GOG.com

[cvv]

If CD Projekt really want GOG to survive (and they're starting to seem pretty nervous) then they would totally make Cyberpunk 2077 a GOG-exclusive for at least a while.

Yeah, not gonna happen. Steamtards would completely flip their shit again and the outrage Youtubers would have a field day with this. Resulting PR shitstorm would overnight tank the great rep that CDPR have built over the last 13 years. In the end the "no Steam, no buy" crowd would destroy both Cyberpunk's sales and CDPR's credit and Iwinski would have to go back turning tricks at shady smuggler markets.

 

[Infinitron]

If CD Projekt really want GOG to survive (and they're starting to seem pretty nervous) then they would totally make Cyberpunk 2077 a GOG-exclusive for at least a while.

Yeah, not gonna happen. Steamtards would completely flip their shit again and the outrage Youtubers would have a field day with this. Resulting PR shitstorm would overnight tank the great rep that CDPR have built over the last 13 years. In the end the "no Steam, no buy" crowd would destroy both Cyberpunk's sales and CDPR's credit and Iwinski would have to go back turning tricks at shady smuggler markets.

No more than EA with Origin, Blizzard with Battle.net and so on.

Notice that there is no Steam page for Cyberpunk 2077 yet. Keeping their options open.

 

[RNGsus]

GoG shouldn't be any bigger than 3 blokes, a shed and a computer knocking out the occasional repack and keeping the lights on.

This. They're trying to compete as if there's any pie left, when they should just be there.

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.

They're a junk mail catalogue. "All this trash you aren't buying is going to pay for the trash nobody buys!"

 

[Goral]

If CD Projekt really want GOG to survive (and they're starting to seem pretty nervous) then they would totally make Cyberpunk 2077 a GOG-exclusive for at least a while.

Yeah, not gonna happen. Steamtards would completely flip their shit again and the outrage Youtubers would have a field day with this. Resulting PR shitstorm would overnight tank the great rep that CDPR have built over the last 13 years. In the end the "no Steam, no buy" crowd would destroy both Cyberpunk's sales and CDPR's credit and Iwinski would have to go back turning tricks at shady smuggler markets.

Going GOG exclusive would be a mistake, instead they should significantly increase the price on Steam (so 50$ on GOG, 70$ on Steam) and attract customers that way. I doubt there would be many steamtards willing to wait until the sale would kick in, instead they would either buy it at this high price (generating a huge profit per copy) or go to GOG.

 

[cvv]

If CD Projekt really want GOG to survive (and they're starting to seem pretty nervous) then they would totally make Cyberpunk 2077 a GOG-exclusive for at least a while.

Yeah, not gonna happen. Steamtards would completely flip their shit again and the outrage Youtubers would have a field day with this. Resulting PR shitstorm would overnight tank the great rep that CDPR have built over the last 13 years. In the end the "no Steam, no buy" crowd would destroy both Cyberpunk's sales and CDPR's credit and Iwinski would have to go back turning tricks at shady smuggler markets.

Going GOG exclusive would be a mistake, instead they should significantly increase the price on Steam (so 50$ on GOG, 70$ on Steam) and attract customers that way. I doubt there would be many steamtards willing to wait until the sale would kick in, instead they would either buy it at this high price (generating a huge profit per copy) or go to GOG.

I think they did something like this with Witcher 3. I'm p. sure it was like 10 bucks cheaper on GOG on launch, at least in my geo zone.

 

[Melcar]

Not buy from the Epic store? Sadly, most gamer consumers are morons. Dangle a shiny new game and they will do anything. This is how publishers have been getting away with their shit for years.

When the game is exclusive to Epic Store you can't really blame most people(they're just consumers, not activists). But my point was that publisher wouldn't know exactly the game bombed solely because of exclusivity.

Not buying from a certain store does not make me an activists, just a customer with priorities. It's not like they are selling something you NEED to live.

 

[Fronzel Neekburm]

Yeah, not gonna happen. Steamtards would completely flip their shit again and the outrage Youtubers would have a field day with this. Resulting PR shitstorm would overnight tank the great rep that CDPR have built over the last 13 years. In the end the "no Steam, no buy" crowd would destroy both Cyberpunk's sales and CDPR's credit and Iwinski would have to go back turning tricks at shady smuggler markets.

No more than EA with Origin, Blizzard with Battle.net and so on.

With the tiny difference that games on Origin, Battle.net, etc. are DRMed. So the customers have no choice other than having a new client shoved down their throats. Not so with gog, unless they make Galaxy mandatory somehow. And then they're really fucked for good. Making Cyberpunk gog-exclusive is one hell of a gamble. They should handle Cyberpunk exactly like they handled the Witcher games (minus Thronebreaker, of course). The more aggressively gog have pushed their own platform, the harder they fell on their faces.

The former community manager - the one that got fired over a tweet - still hangs around to shitpost on the gog forum and from what he said gog seems quite keenly aware that making Cyberpunk gog-exclusive would be suicide.

Notice that there is no Steam page for Cyberpunk 2077 yet. Keeping their options open.

There's no store page for Cyberpunk on gog either...

 

[cvv]

With the tiny difference that games on Origin, Battle.net, etc. are DRMed.

Plus the audience of these uber AAA publishers is a bit different, mostly retarded casual normies who don't care about stuff like DRM, launchers or deep industry lore. The expectations are just very different for EA/Activision. CDPR makes games for Gamers, industry PR is very relevant for them.

 

[sullynathan]

CDPR makes games for Gamers

Wait, you think the people who bought witcher 3 didn't buy Call of duty, battlefield and overwatch? Are you dumb?

 

[HarveyBirdman]

If CD Projekt really want GOG to survive (and they're starting to seem pretty nervous) then they would totally make Cyberpunk 2077 a GOG-exclusive for at least a while. There's already a precedent in the Thronebreaker game (which didn't go so well for them, but Cyberpunk would)

Agreed. People are willing to overlook timed exclusivity as a bad thing, because it's really not a bad thing (just like timed DRM expiration).

That last part is already happening with some titles, without any "compromises" taking place from anyone.

Game first gets released on Steam, where DRM assures some money comes in.
When the Steam money starts drying up, game gets released on GOG to expand its lifespan.
The End.

Is it though? It definitely used to happen, but when is the last time you saw a AAA game get to GOG. Old Bethesda games? CDRP's own games? They're getting decade old games and new indie stuff, which is usually trash.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

Steam has drm-free games.(well, if you install them at least) I want Steam to actually make a tag/filter or something regarding DRM. Some games on Steam don't require Steam client to launch, only to download.

Sure. There's overlap and there should be overlap so we can have competition. I'd just like to see GOG actually compete with big new AAA and AA releases, which they currently don't because of DRM.

 

[Infinitron]

It wouldn't have to be exclusive for a whole year like what the Epic Store exclusives are doing. Even just a couple of months would mean big bucks for GOG.

 

[HarveyBirdman]

Absolutely. Years ago I saw data that showed the first several weeks are easily the most important to a game's launch, unsurprisingly. I expect that's about the same situation today.

 

[cvv]

It wouldn't have to be exclusive for a whole year like what the Epic Store exclusives are doing. Even just a couple of months would mean big bucks for GOG.

Nah, better GOG price would be much better. The "no Steam, no buy" crowd wouldn't buy it on GOG anyway and everyone else would be more than fine with a lower price. As was already said, the 50/70 dorra split would be perfect.

 

[Melcar]

Yeah, most of the money is made in the first month or so.

 

[Grim Monk]

What I don't understand is why GOG is losing money in the first place.

They don't finance development like a publisher.
They mostly don't work on computability except throwing in preexisting "Community Fix Packs".

They literally only have to maintain servers and collect money selling abandonware...

That the way they started out, and it was profitable enough to help bankroll making the Witcher 2 & 3.
Adding indies shouldn't have changed a thing, just put it up and see if it sells.

 

[GrainWetski]

Yeah, most of the money is made in the first month or so.

This is more true for consoles than PC, though. Even for AAA games, look at Witcher 3 still showing up on top sellers on Steam all the time.

 

[cvv]

They literally only have to maintain servers and collect money selling abandonware...

They employ a lot of people. Surprisingly many (over 100 apparently). That's a lot of fixed costs in salaries. And if sales can't keep up they sink in red.

 

[Melcar]

What I don't understand is why GOG is losing money in the first place.

They don't finance development like a publisher.
They mostly don't work on computability except throwing in preexisting "Community Fix Packs".

They literally only have to maintain servers and collect money selling abandonware...

That the way they started out, and it was profitable enough to help bankroll making the Witcher 2 & 3.
Adding indies shouldn't have changed a thing, just put it up and see if it sells.

Maintaining and expanding servers cost money. But yeah, it seems they are getting into shit that they have no business getting into.

 

[cvv]

It's also possible Iwinski is siphoning off some of their profits to fund Cyberpunk.

 

[Melcar]

Yeah, into the "developing" of "Cyberpunk", if you know what I mean.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Is it though? It definitely used to happen, but when is the last time you saw a AAA game get to GOG. Old Bethesda games? CDRP's own games? They're getting decade old games and new indie stuff, which is usually trash.

There's more to gaming than the AAA market.

 

[mwnn85]

We're going to see much more of this as things tighten up and your average joe doesn't have a secure job or any money is his pocket.
Even a cheap rent is £400 a month here plus taxes, water rates, electric, food, etc - those costs keep rising year on year.
The unit rates on our power bill alone have doubled over the last 10 years or so. Likewise for public transport costs - a weekly ticket was £7 now it's £15.
Games are a luxury at the end of the day.

Personally I don't give a shit about EPIC Store no matter how many freebies they dangle.
Nor do I care about Uplay, Origin, Blizzard or any others I've missed.
Humble is a bit shit now as well - I don't want subscriptions / contracts / liabilities
One DRM client in more than enough - might as well go with the biggest. There's plenty of cheap legit key retailers if your willing to wait a while.

Good Old Games was best.
A nice, straightforward idea to take old games & "abandonware" bundle them up in an convenient offline installer with DosBox / NGlide / ScummVM and other such helpers.
Since this old software will never be patched/updated again there's really no maintenance required.
Did GOG even give anything back to those projects?

GOG offering new games doesn't really work.
Updates are constantly behind STEAM plus it's completely inconvenient to download full installers for every minor update. GALAXY isn't even available on other platforms.
Their infrastructure and cross platform support is years behind a mammoth like VALVE - who are pouring money into open source projects.
I noticed that linuxvangog hasn't been posting for a while.
The defunct GoodOldDownloads has probably done quite a bit of damage as well.

GOG have filled up their library with about as many old games as possible now - plus they've lost a few big name games as well - like Duke Nukem, ArmA, etc.
I don't think they're going anywhere but they'll have to reassess what they're trying to achieve.

 

[sullynathan]

This is more true for consoles than PC, though. Even for AAA games, look at Witcher 3 still showing up on top sellers on Steam all the time.

Not necessarily. There is direct overlap of the best selling AAA multi platform games on console and PC.

 

[Grim Monk]

They literally only have to maintain servers and collect money selling abandonware...

They employ a lot of people. Surprisingly many (over 100 apparently). That's a lot of fixed costs in salaries. And if sales can't keep up they sink in red.

Maybe start firing them...

Starting with practically everybody involved in HR or "community management", especially if they live in the USA and Western Europe.

Plenty of people can write forum acceptable English while living in countries where a living wage it lower then in San Francisco/London.
(And they are less likely to waste customer goodwill with "Idiot Leftist Posturing" on company time.)

Same goes for "marketing", they should have a couple of people hammering a simple message.
See this Cool Game.
We sell it.
No DRM, its yours forever!
Buy Now: [Price]

Maintaining and expanding servers cost money. But yeah, it seems they are getting into shit that they have no business getting into.

True.

Still they should be able to find relatively cheap hosting unless they are completely negligent.
They are nowhere close to YouTube scale traffic and have an actual direct source of income instead of ads/donations.

What I think might have driven up the cost is Galaxy.
People with no technical aptitude simply installing and uninstalling games with a download every time instead of saving the EXE to PC.
This would drive up bandwidth usage costs.

It could have emphasized being a "Helpful Updater" rather then a Steam knockoff.
Example:
"Please use your downloaded EXE file to install the game, if the game is not patched to the latest version Galaxy will ask if you want to update."
"It will also examine the EXE and offer to update it as well so you don't have to repeat this process next time."
"Don't worry if you latter want to rollback, option for reversion to legacy versions of install and EXE is available in the cleint menu."

Plus they might look into adding torrent functionality like Humble Bundle does to further reduce the bandwidths.