Recently I've been messaging a lot of dev's or publishers regarding their games coming to GOG. Most haven't said a word, but some have responded with positive news. Others with news that is a bit dis-heartening. One conversation with the heads of StarDrive had this to say about a GOG release:

StarDrive: They don't want it.They seem to only want games at release now or not at all.

StarDrive: So much for Good Old Games, they should re-label as Brand New Games :)

Me: That's a shame to hear, but with all the classics being released and games a few years old, I find that hard to believe. If you haven't, don't give up. Every distribution service that's legitimate is important, for all genre's of gaming

StarDrive: Sorry Jesse, This is what they said, we have spoken to them directly. It's 'too old'. Might have to do with that we initially said NO, due to piracy concerns.

Me: From what I've noticed, all games get pirated, whether they have DRM or not, and no matter what service they're on. But you willing to come to GOG tells me there's hope for the future. I'll start talking to the community at GOG and see what they think. We'll put a few good words in for you :)

Here's their main website: http://www.stardrivegame.com/

Here it is on Desura: http://www.desura.com/games/stardrive

If you wouldn't mind voting for it on the community wishlist, go here: http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/stardrive

I figure every game deserves a chance at a release, new or "old".

So, this sounds like a standard case of trying to blame GOG for their decision. It doesn't help that their price is quite high.

Obviously, the guy's attempt at spin with "They only want games at release" is a total crock.

Well, if they honestly said 'too old" ... I mean, seriously... Maybe they said that but then just buck up and say they don't want his game anymore because he didn't want to before, or that the price he wants is too high, or even because the game maybe just plainly sucks (I don't know!).

I looked at that game a while ago, read the description, looked at some screenshots and was sold, looked at the video and was completely put off.

If GOG's decision is based off the devs initially saying no to GOG and then coming back wanting the game released here and GOG said no because of the past discussions then thats a bit shitty.

As for the DRM and piracy thing. Maybe they should have done their research before making claims like that. last time I read about it, the DRM'd version of The Witcher 2 was pirated more than the GOG version. (long time ago but meh)

I don't think it is right to interfere with how and why GOG get their games.

Me either. There's no interference here though is there?

I think what GOG was probably getting at is essentially what many of us have been saying all along - indie games that have already done countless rounds on Steam (including daily, week-long and weekend deals) and in indie bundles have essentially exhausted their market value.

If you remember, Botanicula, Anomaly: Warzone Earth, Symphony and the Introversion games were all pushed out on GOG after indie bundle runs, and all of them ended up seeing heavily reductions in sales on GOG soon after.

If I recall correctly, StarDrive is an average-to-half decent 4X strategy game that was originally released on Steam. I remember thinking back then that charging €30 for an indie game was really pushing it, and indeed - no surprise here - it was a daily deal at 50% off just two months after release, and then thrown out at 66% off during the Steam summer sale.

Just with those two sales, they've pretty much killed their future market now - i think any chance they might have of wringing out at last drops of revenue is through indie bundles.

While I'd love to see the game here, I can honestly understand GOG's hesitation that it might be profitable, but certainly not at the €30 price point, and not given the way the developer seems to have all but abandoned patching on Desura.

Hard to say what really transpired between GOG and them, without hearing both sides of the story. I voted for it, as it looks like something I would be interested in, being a bit of a space based game nut. I don't Steam, so unless it comes here, probably won't be playing it. Time will tell...

Well it's not right to publish a third party's comments etc.

I figured GOG's decision was based off something else than the games age.

I figured though, in any case, the forum goers here can make their own judgement and decide whether a game like this would really be worth it or not.

And yeah, many don't seem to do their research, like half the video game kickstarters. This is public on their facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/stardrivegame/posts/10200730068753362?comment_id=52179181&offset=0&total_comments=5

Then you are interfering:(

Interfering with what? Absolutely nothing. No crime is being committed here. I didn't exactly hack accounts or post personal information. All I'm doing is discussing a game in it's likelihood, or lack there of, coming to GOG.

Sure, IF that happened, it's weak, but based on the way that public "conversation" went, it came across to me as self-serving spin control than anything I'm willing to accept as honesty.

More likely reasons: They said no in the first place (as admitted).
Price remains far too high.
Game isn't worth GOG jumping through hoops over.

All he asked is 'is it coming to GOG?', how was he interfering? If you want to complain on anyone then it should be the people from Stardrive then, they made it public. And I assume they have to right to mention why their game won't be on a certain retailer.

Your probably right, because you can't expect a dev to always be honest, but we're smart here in the forums and we know that there's more to a conversation, to read between the lines. But I also didn't try and put on a publicity stunt myself. Just wanted the communities opinions, one way or another.