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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 classic 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.
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First of all, thank you for your support. This was not an easy decision to discontinue the FPP program and we're grateful to you for understanding the reasons behind it. We see that quite a few of you raised concerns about GOG's future. As a part of publicly traded company, we can't comment on any financial results until they are officially reported, but we want to ensure you everything is good with GOG. Being part of a big gaming company, some reports - especially some given by significant media outlets - can often sound much scarier than reality.

You've been also concerned about your access to the games you’ve purchased on GOG. We've covered this topic years ago and it's been in our User Agreement for a long time (please check the section 17.3). This is not only a legal obligation to you but a core part of our ethics as a company.

But don’t worry, all is good, and we have a great plan for the future of GOG. We can’t wait for you to see some of the exciting things we have coming very soon.

EDIT: pinned
Post edited February 26, 2019 by elcook
That's so bad to hear this news. But, fully understanding you, I still love GOG. So take my money, I gonna buy a lot now!

GOG,你是最棒哒! GOG УРА!
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Yes this was sadly to be expected, you don't go from 30% cut to 12% without it having a significant impact.

And if you don't have bottom-less Fortnite fueled pockets to take the cost then you will need to cut costs elsewhere.

As I said before, I am convinced that the whole "bigger cut for developer" offered by the Epic game store has nothing to do with being nice with said developers but everything to do with hurting competitors and while Gog is probably not their main target they are the first to suffer from it.
There is still an advantage with the end of the program. the studio will have more money. I also hope that Gog also keeps a small part in the savings done by removing the program.
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This news has it's bad and good sides but thanks for being honest with us GOG team. We know it's not easy for you guys. I'll keep supporting you cause i believe you're still the best place for us gamers.
There is still an advantage with the end of the program. the studio will have more money. I also hope that Gog also keeps a small part in the savings done by removing the program.
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If this is what you need to do in order to increase the cut to developers and stay profitable then I will not complain.

Good luck and you still have my full support.
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Olauron: Understandable. Looks like a result of lower cut introduced by Epic Store. Judging by "With an increasing share paid to developers, our cut gets smaller" GOG now moves to that direction regarding the cut to stay competitive.
I think they have even less choice than Steam. It's easier to convince Devs to have a lower cuts when you represent 90% of the market, but when you are less than 10% either you follow or you kiss all indies and several AA ones goodbye.
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Reglisse: So only the DRM free thing is better than Steam now?
And I get 10% off from Humble for Steam keys + Steam is Linux friendly.
Should I continue to support GOG?
I bought some games twice because no Linux support here...
I'm sad now T_T
It's the end?
The choice.
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ConsulCaesar: I have always said that regional pricing was implemented well on GOG because of the Fair Price program. I guess I won't be able to say it anymore.

On the other hand, maybe we were holding GOG to a higher standard than other stores. I believe GOG is the only one with a policy like that.
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PixelBoy: It wasn't implemented well at all, because they didn't have any compensation when they introduced it.
They only added that because there was a massive wave of complaints from the users.

I guess we have now reached a point where GOG really doesn't care about its users anymore.

That's OK, I don't really care about GOG anymore as a user. They have cancelled all of their founding principles, with DRM-free being the only one still standing on some shaky grounds. I don't think it will be long now that they cancel that too.
You care enough to post here an awful lot. You must just be playing hard to get I guess.

But in seriousness why would anyone care about GoG. It's a store. I buy games here cause it's my best option for DRM free games and I don't want a dozen accounts to buy games. The people here care about what GoG said it stood for, with most people caring most about games being DRM free. I think GoG knows that and knows that they can trim out everything else and keep a core user base. So expect any other perks from the store to be thrown out as time goes by... it's been happening for years.
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I would like to thank gog for keeping the program going for as long as it was possible. Especially cause for south European region there is no lower price on gog as it should be according to lower buying power then in the rest of the EU. So a lot of games on gog will be more expensive for us living in this region, then they are on Steam. And yeah some games have the US price but that doesn't help when the regional income is a lot lower then in the US.

At this point it really comes down to getting games cheaper or getting them drm-free. So people will have to decide now. The games will always be more expensive here cause of regional pricing and generally lower discounts on sales for games then on Steam. Valid for my region.

Also we all know publishers are getting extremely greedy. Sadly Epic Store has made that situation worse and publishers are getting too big of a cut now, for doing nothing. Lets not forget that producers of real life products aka physical products only get 10-30% on the final sales price. And those products are needed for living. Games are not, they are just entertainment and nothing more.
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Breja: They should have pushed this back for at least a month.
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DoomSooth: If they did then someone else or you still would have said there isn't enough notice. Certain people always seem to think the sky is falling. Someone's always complaining about something. I complain about the complainers, mostly. :)
You misunderstood entirely. I'm not talkign about how long a notice they gave us, I'm talking about this announcement coinciding with the press news about GOG being "in trouble" and a wave of panicked threads on the forum. It's bad timing becuase this news gives credence to all the negative rumors, thereby putting GOG in an even worse situation. Regardless of what the truth is, in light of the recent headlines this OP basically reads "yes, you heard right, we are fucked", at least on the internet where everything is short attention span and hyperbole.

The sound PR decision would be to postpone the announcement at least a little, get on top of the rumors with some actual good news for once (some impressive new release, fix the website, bring new dev/publisher on board, anything), and only announce this once some confidence in GOG has been restored.
Post edited February 26, 2019 by Breja
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Olauron: Understandable. Looks like a result of lower cut introduced by Epic Store. Judging by "With an increasing share paid to developers, our cut gets smaller" GOG now moves to that direction regarding the cut to stay competitive.
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Gersen: I think they have even less choice than Steam. It's easier to convince Devs to have a lower cuts when you represent 90% of the market, but when you are less than 10% either you follow or you kiss all indies and several AA ones goodbye.
Depending on the contracts it may also be a question of keeping games that are already here.
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Ah well.. More business for Humble Store (and Steam) again I guess.. and back
to SteamEnhanced to avoid any actual DRM.


Same software, with same DRM, being sold with more services available for those that
chose to opt-in for Workshop, multiplayer and the like on Steam at lower prices.

Third party engines such as Unity are fairly commonplace and just about every one
tries to dial home regardless whether it's a Steam or GOG copy while developers
that use their own launchers such as Paradox are as stand-alone as can be regardless
of platform. It's been a while since I've seen an actually different 'DRM-free' version here.

DRM-free is an illusion even GOG seemed to not believe in anymore so might as
well opt back in for discounts for the same product..

The stand-alone installers on GoG try to shove Galaxy down my throat every time but I can
at least block the 'GoG-only DRM' and close the process at install. Odd how the 'optional
client' takes so much user effort to decline on every .. single.. product install..

After the lovely website redesign and almost mandatory client that seems to not offer any actual
benefit beyond the occasional check for updates (which are fewer here often as it is).

So the client offers no real benefit; the web shop design took a huge step back burying us in fluffy
banners (even the old search options are gone); the forums are seemingly actively avoided by all but
a small group of customers and even something as mundane as patch notes is still a hassle.

Looking at the core values on 'about GoG', I am sadly forced to say that only the customer service team
and the release of the odd pre-y2k game that wouldn't normally run on modern systems are still a thing
as far as I can tell.

Is that worth effectively paying extra for that, wrapped in a blinding HEAP of ribbon banners,
at the cost of getting less of everything else?
Now Cyberpunk 2077 really need to deliver and justify all of its hype.
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I understand Your decision. No problem for me. I like your service, i like your offer. I'll stay a customer.