The reason is to be a decent human being instead of a humanity-loathing wingnut.

I wonder if GOG's rejection has more to do with it being HTML5?

The point being, that you as a dev, let your possible customers decide, which version of your game they want to spend their money on:

- the DRM'ed one, or
- the DRM free one

As it stands now, the devs of this particular game seemingly decided for their possible customers, to go for the DRM'ed version, and for the DRM'ed version only, as there has been no DRM free version made available, after GOG refused to sell it. (to my knowledge)

Now, imagine, if you're one of those "hardcore-anti-DRM" users, who don't want to buy games on Steam (or with any other DRM involved at all) - what would you prefer?:

- Not to buy the game at all, because it's available DRM'ed / on Steam only?
- To buy the game DRM free on some other store (e.g. Humble)? - after all, you don't need GOG to buy DRM free.

It's all about offering choices, you know?

And some devs make it a little too easy for themselves, when they only complain about GOG for not accepting their game, instead of making a DRM free version available through other channels.

As many other -arguably better?- devs do.

The game looks awesome to me because I'm a fan of F-Zero but who the fuck is Penelope? It is too bad GOG didn't accept the game.

The game also reminds me of the game, Death Rally(the original). An awesome game BTW so you should check it out. It now freeware too. You can download it from here http://remedygames.com/static/DeathRallyWin_10.exe

There is a 2012 version of Death Rally(not free) but I have never played it so I don't know if it is good or not.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/108700/

My guess it, for most of them, the first choice. Most hardcore DRM-free buyers are GOG customers, and for many of them that means waiting for a GOG version. They won't go to Indie Game Stand or Humble Store, they will wait for a GOG version. Sure there are a few who will go for their DRM-free needs elsewhere, but that's what they are, a tiny percentage of overall buyers.

It's easy for a customer to say "give me choice", but the dev is the one having to support it, and if he expects to get maybe 10 more customers (which translates to no money) by putting a version at another store, and if these are hardcore customers of whatever, they'd probably also be bitching if the Steam version is updated first. So why get into this sick bed?

GOG Fail confirmed.
It's a shame they let this one slip by. I'd be interested in getting it here.

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/the_next_penelope

let's add a few thousand votes and they will reconsider...

What are the other options, though? Most stores are little more than Steam key sellers, most won't just let everyone in, those that do let everyone in don't generate any exposure to justify the effort. Not to mention that with some stores the whole tax responsibility is the developer's job and so distributing in more than one country is almost impossible for an individual or small studio.

GOG win.

What a horrible-looking, epilepsy-inducing game. No thank you.

I would like to make a big correction/check facts on this:

The game is published by Plug-In Digital so the devs are not part of the distribution deals (as stated on plug-in website)

Or at the very least not use Steam CEG.

I'd be surprised if that's used. Probably not used by most games.

Lets narrow this down even further. Imagine that you're also a hardcore chain smoker with ebola and you have a choice between drm, drm-free, or medical treatment. Then what would you prefer?

I'm sure you're convinced that the 0.01% drm free market outside of GOG and HIB matters since it's so "hardcore" but the reality is that all 5 of you aren't a significant market. It's the same thing with making Mac and Linux ports just to cater to those markets, except they're way more significant. As developers I'd expect them to focus on that before drm-free copies. That's a more logical business sense and progression. Ethics like "drm-free" are a thing of imagination when they don't translate into a monetary value sufficient enough to warrant the effort.

I don't understand.... Why would GOG refuse new games into its ecosystem? Even if the game is really bad, let it be... Who knows it might be patched up and become decent once day.

I am not talking about some incomplete games that make it into steam greenlight, that shit needs to be filtered.
But this game... Why GOG?

Uh, what? Plug-In is one of those vanity publisher intermediary people (so common in book publishing) who'll sell (or try to sell) the game wherever you tell them to sell it.

Where in my post exactly did I say that I am one of those "hardcore-anti-DRM" users?
Could you point me to it, please?

As a matter of fact, I do (re-) buy games here on GOG, that I already own on Steam or as retail.
I do this, to own a DRM free copy of the games I like, resp. to own a copy, that runs on modern systems.

As another matter of fact, I do buy games DRM free on other stores /directly from devs.
(Where do these versions come from, one wonders)
I do this, whenever I want a game, but (1.) GOG doesn't release it , (2.) doesn't say, they'll release it in the future (via the "upcoming" tab), or (3.) does release a game only months/years after the initial release.
(we're talking about new games here, obviously)

And as a final fact - I usually don't buy a second copy of a game here on GOG, after I already bought a DRM free version somewhere else.
(Once again: where do these versions come from?)
I see it as redundant, to own two copies of the same game, when both are DRM free.

(original statement from above, shortened and drawn together by me)

And still - there are devs out there, that serve that insignificant market...those fools, huh!?