gog Update: GOG - "Getting back to our roots"

[Luc2k]

  Quote

The DRM-Free Revolution Continues with Big Pre-Orders and Launch Day Releases!

Good news! GOG.com is going to bring you more fantastic launch day releases, preorders, and other exciting new content from some of our favorite developers. We've lined up 3 big titles that we will be bringing to GOG.com in the next couple of months for sale or preorder that we think will be hits with all of our gamers; and we have more equally exciting games coming up soon.

If you've been a member of the site for a long time, you may recall that when we launched sales of The Witcher 2 on GOG.com, we had to add in regional pricing. The game cost different amounts in in the US, the UK, the European Union, and Australia. We're doing something like that once again in order to bring you new titles from fantastic bigger studios. Since we don't accept currencies other than USD on GOG.com right now, we'll be charging the equivalent of the local price in USD for these titles. We wish that we could offer these games at flat prices everywhere in the world, but the decision on pricing is always in our partners' hands, and regional pricing is becoming the standard around the globe. We're doing this because we believe that there's no better way to accomplish our overall goals for DRM-Free gaming and GOG.com. We need more games, devs, and publishers on board to make DRM-Free gaming something that's standard for all of the gaming world!

That brings with it more good news, though! As mentioned, we have three games we're launching soon with regional pricing--two RPGs and a strategy game--and while we can't tell you what they are yet because breaking an NDA has more severe penalties than just getting a noogie, we're confident that you'll be as excited about these games as we are. For a limited time, we will be offering anyone who pre-orders or buys one of them a free game from a selection as a gift from GOG.com, just like we did for The Witcher 2.

Source

 

tl;dr Basically what the fluff piece says is that they're dropping one of their core principles, fair-pricing, so that they could sell more games. This means that unless you're American, you're probably going to get shafted on price when it comes to these new games. On the plus side, more games will be added to the catalogue, from new releases and/or publishers that were reluctant due to pricing scheme. Other things gathered from the forum topic from statements by their PR person are:

 

- the $ will remain the transaction currency which means that, if the system defaults you to something else, you get to pay a conversion fee as well

- region locking games will be a possibility i.e. Germany will get censored games and some places might not get them at all

- regional prices might come to any game currently in the catalogue once contracts come to renegotiations

- if a game gets regional pricing, the publisher will most likely have free reign on who pays what

 

There might be more to add, but I'm only 1/3 through the topic and by the looks of it, this announcement has not been received very well by the community (or maybe I'm focusing on the negatives). For my part, I tend to agree because, after reading through that topic, I came to the conclusion that fair-pricing was more important to me than DRM-free since I can get that from a lot of places now. If not, there's always the option of applying a crack to the majority of games and while I still want to financially support devs that go DRM-free, GOG itself has lost a great deal of importance to me. Maybe I'll look at this in a less negative light in a few days, or maybe they'll even backtrack due to the reaction. Whatever the case, GOG has lost any integrity they had left (the video below is theirs).

 

[HawkMan]

there should be no fee for conversion. not sure what system you think would default to something else either, their system is locked to dollars and all credit cards and debit cards that can be used online handles this just fine. 

 

As for the regional pricing, it's pretty much a necessity for one simple reason: VAT. every time they sell a game to a Norwegian without adding 20% VAT they're breaking the law, well technically the customer is but that gets a bit complicated. 

 

The rest of it is merely supposition by the forum crowd. There is no indication from the past or from this that they will do this. 

[Luc2k]

  On 22/02/2014 at 08:07, HawkMan said:

there should be no fee for conversion. not sure what system you think would default to something else either, their system is locked to dollars and all credit cards and debit cards that can be used online handles this just fine.

Not sure about this one myself, just reporting from the forums. It might not be anything as you say.

 

  On 22/02/2014 at 08:07, HawkMan said:

As for the regional pricing, it's pretty much a necessity for one simple reason: VAT. every time they sell a game to a Norwegian without adding 20% VAT they're breaking the law, well technically the customer is but that gets a bit complicated. 

If it were only VAT I wouldn't have that big a problem with it since taxes are taxes, but you know damn well that is not going to happen. Prices are going to go above any VAT in any EU country on average. Look at some of the gems regional pricing brings. Double prices for Saints Row IV / Borderlands 2 / CoD MW3 / CoD Ghosts / LA Noir. There are some deals as well, but they're not for anything that costs as much as any of the ripoffs. Also, for some of us that live in Eastern Europe is not as easy to shoulder the extra cost as someone who lives in the West/North/Central Europe.

 

  On 22/02/2014 at 08:07, HawkMan said:

The rest of it is merely supposition by the forum crowd. There is no indication from the past or from this that they will do this. 

What exactly are you referring to here?

[HawkMan]

I'm referring to the fact that they are making things up with no basis for making it up. They're basically outlying every worst case scenario and what if they can come up with, but there's nothing to support it.

 

The things is about europe compared to US, we have VAT in many countries this is 25% already there you're halfway to a price doubling, then you add in all our consumer protections and laws about support in local language or close enough and all the other laws that add on services and such to anythign sold here. And things stat to become very expensive to sell in Europe compared to other places. and that doesn't even take into account the fact that we're a bunch of small countries with different laws and languages, which in itself makes it a costly endevour to sell stuff here. 

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

What did I tell you the other day Luc2k :P

 

GoG, GMG, HiB all useless now for EU customers. Might as well just stick $ = ? on the front page ;)

[RatherLargeBear]

I think GMG is still great for UK at least, most games are a lot cheaper than Steam/Origin plenty of discounts including new and unreleased titles.

Hell, they have Thief 35% off right now.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

  On 22/02/2014 at 15:01, RatherLargeBear said:

I think GMG is still great for UK at least, most games are a lot cheaper than Steam/Origin plenty of discounts including new and unreleased titles.

Hell, they have Thief 35% off right now.

 

Yeah the change didn't effect us much but EU got the shaft.

 

They also wiped everyone's credit balance (N)

[RatherLargeBear]

  On 22/02/2014 at 15:06, Andrew G. said:

Yeah the change didn't effect us much but EU got the shaft.

 

They also wiped everyone's credit balance (N)

 

Ouch, I'm glad what credit I have left is still there. Granted its only 10p. :D

[Luc2k]

  On 22/02/2014 at 10:19, HawkMan said:

I'm referring to the fact that they are making things up with no basis for making it up. They're basically outlying every worst case scenario and what if they can come up with, but there's nothing to support it.

 

The things is about europe compared to US, we have VAT in many countries this is 25% already there you're halfway to a price doubling, then you add in all our consumer protections and laws about support in local language or close enough and all the other laws that add on services and such to anythign sold here. And things stat to become very expensive to sell in Europe compared to other places. and that doesn't even take into account the fact that we're a bunch of small countries with different laws and languages, which in itself makes it a costly endevour to sell stuff here. 

Everything I've said in the OP (except conversion prices) is from posts their PR person made (EnigmaticT). I'll hunt the quotes down if you wish.

 

Where is the logic in getting shafted above the legal taxes and for digital goods no less. What consumer protection are you talking about? Where's the one that protects us from being overcharged?

 

  On 22/02/2014 at 14:59, Andrew G. said:

What did I tell you the other day Luc2k :p

 

GoG, GMG, HiB all useless now for EU customers. Might as well just stick $ = ? on the front page ;)

You were right of course. I just didn't believe it would happen to GOG seeing as they called fair-pricing one of their core principles. DRM-free is the only big one they have left, but if they drop that, they'll be able to sell and bring a lot more AAA games into the fold. It may sound far-fetched, but so did regional pricing until yesterday.

[ShadowMajestic]

  On 22/02/2014 at 10:19, HawkMan said:

I'm referring to the fact that they are making things up with no basis for making it up. They're basically outlying every worst case scenario and what if they can come up with, but there's nothing to support it.

 

The things is about europe compared to US, we have VAT in many countries this is 25% already there you're halfway to a price doubling, then you add in all our consumer protections and laws about support in local language or close enough and all the other laws that add on services and such to anythign sold here. And things stat to become very expensive to sell in Europe compared to other places. and that doesn't even take into account the fact that we're a bunch of small countries with different laws and languages, which in itself makes it a costly endevour to sell stuff here. 

Local versions is not an issue. English is our main language. If product support is in English, you can sell it anywhere in the EU without having those extra costs with languages and laws. For publishing games/movies/music you can stick to EU laws, which work in most EU countries except the UK, which is their problem, not ours.

[HawkMan]

  On 22/02/2014 at 15:36, Shadowzz said:

Local versions is not an issue. English is our main language. If product support is in English, you can sell it anywhere in the EU without having those extra costs with languages and laws. For publishing games/movies/music you can stick to EU laws, which work in most EU countries except the UK, which is their problem, not ours.

 

It's not really that simple. it would be great if it was, but it isn't. 

[ShadowMajestic]

Why, there's plenty of foreign (outside and within EU) companies operating here in English. Support, everything in English.

And a lot of our national companies operating throughout the entire EU operating in English or Dutch.

EU isn't so restrictive as it seems. Get your product into 1 of the countries and you can then from there export it throughout entire EU.

  On 22/02/2014 at 16:25, HawkMan said:

It's not really that simple. it would be great if it was, but it isn't. 

[chrisj1968]

This is actually stupid. what a huge mark up. you know the $20, 20 euro mentioned in the video? Germany did the same scam at the start of the euro.

 

what was 20 marks during the end of the mark became 20 euros and the exchange rate was 2 marks for 1 euro. so prices went UP, way UP and germans caught the lie. but retail stores tried to asure people all was ok and that prices weren't more expensive.

[Syanide]

Lame. Eastern Europe gets fcked the most with these.

[Luc2k]

I wonder how they'll handle region locking because I suspect a lot of people will make Russian friends very fast. I'll probably go the same route if I manage to convince myself to buy from them again.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

  On 22/02/2014 at 15:19, Luc2k said:

Everything I've said in the OP (except conversion prices) is from posts their PR person made (EnigmaticT). I'll hunt the quotes down if you wish.

 

Where is the logic in getting shafted above the legal taxes and for digital goods no less. What consumer protection are you talking about? Where's the one that protects us from being overcharged?

 

You were right of course. I just didn't believe it would happen to GOG seeing as they called fair-pricing one of their core principles. DRM-free is the only big one they have left, but if they drop that, they'll be able to sell and bring a lot more AAA games into the fold. It may sound far-fetched, but so did regional pricing until yesterday.

 

For what it's worth, I think this change was inevitable, but as the others jumped first they joined in so not to look bad later when they switch. At least they won't have the spotlight just on them, but it doesn't go down any easier for those who believed in their marketing and taking their word they put gamers first. They're a business at the end of the day, and the almighty $ always wins.

 

Sad but that's life.

 

You can always get around the regional pricing with VPN but it may be against their T&Cs. Steam don't like it, not sure about the others. You have to be the judge of your own moral compass too :p

[Luc2k]

  On 22/02/2014 at 20:48, Andrew G. said:

For what it's worth, I think this change was inevitable, but as the others jumped first they joined in so not to look bad later when they switch. At least they won't have the spotlight just on them, but it doesn't go down any easier for those who believed in their marketing and taking their word they put gamers first. They're a business at the end of the day, and the almighty $ always wins.

 

Sad but that's life.

 

You can always get around the regional pricing with VPN but it may be against their T&Cs. Steam don't like it, not sure about the others. You have to be the judge of your own moral compass too :p

The fact that it's been here from day one and highlighted with every opportunity is probably what makes this such a hard kick in the balls. They still have a real choice in this but it's not pretty either way. From my cynical point of view, it's between becoming just another Steam wannabe or fighting for consumer fairness. I guess it's just harder to let go of the ones you "love".

 

They'll be ways to get around this probably, but why bother. I didn't buy games (or advertise them) from them just because they were cheap. There are better ways for that, and it so happens that the best one involves rum.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

  On 22/02/2014 at 21:08, Luc2k said:

The fact that it's been here from day one and highlighted with every opportunity is probably what makes this such a hard kick in the balls. They still have a real choice in this but it's not pretty either way. From my cynical point of view, it's between becoming just another Steam wannabe or fighting for consumer fairness. I guess it's just harder to let go of the ones you "love".

 

They'll be ways to get around this probably, but why bother. I didn't buy games (or advertise them) from them just because they were cheap. There are better ways for that, and it so happens that the best one involves rum.

 

Well there's a big difference between region locking and DRM. The reasons why some of them are region locked isn't because they don't want to sell it, it's the countries they sell in enforcing their laws (e.g Fallout 2 and killing children or red blood in Germany etc). It's outside of their control and the bigger they get the more of a target they become for law suits etc.

 

I'm sure they'll still be good on prices/sales, they still have to compete with each other but I understand where you're coming from and I agree it sucks.

[HawkMan]

  On 22/02/2014 at 18:57, Shadowzz said:

Why, there's plenty of foreign (outside and within EU) companies operating here in English. Support, everything in English.

And a lot of our national companies operating throughout the entire EU operating in English or Dutch.

EU isn't so restrictive as it seems. Get your product into 1 of the countries and you can then from there export it throughout entire EU.

 

It's not just the support, it's all the local rules and regulations, even if you're a EU member each country has separate laws and regulations that must be accounted for. 

[Raa]

You guys stop whining over there... Where we are... we're totally boned.

"Regional prices" indeed. :rolleyes:

[Luc2k]

  On 22/02/2014 at 22:56, Raa said:

You guys stop whining over there... Where we are... we're totally boned.

"Regional prices" indeed. :rolleyes:

I'm still trying to figure out who gets shafted more, you guys with the highest prices, or us with the lower buying power.

[Raa]

  On 22/02/2014 at 23:50, Luc2k said:

I'm still trying to figure out who gets shafted more, you guys with the highest prices, or us with the lower buying power.

They did a study on this.

It was found that you could fly to America and buy a copy of Adobe suite and fly back cheaper than you could buy it here for. :|

 

As for games... well, that's a lot of games, but luckily with online power Aussies can get them at US prices! :)

[compl3x]

Aus consumers get reamed. Remember when we were told digital was going to be much cheaper and would create a fair buyer's market?

[Luc2k]

Decided to test proxies with the first regional priced game, Age of Wonders 3. The Deluxe Edition is 45$ for Americans and Australians, 58$ for Brits, 62$ for the rest of Europe and 20$ for Russians.

 

How does it work? While I haven't actually bought anything, I could add a game to the cart while using a proxy, then remove the proxy and the price would remain the same. So there you have folks, fair pricing for all. Also, hilarious stuff can take place:

 

 

P.S. Andrew, should I also add this to the AoW3 topic?

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Good news Luc2k

 

  Quote

Getting back to our roots

Hey, GOGgers,

We're not perfect, we're exploring new frontiers, and we make mistakes. We thought DRM-Free was so important that you'd prefer we bring you more DRM-Free games and Fair Price was less critical and that it could be sacrificed in some cases. The last two week's worth of comments in our forums (nearly 10k!), show that's not the case. We didn?t listen and we let you down. We shouldn't sacrifice one of our core values in an attempt to advance another. We feel bad about that, and we're sorry. Us being sorry is not of much use to you, so let?s talk about how we will fix it.

One: DRM-free forever. Abandoning fixed regional pricing means it will probably take longer to get some games, but you've made it clear that sacrificing fair pricing for more DRM-free games isn't acceptable.

Two: We will adamantly continue to fight for games with flat worldwide pricing. If that fails and we are required to have regional prices, we will make up the difference for you out of our own pockets. For now it will be with $5.99 and $9.99 game codes. In a couple of months, once we have such functionality implemented, we will give you store credit instead, which then you will be able to use towards any purchase and cover the price of it in full or partially. Effectively gamers from all around the world will be able to benefit from the US prices.

This will apply to every single game where we do not have flat pricing, such as Age of Wonders 3 (full details here), Divinity: Original Sin, and The Witcher 3. If you remember the Fair Price Package for The Witcher 2, this will be exactly the same.

Three: We still intend to introduce the pricing in local currencies. Let us explain why we want to do it and how we want to make it fair for everyone. From the very beginning our intention was to make things easier for users whose credit cards/payment systems are not natively in USD. The advantages are simple because the price is more understandable and easier to relate to. There would be no exchange rates involved, no transaction fees, and no other hidden charges. However after reading your comments, we realized we have taken an important element away: the choice. In order to fix this, we'll offer the option of paying in the local currency or the equivalent in USD. This way, how you pay is always your choice.

Four: You are what matters, and we will be sure to involve you all more in what we're doing and why we're doing it. Let's start by meeting you at GDC - we?d like to invite you to meet us face-to-face Monday the 17th at GDC. Obviously, not all of you can come to San Francisco, so we want to invite all of you to an online event with us early in April to ask us whatever you would like. More details soon.

The bottom line is simple: there may be companies that won't work with us (although we will work hard to convince the most stubborn ones ;). Yes, it means we might miss out on some games, but at the same time GOG.com will remain true to its values and will keep on offering you the best of DRM-free gaming with Fair Prices.

Once again thank you for caring so much about GOG.com. We will work hard not to disappoint you again.

--Marcin "iWi" Iwinski & Guillaume "TheFrenchMonk" Rambourg

 

http://www.gog.com/news/getting_back_to_our_roots