Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

GOG.com

RapineDel

Augur
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Messages
423
Worth mentioning (it's not likely but let's entertain it for a moment) that if in a few years time CD Projekt decide to close GOG and just focus on CDPR everyone would have all their games backed up, not to mention they'd all float around the internet somewhere, preserved for all time.

If the same thing were to happen to the Epic Store, everyone would lose their libraries and Kotaku articles would pop up about "entitled, toxic gamers who think they deserve to keep the games they paid for, despite them just being licenses".

GOG have something worth preserving and I hope they can figure it out while continuing to be DRM free only.
 

Comte

Guest
“I know that February was a really bad month, but January on the other hand was excellent. We were in the middle of a general restructuring, moving some teams around, not unprecedented. But layoffs that big have never happened before.”

evlhnk.gif


They refused Grimoire. They brought it upon themselves.

Get Woke Go Broke
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I think GOG is suffering financially for the same reason that so many indie/AA (and even some AAA) games are doing poorly on Steam and everywhere else right now. There's some kind of demographic transition going on in the gaming space. The same people that fueled the Steam indie boom in 2012-2014 also fueled GOG, and those people seem to not be buying as much games as they used to.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
Makes sense to me that GOG is suffering financially for the same reason that so many indie/AA (and even some AAA) games are doing poorly on Steam and everywhere else right now. There's some kind of demographic transition going on in the gaming space. The same people that fueled the Steam indie boom in 2012 also fueled GOG, and those people seem to not be buying as much games as they used to.
maybe it's just because no good games are releasing
 

Baron Dupek

Arcane
Joined
Jul 23, 2013
Messages
1,870,765
Call me optimistic but GOG having clear access without clutter would make it good indie site with some old throwbacks but then - something went wrong. Bad design? Who knows.
we all knows
Januszerka's School of Business
 
Last edited:

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

Filthy Kalinite
Patron
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Messages
19,118
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
GOG's problems may be because of something I've come to think as backlog saturation.

I mean how many additional games does one need after first hundred?
Makes waiting for bargains easier too.
 

Dux

Arcane
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
635
Location
Sweden
The one way I can see GOG remaining somewhat competitive is by embracing its outsider status - not try to conform. Quintessentially, GOG is an anti-DRM platform with a - albeit diminishing - old-school image. The anti-DRM philosophy alone should be enough to carve out a healthy piece of the market considering a lot of gamers, both old and new, are fed up with the bullshit saturating PC gaming as a whole. There is a formula for success here but it's up to GOG. Their recent decision-making hasn't exactly instilled confidence.

Additionally, they have to decide how they want to make money. There is money to be made from selling old games as well as new games, but if they persist with the frequent sales then no one is going to buy at full-price - ever. The fact that I can buy ten games in one sale without really going over my daily food budget is quite telling.
 

Zboj Lamignat

Arcane
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
5,523
The problem with GOG is that they had their niche, good old games, but they were never good at it. Their "releases" were pretty much something any PC gamer can do in 5 minutes with dosbox (or other means in case of some games) and carried exactly the same same problems that said games had with modern systems when run outside of GOG's installers.

I mean, how many examples of good old games that were actually difficult/impossible to get and run on modern systems and that got fixed and released by GOG do you know? I can think of two: Chaos Gate and Wizards and Warriors. Both are great games, but this is still a shockingly bad result.

Then they went for being normal game store, but I don't think that their ace in the hole - no DRM, is as important to the general population as people think and is a double edged sword to boot.
 

Ismaul

Thought Criminal #3333
Patron
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
1,871,807
Location
On Patroll
Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech A Beautifully Desolate Campaign My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
There is a formula for success here but it's up to GOG. Their recent decision-making hasn't exactly instilled confidence.
I don't think it's that easy for GOG going forward.

We all know that the old games business is greatly reduced now that we've re-bought them already. GOG must've felt it a while ago, since years ago they made a move to sell newer games and rebranded the site. But I think this venture didn't work out as planned. Publishers are reluctant to release any new game on the platform, and so GOG has often become the bargain bin where titles end up a long while after "normal" distribution. That shit doesn't make that much profit; at that point, customers are in it for the best bargain - they've already waited a while, they can wait a bit more. Also, every fucking publisher is trying his hand at his own store, and pushing for the Netflix subscription model. That model happens to work with exclusive content to make you subscribe. I get the feeling things are going to get harder for GOG, as publishers will want less and less to release early there if at all.

I don't even know if there's a formula for future success. Combine the desire of publishers to maximize the profit they make by selling directly, and their risk-adverse attitude against DRM-free games, and I'm not sure GOG can do much about anything if the publishers don't play ball.
 

Alienman

Retro-Fascist
Patron
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
17,046
Location
Mars
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
An idea they could go for is to repackage these old games and sell as physical copies. I know I would be interested, and I think many others that like to collect boxed games. It would require a pretty big investment though.
 

Squid

Arbiter
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
536
The lack of big titles really does sting on GOG and doesn't help attract new customers either. Everyone I know that I tell about GOG thinks, "Oh that's real neat. DRM free huh? I like Steam a whole lot though :)"
I try to wait and buy nearly anything I can on GOG rather than anywhere else. Steam's a second option but less preferred.
 

Dux

Arcane
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
635
Location
Sweden
I don't think it's that easy for GOG going forward.

We all know that the old games business is greatly reduced now that we've re-bought them already. GOG must've felt it a while ago, since years ago they made a move to sell newer games and rebranded the site. But I think this venture didn't work out as planned. Publishers are reluctant to release any new game on the platform, and so GOG has often become the bargain bin where titles end up a long while after "normal" distribution. That shit doesn't make that much profit; at that point, customers are in it for the best bargain - they've already waited a while, they can wait a bit more. Also, every fucking publisher is trying his hand at his own store, and pushing for the Netflix subscription model. That model happens to work with exclusive content to make you subscribe. I get the feeling things are going to get harder for GOG, as publishers will want less and less to release early there if at all.

I don't even know if there's a formula for future success. Combine the desire of publishers to maximize the profit they make by selling directly, and their risk-adverse attitude against DRM-free games, and I'm not sure GOG can do much about anything if the publishers don't play ball.

Well, I'm an old relic who's thoroughly jaded so I guess I just try to keep optimistic. GOG, for all its faults, still appeal to me because it seems detached somehow from the lunacy that's going on right now. There's little doubt that a subscription fee business model is poised to become the norm even for gaming, but I just hope that GOG will be able to remain somehow as a haven for dinosaurs like me. I've already partially rejected Steam and there's no chance in hell I'm starting over again with some other client. It's GOG or nothing for me at this point.
 

Ismaul

Thought Criminal #3333
Patron
Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
1,871,807
Location
On Patroll
Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech A Beautifully Desolate Campaign My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
I just hope that GOG will be able to remain somehow as a haven for dinosaurs like me
Same here; hell, I hope they grow and improve even. But I'm no longer keeping my hopes up. GOG faces a serious obstacle to its longevity, and I'm not sure it'll make it whole.
 
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
900
Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I helped put crap in Monomyth
On March 31st we are going to discontinue the Fair Price Package program. Let us explain the reasoning behind this decision.

We came up with Fair Price Package (FPP) as a way to make up the price difference between various countries. Some games on GOG.COM have regional pricing, meaning the price of the same game in one place can be higher compared to its price in North America. In countries where the game is more expensive, we give users the equivalent of the price difference in GOG Wallet funds. In actual numbers, on average, we give users back 12% of the game price from our own pocket. In some cases, this number can reach as high as 37%.

In the past, we were able to cover these extra costs from our cut and still turn a small profit. Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore. With an increasing share paid to developers, our cut gets smaller. However, we look at it, at the end of the day we are a store and need to make sure we sell games without a loss.

Removing FPP is not a decision we make lightly, but by making this change, we will be able to offer better conditions to game creators, which — in turn — will allow us to offer you more curated back-cat games and new releases. All DRM-free.

We wanted to make sure you have some lead time to still benefit from the Fair Price Package. The program will last until the 31st of March, 2019, so if you would like to take advantage of it, now is the time. The funds you gather from the program will keep the 12 months expiration date from the moment you’ve been granted your last funds.

They're toast.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Self-Ejected

theSavant

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
2,009
Oh man! Don't make me nervous. If they're unable to sustain themselves anymore, I'm not even sure if it's worth to buy games on GOG anymore...

:shredder:

And I totally agree with that people mostly buy games on special events and for cheap. That can't work for them in the long run. And the thousands of shovelware will help nothing at all. People will rather replay their older classics instead of trying the "new shit". The moneyflow will dry up sooner or later. And what then? Over and out? Or they'll become a mixed platform: one that offers DRM and DRM-free games? To attract "AAA" game publishers?
 
Last edited:

Dux

Arcane
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
635
Location
Sweden
GOG and their timing.

Confidence as well as trust between the customer base and a company like this is everything. Absolutely everything. If people genuinely start to doubt in the latter's future or integrity then shit has officially hit the fan. Yeah, I understand and appreciate that GOG needs to increase their revenue but goddamn this is amateur hour right now. People were already concerned about the future of the platform and right in the middle of it GOG decides to drop a bomb. You just don't do that. The announcement was necessary, of course, but the timing was absolutely awful. They really needed to address the speculations regarding lay-offs and such prior to announcing a change to pricing. Preferably with a few days in between to let things cool down. Hopefully they can salvage this quick and assure people that there is a future on GOG - that the "brand" is strong. Shove that cyberpunk game in people's faces; be transparent about what's going to happen in the near future regarding improvements and all that shit. Maybe they will, I don't know.
 

J_C

One Bit Studio
Patron
Developer
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
16,947
Location
Pannonia
Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath
Oh man! Don't make me nervous. If they're unable to sustain themselves anymore, I'm not even sure if it's worth to buy games on GOG anymore...
If I lose my catalogue on GOG, around 200 fantastic classic oldschool games, I will break down and cry like SJW whales on the day of Trump's election victory.
 
Self-Ejected

Sacred82

Self-Ejected
Dumbfuck
Joined
Jun 7, 2013
Messages
2,957
Location
Free Village
I think GOG is suffering financially for the same reason that so many indie/AA (and even some AAA) games are doing poorly on Steam and everywhere else right now. There's some kind of demographic transition going on in the gaming space. The same people that fueled the Steam indie boom in 2012 also fueled GOG, and those people seem to not be buying as much games as they used to.

GOG has pigeonholed itself into a v. small niche of limited products (that of old but -of course- not very old games), and not just bargain bin material either but gud games.

In its earlier years it profited from the eclectic tastes and collectionist tendencies of this demographic. Their audience is willing to spend money on vidya; in fact in the beginning GOG would never have had to put things on sale to make me purchase stuff, let alone -75% or -90% sales. That just seemed crazy.

So far I've got 390 games on GOG, way more than I ever intended to take off their hands. However, the novelty of old games on sale has worn off, and retro gamer's tastes are too specific to sell them any old thing. In my case this meant I took a lot of games off GOG's hands within the first 6 years or so, but have spent maybe 100€ on GOG games over the course of the last 5 years.

unless they branch out which I can't really see them doing, their market is saturated.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom