The cost of making the games is still almost the same

It's just that companies spend more on Marketing their game than the actual development of the game itself

I have owned the original Fallout Trilogy in many different forms over the ages. It is my choice to buy them over and over again, because they are classic games, and Interplay deserves the support that buying these games contributes.

I would do the same again for Bethesda, especially for their Elder Scrolls series of games. But I doubt I will ever purchase any re-release of the original Fallout Trilogy by Bethesda.

I also don't consider any of the later Fallout games as being part of the same series. Gameplay is just as important a part of any game franchise as the lore. It can be good to change the format of a game, but when this works, it normally creates a spin-off franchise of their own, just as you have the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise spinning off from the Might and Magic RPGs. I have no qualms with Bethesda creating a first person perspective game based in the Fallout universe, but I do strongly disagree with the idea that such a game could ever be Fallout 3.

We have seen this trend to suddenly change game franchises to whatever seems to be the current top-selling format with regards to the industry. I think that this approach usually ends up disregarding the fans of the original games, who quite often find themselves left out in the cold when such changes move their franchises away from their favoured gaming styles.

Ultimately, if you have a turn-based RPG classic, and the fan base consists of those that enjoy turn-based RPGs, you don't change the game into a first person shooter without the risk of alienating your existing fan base. A post-apocalyptic Morrowind is fun, but it is never going to be Fallout, any more than a turn-based RPG could ever be considered a true Elder Scrolls game.

It is clear that, regardless of Bethesda having the IP, they simply don't respect it for anything more than the branding. However, this does keep the door open for any developer (even Interplay) from designing a post-apocalyptic turn-based rpg that could become the spiritual successor for the Fallout series. Bethesda own the rights to the IP, not the entire genre itself.

A good example of how exploitative copyright makes unavailable, locks up and ultimately destroys our cultural heritage.

The newest of these three games is over 12 years old. The profit that justified its original creation was made within *a year* of its release. No one, neither individual artist nor massive corporation, makes media thinking about what it's going to be making them even two years after its release, let alone ten, let alone SEVENTY PLUS.

A large and growing public domain is essential to nurture creativity, preserve cultural history, prevent monopoly, and diffuse concentrations of cultural and economic power.

Electronic gaming and other software is hit particularly hard by exploitative copyright thanks to rapid technological progress that can make old software unusable very quickly. Long copyright monopoly creates a situation wherein if an IP owner decides it does not want to distribute and update said software for whatever reason, preservation of the media, *even nonprofit preservation*, becomes effectively illegal. The only truly legal recourse is to allow the work to be lost, possibly forever. Gaming and software aren't the only things effected either. Copyright law is a very real and serious impediment to the preservation of sound recordings, even ones as old as from the early 1900s!

The current situation serves media corporations (and a small number of incredibly lucky individual artists) at the expense of the welfare of the entire rest of society. It is fundamentally unjust. It needs to change.

I'm really sorry about this. I can't understand the reason to remove these great games from the catalog. But maybe a reason could be found. The original fallout could be a choice, even if a old one, alternative to the new serie. Fans could prefer to replay the old one insted of play the new.
I never had nothing against Bethesda, their games are good ones. But from now I will not buy their games any more. Until the originl fallout will come back. I bought all of them here and now I'm downloading.

What's interesting about Fallout Tactics is that it actually reminds me more of WASTELAND than of Fallout, there's no retro 1950's vibe, but there's definitely a 90's vibe in it, the storyline is almost very similar to Wasteland 1 with the robots. Definitely underrated game, great combat.

apologies if this is obvious, but what exactly is the reason gog had to pull the games from the catalgoue?

i have read some of the previous posts and the implication is that it has something to do with Bethesda, but the original post does not really explain the problem.

Truly a sad day indeed for those that missed the opportunity to purchase these gems here before the removal 8(

Bethesda might be trying to monopolize the sales for them self through steam, probably get a bigger cut from there or something silly (Game is still for sale on steam according to some gaming sites).

Sadly Bethesda has been making bad decisions lately when it comes to their games, f.e. like being steam exclusive, skyrim (was a decent game but nothing more than that compared to the previous games) so this move is not much of a surpries.
Personally I love the new fallout games, they are very immersive like the previous titles even though the gameplay (type) has changed, so for me it was not a big loss having the change from the playstyle of the old games to the fps/rpg element, sure it has its flaws but I liked it non the less.

PCLiberty pretty much nailed it when it comes to copyright and IP, current laws are killing creativity and this is yet another proof of that, keep up the good work GOG.

If they would be allowed to explain it in detail - they would.
Sadly they weren't, so you just have to settle down with an information that Fallout games will no longer be available on GOG.
Lucky I still can download it after buying.... so... no disaster. ;)

Bethesda bought the IP from Interplay, Interplay sold the originals, didn't meet contractual obligations, etc.

Bethesda sues Interplay, Interplay sues back, court case eventually goes in favor of Bethesda.

Bethesda now owns all the games, not just ones created by them. We are here now.

It's a messy issue.

I think current copyright laws serve certain corporation owners and a few lucky artists immensely, but it also allows others to make a living off their work (think moderately successful indie games or otherwise staff working for said corporations).

Certainly, in the capitalist driven society that we live in, the creators of intellectual property need to justify their work with at least potential income in order to make it anything but a hobby.

In that context, I think it's reasonable for an author to be able to profit from his work as long as he lives (if for whatever reason, the IP only becomes profitable 20 years down the line, it would be unfair to deny him that income). And similarly, it would make sense to allow an aging author (50+) to pass on profits from his IP to his offsprings.

So at the very least, intuitively, copyright should extent to the lifetime of the original author or an arbitrary time period that is shorter than someone's lifetime (say, 30 years), whichever is longer.

The main tweaks I'd like to see on current copyright laws is to make copyright non-transferable (can't sell it... maybe allow the initial employee rights transfer if multiple creators are working for an employer as paid employees, but that's it), to shorten the time for copyright as indicated above and to make the copyright holder responsible for keeping the work available for purchase once it has been sold to a certain number of individuals (say, more than a thousand). In today's information age, distribution of intellectual property is cheap and there is really no excuse to withhold distribution of something that is in demand.

Bethesda and Zenimax haven't made anything remotely good since Morrowind. Money-grubbing hooknoses, all of them.

Well, looky here, another reason for me to despise Bethesda to the bone.

i never purchased the trilogy cause i got it in physical disks on my shelves... but i should have given the conveniency of drm free gog touch and patch for recent computers...

i wont make the same mistake twice and i'll scan through the catalog for all the classics i already have yet would rather keep in drm free and up to date versions.

the fact that gog cant even spell out the true reasons is a huge hint about what kind of reason it is: greedy gross copyright rampaging mess as always. companies see that ideas like gog not only works but flourish and they want to keep all the cake. I have a clever insight for you marketing guies: it works for a reason, the same reason you completely miss out by believing we would rather buy classic old games without bonuses on steam for your bigger cut share of the profits. The reason gog works is becase of the spirit behind all this.

i avoid steam as much as i could for many reasons (i had to SACRIFICE a computer just for the very few games i couldnt find elsewhere but on steam, just to log in my account and download the stuff... you can guess i dont play on this computer though)

all they will got is that many (shamefully not enough to make them realise their "hooknosy" attitude)of us will barricade themselves in gog and other drm free platforms and titles whenever we can; i personnally never restrain me to flame developpers for steam versions...) i boycotted excellent game outlast also for that until gog got it.

if you guies want more money, make games ! good ones if possible... you dont need millions dollars in advertising and ages of developpement for fancy eyecandy visuals to make good games; even better, you can make many good games in same time and budget you make a big noisy but average one, and get MORe money by that... and you'll get more money when stopping to consider faithfull supporting customers are criminal you have to bind and chain into stupid drms (that even ruins a computer sometimes).

you say big or aaa games cant be made this way ? guess what ? talk about the witcher series... oh wait :)

i have no issue against gog in this matter, i am just angry about "the others"... thank you guies for my first rage of 2014 !

Changing the splash screen to not say interplay anymore perhaps? Could also be there is some hidden code that needs to be changed (like maybe Interplay's brand in there or something).