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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
I'm very glad you stick to your core values and proved we, your customers, matters. You surely secured big parts of your devoted userbase by this step, at least you can count on me as devoted customers and faith is restored. :)
high rated
One month tops before someone complains that GoG only releases indies as far as new games go.
A sound excuse for the blunder!
Time to buy more games from GOG :)
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paulrainer: you must be TeT's mum

only a mum could have such blind faith :P
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Novotnus: That would be hard to do... I'm a guy :)
And it's not faith - I'm just aware that regional pricing wasn't the PR guy's decission and it was impossible to defend in this community.
And sacking someone for something that isn't his fault is kind of unfair :)
No, but the messages were presumably his doing. Except the letter from the French Monk, the other announcements were his doing and he really should have known better than to be so dishonest about it. I got the definite feeling that I wasn't the only person that was more upset by them insulting my intelligence than the actual change.
*slow clap*

I stand up and applaud you for a courageous decision. You guys are doing right by us, and I will continue buying games from GOG for that very reason as long as you are around.

This is exactly the spirit you expressed when you launched and you are sticking by it: BRAVO!
low rated
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carlosjuero: Tired of this whole painting of entire nations/regions/etc under single brushes.
Yeah, I imagine you are when it's the US being painted.
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BKGaming: ...Now we will all likely miss out on games that we could have had here DRM free ...
That's not what the message says and we don't really know. And don't forget that a $10 gift code is worth $5 or less in real money during a promo. So the compensation is there but far from complete.

So I wonder how you can be sure of this? Regional pricing is still there and maybe GOG is just generous on its own and the publishers allow that.
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Starmaker: This annoucement would have never happened if not for the "crybabies". So yes, if I have to write it twice, it's you. You fail reading comprehension.
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jforte: Sorry, try again.

Complaining about a company's actions and branding said company with all kinds of labels in a fit of rage are two separate things. My post addressed the latter.

Was GOG in the wrong? I'm not going to get into an argument over that. I'm strictly talking about those who were pretty much saying GOG was turning evil, those who went far beyond simply voicing their disdain for GOG's actions. It seems to me that GOG is showing tremendous goodwill toward the consumers in the aftermath of all this, which to me is the opposite of greedy.
And on what basis (apart from your own arrogance and self-righteousness) you so easily assumed that change in GOG pricing politics was made solely because "those who went far beyond simply voicing their disdain for GOG's actions"? Somehow I doubt you have a psychic powers that provide you with ability to read GOGs' board minds.
But on the other hand, maybe I don't want to know. Because, you know, "I really could not care less about what a stranger on the Internet thinks of me.

Have a nice day.
Post edited March 11, 2014 by Mr_GeO
low rated
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paulrainer: you must be TeT's mum

only a mum could have such blind faith :P
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Novotnus: That would be hard to do... I'm a guy :)
And it's not faith - I'm just aware that regional pricing wasn't the PR guy's decission and it was impossible to defend in this community.
And sacking someone for something that isn't his fault is kind of unfair :)
regardless of your affiliation with TeT , the fact remains that if he was any good at his job he would have done a few things
1. re worded the initial announcement
2. advised the senior bodies that this was not going to go down well ( which i doubt he did)
3. picking the the fallout was managed badly

a pr guy has a lot of sway in an organisation and in thr unlikely event that he did all the above and the senior gog guys didnt listen , then it shows they dont listen to him...either way he needs a new job as PR is not his forte

Guys who suck balls generally dont tell the bosses they have fucked up...probably just a yes man
I don't care if you make the difference out of your own pockets or just make it more expensive for everyone.
This is the second time GOG is coming back from a bad decision though (AFAIK), the first time was with the DLC, though the worst thing is that credibility damage has been done and I'm not sure what to expect next anymore.
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babaganoosh13: I was surprised you just didn't do a survey first, like you did a while back. It was just - we're bringing it in whether you like it or not.
Once again:

Steam is currently the most popular videogame store.
Which means people are okay with Steam's policies.
Which means they will vote, and have in fact voted, that they "do not mind" changes. If you look at GOG's actual userbase that doesn't come to GD all that often, they don't actually mind DRM. "Should we sell a game if the only option to get it is some non-intrusive DRM" will be met with a yes.

Which is why I have applauded their eariler decision NOT to run an opinion poll with predictable results and blame everything on the voters but make a responsible executive decision and take whatever praise or bashing comes.
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kimvidard: *slow clap*

I stand up and applaud you for a courageous decision. You guys are doing right by us, and I will continue buying games from GOG for that very reason as long as you are around.

This is exactly the spirit you expressed when you launched and you are sticking by it: BRAVO!
Presumably this will put a limit on the number of region priced games that show up here. It's less than ideal, but I think realistically this is the most we can expect out of them. There are probably going to need to be a few games that are region priced, and I recommend people avoid those and stick with ones that are region free, just so that GOG has something to show the publishers when they demand region pricing.

If the sales of region priced games results in less profit than ones that are region free, that's going to greatly strengthen GOG's case for having 1 price.

Unfortunately, 1 price has its own issues,but it's difficult to come up with a completely fair method. I'd like to see them give folks a choice of currency though.
You'll never please everyone all the time, never. But for what it's worth, you're doing a very good job.
This announcement makes me happy.
Good job gog !

I would hug the french monk, but 2 french guys, from the game industry, with the same first name, one working for a "DRM-friendly" developer and the other for a DRM-free distribution platform, could create some weird chemical reaction.
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hedwards: No, but the messages were presumably his doing. Except the letter from the French Monk, the other announcements were his doing and he really should have known better than to be so dishonest about it. I got the definite feeling that I wasn't the only person that was more upset by them insulting my intelligence than the actual change.
Yeah, true, dressing it as something good we should be happy about was kind of stupid... On the other hand, I can't imagine any good way to make such announcement to this community. We're pretty strict about what we want :)