and down to get their game on gog because gog simply can't be bothered replying to them.

-I also think that gog will probably run itself into the ground from their own stupidity in less then five years, however I love DRM free games and I will still try and get my games DRM free until then the love for gog has gone though I only buy for DRM free.

Yes, but as a percent of total market for a small niche like GOG it could represent a much larger portion of their market share.
They'll never be able to eat up steams mainstream users; and now they have effectively missed the boat on welcoming the small end of the market in. Steam is going to dominate linux gaming and GOG's choices will be limited to old games that already don't have DRM or being screwed by the market into bankruptcy.
With games companies now starting to have a focus on remakes, i think GOG will find even trying to go back to their roots a failing business model as the market shift will create superior versions that have minimal DRM encumbrance (but not no DRM).

Apolitical corporation? You're American. Your corporations have gotten heavily involved in politics for at least over half a century now.

Heck, even in the theoretical non-existent situation where a corporation is perfectly apolitical (and none are), if someone is getting rich of it, they are more likely than not to use that wealth to further their political agenda so by enriching the corporation, you are furthering the political agenda of its owner(s).

Sorry to burst that bubble.

Also, they aren't virtue-signaling mate, they are terrified about what it happening to their neighbor country and want to do as little as possible to support it. I'm halfway around the world and I'm terrified too. I can't imagine how they are feeling given that it's happening right next door to them. Actually, Valve/Steam respecting its customer base is an oxymoron. You can claim that gog doesn't, but Steam is a poor counter-example.

Why can't companies have political/moral/ethical principles? Who says they can't? What law says they can't?