EGS made the mistake of offering only base game versions of some games. Ergo, I've ended up with full versions here after enjoying the free ones on EGS.

Not to mention EGS' inevitable DRM creep on many of their games. As they add achievements and other EOS dependencies the games eventually become tied to the Epic client.

Thusly Epic isn't totally destroying things with their freebies. In fact Epic's behaviour is Epic's own enemy right now.

I have done that a couple of times, obviously the game price on GOG was only few cents, so the game was almost free here as well then.

But otherwise it's a good point, especially with games which are DRM-free on Steam or Epic, the whole DRM-free version aspect is kind of useless then.

In some cases the proper incentive can be GOG extra goodies, which are sometimes available only on GOG.
Like discussed in another thread, having original game versions as extras would be a good incentive for some people.

For me, the reason has at least in one case (Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders) been the fact that GOG version has the support for FM Towns version, which my disk version didn't have.

Beyond that, I suppose supporting GOG's business model would be the only true incentive for re-buying already owned DRM-free games.

It's a mixed bag. I recall someone from Indonesia saying every GOG game is much more expensive for them due to lack of regional currency pricing and GOG supporting fewer regions. There are some 20 year old games here that are cheap (eg, Thief's & System Shock's) and other 25-30 year old games that aren't. Most "digital only" games prices are controlled entirely by the publisher whilst games that came on disc can still be bought on Ebay and as other have said a 75% off digital 'discount' can still be higher than an everyday Ebay price even after postage (just like some Kindle books are more expensive than used paperbacks despite the promise of lower distributions costs = 'lower pricing').

I get why GOG thinks games shouldn't be discounted too highly to "not devalue them", yet take a look at 20 year old CD music albums or movies (eg, The Matrix DVD) and they are little more than £2 on any day on Ebay (90% discount from the original £20 price tag 20 years ago), so it's still entirely normal for entertainment media in general to fall in 80% price after 20 years and some 20-25% off discounts for 30 year old DOS games (eg, "Links Golf (1990) is worth almost 8x Deus Ex's") is more than a little "optimistic".

Ah, and you think a Single Player RPG without steady payment mechanics can make you between 3.7 and 5.8 billion USD a year?
Because THAT is the range of how much Fortnite made Epic between 2018 and 2021.
Not in total but _every_ year.

That's like 2.7mil a day.

Cyberpunk and Witcher have to sell a lot of copies to get there...

And Epic isn't only burning that money with Epic by giving you additional price reductions from their own pocket.
They use the money to throw out free games at their audience every week and to buy games exclusively.
Most of the time for a year, sometimes forever.

CDPR or GoG can't compete here in any way.

Unless those games are free now and forever in EGS, your argument doesn't make any sense.

Let's say you want to buy Alien: Isolation or the Batman Arkham games now. Can you get them for free from Epic? No? Then how does the fact that they were free for a short period of time somewhere in the past, negate the idea of getting them now on e.g. GOG (or Epic for that matter)?

It is not like GOG hasn't offered lots of time-restricted freebies in the past as well. Does that automatically make all those games worthless, both on GOG and other stores?

You are wrong. That comparison is a little unfair.

(Going by the Euro prices here:)

Epic:
Terror of Hemasaurus: base price = €9,99 - on offer for €6,99 (30% off)
Steelrising - Bastille: base price = 59,99 - on offer for €38,99 (35%)
Total = base €69,98 - offer = €45,98
plus Epic exclusive 25% coupon = €34,49

GOG:
Terror of Hemasaurus: base price = €10,79 - on offer for €7,59 (30% off)
Steelrising - Bastille: base price = €59,99 - on offer for €35,99 (40% off)
Total = base €70,79 - offer = €43,58
No exclusive coupon available on top of that.

So, if we're looking at the prices WITHOUT the (subsidized by multibillion company Tencent) coupon, the (on offer) GOG price is better.

Firstly, not every game released DRM-free on GOG is also DRM-free elsewhere. So if you're betting on that "fact," I think you'll be sadly disappointed.

Now, as for GOG's pricing competitiveness...

... GOG pricing has always been higher than most other digital stores, not terribly high in most cases. Still, GOG provides DRM-free copies with a small (generally) premium.

If you aren't willing to pay a little more for DRM-free games, sobeit. Plenty of people play games simply for the moment-to-moment experience and care little about ultimate ownership. To me, that small premium is worth it. (GOG, if you heard me... I said "small.") ;)

My only real issue with GOG's pricing (although I will moan about high prices on my "most wanted" list) is that it's erratic. Part of that I suspect is GOG's inability to negotiate as well as players like Steam and EGS. Part is inherent in digital delivery and the shenanigans that result in an opaque system where "supply" is no longer an issue. And lastly... the general world economy; companies that have no supply lines (digital) don't often act like brick and mortars during downturns (prices often inflate instead of deflate)... and there are certainly a number of games here that have gone up in price over the last year.

Still, there are games quite worth GOG prices. Yes, you may wait here awhile if you're bargain hunting newer games (I still won't touch Gloomhaven at nearly $30... even though I want to play it "bad."), but IMO that's the state of DRM-free storefronts in 2022.

Be it as it may, if you are not able to finance the asking price, you might be either missing a certain point in your life or unaware of the multitude of game acquirement options. I mean, we are adults right?

The prices on GOG are almost always exactly the same as Steam or Epic. I've only seen one case in recent years where a game was legitimately cheaper on Steam. It's completely unreasonable to expect GOG to have the exact same sales as another store; that's just not how stores work, like at all. It's not uncommon for GOG to be running sales where the games are cheaper on GOG at that time compared to anywhere else. Any other pricing disparity is due to regional pricing stuff, which GOG may or may not have any control over; often this seems to be up to the publishers.

Whenever I see prices, they are the same on all 3 platforms and only differ if there are differences in sales periods. I dont see Witcher selling cheaper on Steam or Epic compared to GOG.

Technically Epic is cheaper because they also give that 25% off coupon on top but that is because Epic is currently fighting to take market share away from Steam whom its a direct competitor. GOG is kind of separate doing DRM-free. Nevermind the fact that Epic has a huge wallet with Fortnite and Unreal engine license fees. GOG cant compete there.

I also disagree with the since Epic gaveaway games before for a short period, GOG games are permanently rendered invalid. These are short time periods and people have missed out on giveaways. GOG also does more giveaways than Steam so its not like they arnt doing anything. They could be more aggressive like make DLC content exclusive to GOG versions of their games I guess (like have this current Witcher 3 update be free for GOG members but something like 3 bucks for steam and epic owners). Users will likely hate them for that though so may not be the best idea.

Yeah, Steam used to have those sales where if you spent more than X, let's say it was $50, you would get an extra $10 discount no matter what you bought, and there were no rules that would prevent using those "complete your collection" kind of personal discounts with that.

Interestingly enough, they haven't been doing those after Epic started their thing.

GOG is really doing their own thing, as they haven't had anything like that ever, unless one counts that price compensation thing for regional pricing, which has since been cancelled.


One big problem with Epic is that they are actually giving too much free games.
They have something free to claim every week, and in addition to that, they have some random free games for Amazon subscribers.

So anyone thinking to buy something from Epic is probably going to think it over, because there's a good chance that the game will be available for free somewhere sometime, so spending any money on it, even with discounts, could be wasted money.

I probably have hundreds of games on Epic, and I have never spent a cent there, and never even installed their client!

Same here. Almost 300 games in my Epic account.
All free, never spent a single cent there.
Played only three, maybe four (?) of these games so far.
Basically use them as demos, to see whether I like the game enough to buy a DRM-free GOG version (hasn't been the case yet).

I've tried to get every free game when they are available. Though i likely missed a few when they suddenly went daily. Yet later giveaways are identical to previous ones, so they were giving 2 games away, 1 you might already have and you can get what you missed, and a new one. So there's always something.

Actually rather enjoyed Loop Hero, edited the ini config to make getting equipment a lot easier and it was a lot faster to finish.

True and not only that, they give away some high quality games too like last year giving away the Tomb Raider survivor trilogy. They also apparently gave away the Batman Arkhams and GTAV.

I dont think its a bad idea to give away old AAAs as they will still attract eyes but giving one away instead of a set could encourage people to join. A less heavy UI would also help. Also doesnt help that there doesnt seem to be a community tab there so people dont visit to talk but just to see what free game is there. Users are going to Epic with the mindset of free games as opposed to what games are there when they do have an admittedly good library.

Ive come into PC gaming more recently and from my perspective, it does seem like Steam is the worst of the 3 from a pure consumer perspective. Steam doesnt give away any games unlike Epic or even GOG, is not DRM-free, and their sales result in prices that are the same as Epic and GOG (and technically more expensive than Epic). While I visit Epic for free games, I dont really visit steam.

Not sure if I follow your reasoning regarding sales...

... but...

... GOG sales prices tend to be either the same or higher than other digital stores (usually higher).

Yes, there are exceptions, but this is the norm for GOG sales prices.