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General discussion (archive)The Inevitable Decline of GOG(98 posts)(98 posts)
(98 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 14, 2009
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BladderOfDoom: What I am getting at is that a pattern I see in a lot of businesses basically has them start out altruistic, offering a high quality service and basically being quite awesome, and then sliding downhill once reaching a certain level of success and the greed machine kicks in.
GOG is doing for games what Criterion has been doing for films. If Criterion is any indication GOG will have maintain a strong cult following, probably even more than Criterion since the offer better quality at lower prices instead of higher prices.
Posted April 14, 2009
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Petrell: Also neither Atari nor Lucasarts have reached agreement with GOG to offer their games here.

Yeah, I wondered about that, isn't Atari just Interplay with a new name?
Posted April 14, 2009
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Petrell: Also neither Atari nor Lucasarts have reached agreement with GOG to offer their games here.
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Miaghstir: Yeah, I wondered about that, isn't Atari just Interplay with a new name?

Uhm, no. Atari is one of the OLD players in the industry. It was founded in 1972.
Posted April 14, 2009
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Miaghstir: Yeah, I wondered about that, isn't Atari just Interplay with a new name?
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Wishbone: Uhm, no. Atari is one of the OLD players in the industry. It was founded in 1972.

That's not the original Atari, though, which is long dead.
Posted April 14, 2009
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Miaghstir: Yeah, I wondered about that, isn't Atari just Interplay with a new name?
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Wishbone: Uhm, no. Atari is one of the OLD players in the industry. It was founded in 1972.

Apparently I just mixed up Infogrames and Interplay.
Posted April 15, 2009
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Miaghstir: Yeah, I wondered about that, isn't Atari just Interplay with a new name?
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Wishbone: Uhm, no. Atari is one of the OLD players in the industry. It was founded in 1972.

Yep, the original Atari got bought out a long time ago, what everyone knows as Atari now has nothing to do with that one. Atari is just a brand that gets tossed around, like the commodore.
Posted April 15, 2009
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Wishbone: Uhm, no. Atari is one of the OLD players in the industry. It was founded in 1972.
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drmlessgames: Yep, the original Atari got bought out a long time ago, what everyone knows as Atari now has nothing to do with that one. Atari is just a brand that gets tossed around, like the commodore.

True, since the name and assets were sold to Hasbro Interactive in 1998, the original company hasn't really existed anymore. But Atari is NOT the "new name for Interplay" ;-)
Posted April 15, 2009
Why worry about releasing obscure games? People will buy them and rate them, review them and then they'll be an 'intresting and fun game that alot of people missed the first time around'.
A little trick GoG could use is having 3/4 star+ as the default viewing mode. Sorts the bad games out pretty quick even if they are contractually obliged to offer them for sale.
Posted April 15, 2009
This is how I imagine Gog could turn into a nightmare... and I hope things will not evolve this way, of course.
What I fear is that Gog's success could possibly make editors aware that they have underestimated the interest that players have for their oldies. In a word, Gog will remind them that lots of people around the world are still willing to pay some $$$ for their games.
As a conclusion:
- editors will stop tolerating abandonware and ask their games to be removed from abandonware websites, which will eventually lead abandonware to die
- editors will want to control the selling or non-selling of their old games, some will re-release their old games themselves and some will decide not to let anyone do so (for example, we all know how LucasArts preciously keeps its vintage games)
- Gog will be left with only games which editors no longer exist and hardly known crappy games
Posted April 15, 2009
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zuhutay: - editors will want to control the selling or non-selling of their old games, some will re-release their old games themselves and some will decide not to let anyone do so (for example, we all know how LucasArts preciously keeps its vintage games)

This is allready happening. That's why i think we won't see Top 10 or Top 20 games on Gog soon...:(
And look at Ubisoft: Why didn't let Gog have Heroes III?
Post edited April 15, 2009 by DG
Posted April 15, 2009
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DG: And look at Ubisoft: Why didn't let Gog have Heroes III?

Ubi gave only 7 (I think) games for now, maybe after certain number of sales they will be willing to let GOG distribute more games.
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zuhutay: As a conclusion:
- editors will stop tolerating abandonware and ask their games to be removed from abandonware websites, which will eventually lead abandonware to die
- editors will want to control the selling or non-selling of their old games, some will re-release their old games themselves and some will decide not to let anyone do so (for example, we all know how LucasArts preciously keeps its vintage games)
- Gog will be left with only games which editors no longer exist and hardly known crappy games

The first one is no problem if I can get (buy) their games somewhere, preferrably on GOG. But the latter ones are a problem. Let's hope the developers (or rights holders) won't get diseased by EA syndrome (ask money even for patches - the Sims 2 mini expansions are merely a patch for me).
Post edited April 15, 2009 by klaymen
Posted April 15, 2009
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zuhutay: This is how I imagine Gog could turn into a nightmare... and I hope things will not evolve this way, of course.
What I fear is that Gog's success could possibly make editors aware that they have underestimated the interest that players have for their oldies. In a word, Gog will remind them that lots of people around the world are still willing to pay some $$$ for their games.
As a conclusion:
- editors will stop tolerating abandonware and ask their games to be removed from abandonware websites, which will eventually lead abandonware to die
- editors will want to control the selling or non-selling of their old games, some will re-release their old games themselves and some will decide not to let anyone do so (for example, we all know how LucasArts preciously keeps its vintage games)
- Gog will be left with only games which editors no longer exist and hardly known crappy games

You mean publishers?
I think publishers will keep letting GoG do what they do. This way, it's less work for publishers.
Note to GoG: PLEASE don't ever go the way of Facebook and other types of services. AKA, changing the interface to make it "better." Those types of changes are always, always bad.
Posted April 15, 2009
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zuhutay: - editors will want to control the selling or non-selling of their old games, some will re-release their old games themselves and some will decide not to let anyone do so (for example, we all know how LucasArts preciously keeps its vintage games)
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DG: This is allready happening. That's why i think we won't see Top 10 or Top 20 games on Gog soon...:(

We've already gotten some very big games. Certainly Descent and Duke Nuke'em and Fall-Out were top games in their time. Others like Jagged Alliance weren't quite as well known but were still very well reviewed and have achieved lasting fame. It's far from only the also-rans that are here on GOG, at least at this time.
Posted April 15, 2009
Yes, i know about those games and i agree; they are GOOD. :) But lately, with the exception of some games, i saw a decline in quality titles. I mean, Gorky 17? Alien Nations? Combat Chess? Kingdom: The Far Reaches? Seven Kingdoms? Robinson's Requie? And others. Some of this games i've played in their time and were not so good games, compared to others. Just mediocre, at best. Just look at the Top 50 wished games. Those are the games i wanna see here.
Posted April 15, 2009
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DG: My only concern right now is that GOG will become the waste bin of major publishers, sending to GOG only their "meh" old games and keeping their "Good" old game for themselvs, to be sold in retails, just like now... I mean, it's allready happen. Sure, there are some good new games around (Prince of persia, for ex), but the rest of them...
Where are the games in the Top 10, Top 20, or even Top 50 wish list? There soooo many really GOOD old games out there, and all we get are mediocre titles, at best.
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JudasIscariot: Most of those games in the top 10 are in licensing limbo/hell. I am quite positive that GOG is well aware that we want them but can't get them just yet due to the legal morass that is the gaming industry.

That's actually pretty close to what is happening. We could already write a book about who owns what (i.e. company X owns the brand, company Y owns the tech and two other guys own something else - at the same time none of them is interested to do anything with it). Still, we are working on all the cases - even the most difficult ones - and as you can hopefully see (can you?), there is more and more stuff showing up and there is way more to come :)
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)The Inevitable Decline of GOG(98 posts)(98 posts)
(98 posts)