Hello,

As everyone knows Hogwarts Legacy was already launched, and after check the GOG Wishlist some days ago i created a post on Steam forum promoting the GOG Wish for Hogwarts Legacy, because i believe a lot of Steam users doesn't know the wonderful work GOG does by fighting for user rights of owning their games.

But after a day my post was removed with a SPAM warning, i left in the attachment if someone want to take action, i already replied saying this promotes Steam Monopoly and it seems an offense to the Competition Law.

As stated, from my perspective this is simply against the Competition Law, disguised with "SPAM Message redundant or don't fit the topic"

My gamer dream is to have triple A games in GOG on launch date, since i'm proud to be a part of this project as a user and i will defend it with all the love i can give to it! <3

A good day to all :)

Hello,

You're also not allowed to link to other stores here on GOG, unless it's for a giveaway.
Forum code of conduct

edit: mechmouse raised some fair points.

You should be contacting developers and publishers directly, whether through social media or their websites. Also, for big-budget / AAA games, you should realize that you probably won't have much of an effect because GOG has a very small market share and doesn't bring in much money, and of course has a DRM-free requirement for single-player titles, so day-1 launch here for AAA games is unlikely to ever be a priority for the devs and pubs. Contacting indie devs might have great success.

You are seriously misinterpreting competition laws.
The purpose and extent of such laws is not to go into some store and start promoting a competing company there. The purpose is to allow customers have choices and price competition. GOG is not a project, it's a store.
There is no project to be a part of here. If you want to contribute to some projects that benefit gaming, contribute something to ScummVM or Wine or something like that.

Buying from GOG is good because you get DRM-free games, and it also registers as a DRM-free purchase in statistics.

But beyond that, it's just another store, really.

GOG is CD Projekt Blue.

The community discussions on Steam are thought to be exactly that: community discussions. It'd be arguable that any moderation on a forum like that is in breach of competition law. Just because something doesn't pass the pub test, doesn't make it against the law after all.

Furthermore news regarding the extreme moderation of steam forums isn't new. Steam itself gives free reign to the game owners to assign moderators themselves and moderate as they see fit (within Steam guidelines). Ergo: nobody from Steam is breaking any sweat when moderators abuse the system and have comments deleted under the guise of any number of unrelated reasoning. Some ban users without any reason. Steam itself doesn't really care until someone drags them kicking and screaming into the spotlight.

No store is required by law to allow advertising for their competitors.

Naturally, GOG has also locked threads that promote other stores.

Easier typed than done

Most large Devs and Pubs have no "Contact Us" outside of Press release and support, both will put "can we have a GOG release?" filed under B1N

Social Media is hit and miss, if they don't allow Direct message which again most big firms don't, then your at the mercy of algorithms and hashtag impressions.

Quite a few smaller Teams tend to use Social media as transmission only

Part of the whole "yes Valve DOES have a monopoly" is the level to which devs and pubs use the Steam forums to communicate with end users.

Yes, Steam does by any normal legal definition, accounting for 50-75% of the market (depending on how you cut it). Most legal definitions of monopoly power start at 25%. Yes, it's bad for consumers, even if they don't think it is.

However, as other users have said, they're under no obligation to let you advertise other stores in their own forum. It's a bit like you won't be allowed to walk into Pão de Açúcar and hold up a sign saying "Come shop at Lidl"

Fair enough. We may have gotten some releases here by people requesting them on Steam forums, or at least encouraged some releases. I think it's truer of "AA" (and lower) devs and pubs than AAA's though.

Sure but it was not exactly selling, i about to make more "multiplatform" which i believe is a different discussion I already do that, the response from WB Games for this case was a pretty much generic answer:
"Although there are no announced plans to bring the game to other platforms, I will be sharing your feedback with the proper team for further review. While the team does review all feedback, please note that they are unable to respond individually but take all feedback and reports such as this into consideration." You're right but if everyone which uses Steam or Epic Games since they are very big companies they will not know GOG until someone tells them, i think acting like other brands doesn't exist is no solution, specially when the generic advertisement is mostly made within comparison to competitors.

Even if for you it's just a store, for me is a project to be proud of, because they provide a space where users are respected and i believe it's not so easy for GOG to convince developers to publish here, however we have great title such Plague Tale which was a game that i enjoyed so much to play, and didn't even blinked when i pre-ordered because i trust GOG.

Even the Projects for gaming on Linux are supported by Valve using their Proton engine just because they have money to throw in, but of course the Aim was not to include users from Linux but yes to provide a "stable" way to play games on Steam Deck. If that is true when we amplify that to other sectors, you shouldn't have a Nokia if you work at Apple, you shouldn't enter an Adidas shop using Nike stuff or even use a HP Laptop while working for Lenovo, etc... Totally agree!

I just wanted to get this off my chest, because i feel this big companies don't care anymore about users, also what i think is the Developers/Publishers see GOG as the end of the lifecycle while it haves potential for so much more if the developers and publishers put their work here.


Many thanks to all of you to discuss this with me and sharing your opinions! :)

You're not comparing like with like. In "amplifying" this, you've created an entirely different scenario to the one you got into trouble for.

Examples:

You can own a Samsung phone if you work at Apple. You cannot go into an Apple store and tell customers to go next door and buy a Samsung instead and expect to not be removed from the store.

You can enter an Adidas shop while wearing Nike clothes, but you cannot expect to be allowed to tell customers in that store that your Adidas trainers are better and they should go next door and buy trainers there instead. Again, security will remove you.

With your example about working for Lenovo, then they won't care if you use a laptop from HP. However, if you posted on social media about how much better your HP laptop was than Lenovo ones, then you might discover that you've breached the terms of your contract and get fired for misconduct.

Ultimately, don't confuse using different products with going into a store and actively advertising a competitor - which is kind of what you did. As much as I don't like Steam, I understand their response and can't criticise it.

Personally, I would agree that such an attitude is against Competition Spirit, and if I were a community manager on Steam I wouldn't remove a link to GOG (especially if it's only about voting for a game, not actually buying it).

However, there is no Competition Law that says a store should allow advertising of the competitor. And your post can be classified as spam.

The problem is scope

Steam isn't JUST a store, its a huge multifaceted platform

It offers a hosted forum service, these are created and administrated by the devs and publishers of the game, and in many cases is the primary point of contact with said group.

While the guy working in the Apple Store shouting "Buy a PC!" can be expected not to hawk their competitors wares; curtailing posts referencing other stores than Steam of the Steam forum is far closer to Apple blocking adverts for a Google Pixel on all iDevices.

Valve has dominance over PC gaming and it has control over a significant communication platform for PC gamers. If this was Microsoft doing the same kind of stuff they'd be raked over the coals for it!

But you can't blame Steam/Valve for that.
They aren't doing anything to prevent developers/publishers using some other platforms, like competing stores or social media for that very purpose.

If they choose to use Steam forums, then it's their choice, and it is in fact they, not Valve, who is creating the problem.

All developers could simply just stop using Steam forums and go to Reddit or whatever if they wanted to.


I suppose there is some irony in the fact that Steam is actually a great counter force to Microsoft.
They offer a place to buy games, which is not Microsoft store, and they also support Linux as an alternative to Windows (more than GOG does, to add to the irony there).