That's disappointing news, would of liked to continue the journey with them.
Not to be it seems, maybe they will reconsider it at a later date.

Well, that's something to look forward to.

A pity if it's true that the dev isn't planning to release it here on GOG, or at least not immediately.

I personally don´t really mind some time of waiting, (as my backlog is huge) but holding back BannerSaga II from being at GOG.com at launch will trigger a vicious circle, even if it got released later!
Less sales of the GOG version due to the not so suiting release date -> Worse ratio in comparison to Steam-Version -> BigBullshitArguments for the future!

Sadly hear that. The Banner Saga II and Torment: Numenerea are my most anticipated games for this year and I have intention to buy both of them here on GOG. I'don't use Steam a lot because obviously I prefer DRM - Free. On the other hand, I have here the first game and I not sure of buying the second if is Steam only (I don't hate Steam, just prefer GOG, and I don't like have several accounts for gaming).

Piracy is not a great argument. I understand Stoic have fear about it. They have done a very hard working with this game (they are a small team) and they have right to do profitable their game but I think this is not the right way.

Hopefully they change their minds soon and I'd like GOG fighting to bring this game here.

nvm

I did not need to hear that. :( I was under the impression that recently, most developers were actually viewing GOG as a beneficial digital distribution platform. I really would have liked to get Banner Saga 2 on GOG.

Edit: Between this, realizing that the codes GOG has been giving out as free, probably weren't so because GOG was making loads of money, but because the codes were free from the developers/distributors, and some real world problems that have been bothering me, I'm getting into quite a depressing mood.

Cool news. The first game was very nice :)

I find their statement odd about the game being pirated. It implies it was pirated before the GOG release. And since it's a digital item, once there is one pirated copy available, then it's out there and available to anyone that wants it. If it was already pirated before the GOG release, then it was already available to the pirates. To then note that the DRM-free GOG release induced a spike in pirated copies would only seem to indicate that the game came to the attention of pirates again and they decided to grab it at that time.

So I wonder: do they really think they'd have sold all those post-GOG pirated copies if they'd decided not to release on GOG at all?

Piracy is just a lame excuse, I bet that there is going to be a torrent on the first day of the Steam release of The Banner Saga 2 just like every other game that doesn't have Denuvo. They probably just don't want to work on a DRM Free version of the game for the time being. ;)

Anyone else who backed the first game on Kickstarter will remember the difficulty we had getting Stoic to release the DRM free version let alone on GOG. It took a month of hounding them AFTER the Steam release. Their excuse was *technical difficulties*. It really takes a longtime to rip steamworks out. I dont expect the game to come here (if at all) until well after steam.

If you look at the discussion thread linked above, someone points out that the Steam version of Banner Saga was already essentially DRM-free (ignoring the arguments for the client itself serving as a form of DRM) and thus easily pirated.

Really? I didn't really expect any sequel to it. It seemed like it wasn't much of a financial success even though I liked the game a lot.

I fully intend to pursue a refund from Stoic if they intend to stick with their "no DRM-free release". I only back projects that promise a standalone release (GOG, Humble, installers on their own website) and the fact that they lured people to up their pledge by promising all three Episodes stinks this whole thing up even further.

I hope this comes to bite the &%!$?! in the ass, especially seeing how much sympathy they received during their "Saga copyright" dispute. I know I am not taking this one sitting down.

Its always the piracy isnt it? "A pirated copy = lost sell" ha ha ha no... its more like "Pirated copy = potential purchase" . Anyway the game probably will appear on TPB and other trackers within 24 hours after release . Then I want them see put the blame on drm-free .

I got the game on steam thanks to cs:go items and a friend from Norway( they got the game 5 euros cheaper than EU) and was thinking to get the trilogy once it appears on GOG but seems that this will either never happen or will be delayed a lot ..

Edit: A bit too lazy to check the hub but a dev mentioned earlier this month that they were planning to do GOG release 2 weeks after Steam but seeing the source posted by OP it showed that they dont really care about GOG atm.

Pretty much this. Someone who pirates a product is someone who didn't intend to buy the product in the first place - ergo, pirated copies are not lost sales. And I completely agree: pirated copies can actually lead to a legal purchase, like a demo would.

Concerning Banner Saga specifically, well, I can't say I won't be disappointed if we don't see the sequel(s?) on GOG. But I can certainly live with that. I will not throw a single cent at a Steam-exclusive - I have an ample supply of DRM-free games here. Count me as a lost sale.