Couldn´t you try to do "very little unfair pricing" then?
Like converting a 10$ Game into an 8.50€-Title! You proberbly get what I´m thinking about...

yeah thanks ;P

i know that there are allready some regional priced games + gog offers customers bonus codes if you buy a regional priced game

i dont have a problem with regional prices as long drm stay intact ... gog should change the whole shop (without offering bonus codes) ... yeah some members of the com will go nuts .. but this would be a smart business decision and would bring some new games @ gog

BUT
if not regional pricing ... whats the catch with this nordic games response then ?

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/last_chance_special/post729

seems like gog trys to hard to be different ... please dont fuck it up gog

I know where you're coming from. DRM-free is what brought me here. I think GOG's leadership have made a mistake, but it's their business, not mine. They can do what they want with it. *shrugs* I think it's going to cost them. Time will tell whether they regret it or not.

First, I'm dev (not even game dev anymore). I'm writing code, not selling it, so you probably should take my opinion with a grain of salt.

The problem is: whether they really sell enough to cover loses from smaller price tag everywhere, especially with retarded (no, really) "if not on steam, I don't buy it" culture? Will it be true even for older titles, where demand is lower?
I would like to believe that the answer is "yes", but still have my doubts.

And I stand behind Gog "no to regional pricing" policy 100%. It's just convenient way to rip off people in different markets. I might be rather well-off myself (because writing software for banks has its perks), so it doesn't really concerns me personally that much, but I'm in minority. I beliewe that current major publishers pricing model is sick, unfair and probably in long term - unsustainable. They have every right to pursue it, thought. If you work for shareholders, the only thing that matters to you as a CEO is next fiscal year (ok, that's oversimplification, but you get my drift).

thank you

I have been using my debit card for all my online shopping for the past 6 years in Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom, and possibly other countries with GOG being one of the many, many places I have shopped from using my debit card.

Well I'm not here for the forums and I just stumbled upon this limited time offer due to not being home during the weekend but I think I want to comment on this one:

I personally have miXed opinions on regional pricing (and since I didn't follow the commotion around it I may well be WAY off anyways)... Should note that I'm boycotting steam since it's very beginning when it came along with CS 1.6. About the "convenient rip off", I'm having regional priced products in Germany anyways, free market economy and stuff, so I'm kinda used to the "rip off" anyways. So while it sucks for my wallet, if it means I'm retaining access to games that were otherwise impossible to aquire via legal means (don't do piracy at home, kids), or get new (indi) games even, I can deal with it.
Steam won't be getting any of me either way so I'm fine with many things that keep GoG running. :)

I'm firmly against regional pricing - it has been ripping off non-US gamers (+50% price increase) for years - but I think there is a possible solution for Nordic Games.

Need equal treatment ?

Fine, then look at the currency rates since 2010:

1) 1 euro never fell below 1.2 dollars. Pick 1.2 or 1.25 (current is at 1.31, was at 1.45 a few years ago) and roll with it. If the euro exceptionally drops, change it again.

2) 1 australian dollar haven't fell below 0.8. Currently sitting at 0.93. Pick 0.8 or 0.75.

3) Do the same with roubles: see variations, expectations, pick a comfortable but reasonably fair rate.

...

I'm against regional pricing, but I'm not dumb: I understand there is serious business constraints, and the publisher can't change the prices every week.

That's why settling on a currency rate (in favor of the publisher side) for each year or 6 months period (with a clause allowing sudden changes by the publisher if the currency rate goes below/beyond x or its variation is higher than a certain limit) could perfectly be done.

...

Getting a +30% to +50% price increase simply because a publisher is too lazy (or too greedy) to answer the question of currency rates is unacceptable.

Getting a +7% or +10% price increase, simply because the publisher business model could be severely impacted by a current rate change is tolerable and fair (in my opinion).

Is it feasible, possible ?

Yes, hundreds of devs are already doing that:
- they price their game at say 10 USD
- convert it to euros = 7.61 euros
- round it up to 8 euros (+5% price increase, tolerable), or 8.5 euros (+11.6% price increase, borderline)
- go to Steam regional pricing option, set the euro price to 8 or 8.5.

What about retail ? Price the game at 8.5 euros (+ whatever extra the retail system adds).

=> equal treatment between retail and digital distribution achieved, with a tolerable regional pricing.

...

PS: it is NOT about the money.

Everyone here knows how to pirate a game (it's dead easy). Everyone here know about Steam sales. I'm perfectly able to pay my games for more than twice their current price. I already spend a boatload of money in gaming.

The only problem with regional pricing is how it's unfairly and unjustifiably discriminating between customers: there is no actual need to apply a 1:1 currency rate (between euro and US dollar), there is no need to practically double the price for australian gamers.

It's simply exploiting the challenge of currency rates to rip-off foreign gamers. It's a terrible business practice that lacks any ethic and respect for the customers, thus why I'm against it.

What benefit does being able to pay in local currency give gog? Do they feel they are missing out on a lot of business from people who can't pay in dollars or who get charged a fee for it?

Gog could have carried on charging in dollars and no games would have been pulled from the catalog.

I feel like the regional pricing issue is getting mixed in with the local currencies issue by a lot of people, including gog themselves, who haven't done enough to separate the two issues in their recent announcements.

Remember that bringing in regional pricing was what everyone objected to, i.e. games being more expensive in different regions; the being able to pay in different currencies was something that gog were going to bring in at at the same time as the regional pricing but was a separate issue that some people liked and some didn't.

What I'm saying is: we are in danger of considering the local currency move as a necessary step in keeping prices fair and equal, when it isn't.

Except that there is no motivation for Nordic to use your solution beyond PR stuff.

Not when a bigger crowd is willing to pay the regional price that the loss sales of the few that are put off by the pricing are inconsequential.

Regional pricing can only be changed what you are able to convince the majority of consumers, from all platform.

If you look from the publisher perspective, What, you already demand so much things, and then demand that I work more to EARN LESS?

Too much soap-boxing going around, not enough screaming about what we should catch, lest we regret it forever.

I've chosen Painkiller, Spellforce 1 and 2 both Shadow and Dragon.

The RPG+RTS mix in spellforce is very interesting to me, although I've never played it.

Anything else I should add to that list to avoid raging at the heavens à la Willain Shatner in Star Trek II?

Maybe this thread can be useful to you in that regard. :)

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/nordic_bucket_list_top_5_games_you_must_own/page1

The bigger crowd is actually looking to alternative means and that's not always legal means.

I'm firmly against regional pricing as well.

IN UK you can get The Sims 4 for 38 pounds, here in Australia, we pay $90 ($100 for premium) bucks from your local EB/JB-HIFI.

If you convert 38 pounds, that's roughly ~$70 here.

Remove the whole exchange money BS, and it's $52 bucks difference between UK and Australia of the same version of the game, excluding currency.

Half the reason to use the internet is to look for better and cheaper deals, not more expensive.

Thanks, I was unaware of that thread's existence.

That's exactly the indifferent way of thinking that made Steam this big and screwed up and that will inevitably lead to GoG being like Steam in the end.

Maybe some of you know "Boondock Saints":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSKVQsMW_pM