Posted April 25, 2021
I can see that this is partly because you didn't read through the whole thread. This is understandable, since it's a very long one.
BoycottIsFutile: In comparison with CD Projekt Red, their total revenue is 5.5x more and net profit is nearly 55x higher than GOG.com. With how much more successful this division is and how difficult the political zealots are, there isn't much of an economic incentive in the short term to support the platform. BoycottIsFutile: Let's be conservative with calculations by assuming all boycotters are Americans who pay higher premiums for their games. If all 95 people on the list spent an average of $250 annually, that's $23,800 in total revenue / $1,430 net profit GOG.com is losing out on. Divide it by however much you think other lurkers agree with your idea. However, with this known info, that's only ~0.026% of their total and net income. It's a drop in the bucket if we're talking about a numbers game. To some extent, this has been addressed. In short:
* People are boycotting out of principle anyway
* The boycott is not necessarily limited to this forum thread, so we don't actually know how large (or small) the movement is
* This is only the beginning, and being vocal about it is how this can grow it into a movement
I'd also like to point out that CDPR uses GOG as its main distribution platform. Even to the extent they'll use a different one, there would likely be a portion of boycotters who still refuse to buy their games, precisely because they are closely tied with GOG (not to mention some of their own recent conduct).
BoycottIsFutile: Red Candle Games has already respected GOG's decision on the matter. They've already set up their online store to sell their games independently. Why would they want GOG to take 30% of their cut when they can keep nearly 100% of the revenue it already gets from its store? Urging GOG to publish their game now makes no economic sense. It's all water under the bridge now. This too has been addressed.
To Red Candle, it probably is old news by now, as they are finally selling the game and have certainly gotten plenty of publicity from this. For the gamers who were promised the option to buy it on GOG and then cheated out of that choice only to be given an "explanation" that looks like a blatant lie even with only minor scrutiny, it absolutely isn't.
Keep in mind, this boycott is about GOG's choices and actions, not Red Candle's.
I don't see how that's relevant, but OK.
BoycottIsFutile: If you already own GOG games and are boycotting them out of spite, you're shooting yourselves in the foot. If GOG goes down, not only will some of us casual users lose access to our games because we don't backup offline installers, it is more upsetting for competition in the video game industry. Less competition means less incentive to innovate for increased market share, which is bad for all consumers. This too has been addressed.
If GOG actually goes down from this boycott, they're being incredibly stupid, not to mention I'd be surprised if any of the boycotters wouldn't be sorely disappointed by such an outcome. That simply isn't the goal.
You then go on to list some details on Devotion sales on other platforms, which aren't particularly relevant IMO.
BoycottIsFutile: You can argue for Zoom Platform, but after skimming their platform, the newest game they have is from 2009. I personally don't want to seek refuge in a platform carrying only games made before 2009 or Itch.io's pit of uncurated shovelware. That's your personal choice. I might look into Zoom eventually since they seem to be focused on a niche that isn't getting much attention elsewhere these days.
BoycottIsFutile: Lastly, GOG as a company can do whatever it wants. It doesn't care about politics, it only cares about its bottom line, which is how companies should be running. If China is where all the money is, companies will kowtow before them as per the natural design of capitalism. We are all slaves to money in some way or another. This too has been addressed.
Boycotts are built on this very premise. If GOG wasn't free to choose its own path, or if its bottom line weren't about earnings, then this boycott would have no chance of succeeding.
BoycottIsFutile: Forcing a company to do something it doesn't want to do by threatening economic retaliation is the same tool of the PRC itself. It's hypocritical for your movement because you're using the same means as the PRC / alleged Chinese gamers GOG are appeasing. If you think that action was wrong, why are you doing the same action you despise? This too has been addressed, at least partially.
It's simple. We're all individual paying customers, hence each of us has every right to decide what to buy or not buy. If PRC is a direct customer of GOG, then there should be no problem with PRC deciding not to buy a game from GOG, for whatever reason.
The general concensus appears to be that the "gamers" who sent "many messages" are either fictional, or people under social pressure. If this is not the case and there are numerous outraged customers out there who refuse to buy from GOG because of something they actually perceive as injustice, then it's a perfectly acceptable means to right that wrong.
That said, there is one more notable difference: Allowing a game to be on GOG (more options) vs not allowing it (less options). More options is more freedom, hence it's inherently a more worthy goal, and only very extraordinary circumstances get to make it not so. And guess what, many people don't actually see it as an extraordinary circumstance warranting that kind of exception that a political leader was once ridiculed by a placeholder game asset that has since been removed.
BoycottIsFutile: If your movement is more principled and noble, the right move would be to respect GOG's decision and leave the platform in search of others that share your political views. By continuing to drag GOG's reputation through the mud, your movement negatively reinforces pro-GOG factions to support the platform even more. There's a good reason why people are coming in here and boasting about their recent GOG purchases because they know it pisses this echo chamber off and it works (see the post ratings). I disagree. GOG has changed radically in recent years, and GOG is now dragging GOG's reputation through the mud. This boycott is about convincing them to stop doing it. The fact that there are other pro-GOG factions who might react negatively to that is a consequence of ignorance and/or apathy. The best we can do is try to enlighten them by bringing up the facts of GOG's recent history.
BoycottIsFutile: That being said, I agree with a previous poster who said companies aren't infallible and yes, they do make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, no one is perfect. I initially was offset by their decision to pull Devotion. But what matters more is how they deal with their failures. Yes, they've made plenty of them in the last half decade. I'd very much like them to stop.
BoycottIsFutile: Look at it this way - if your boycott doesn't work, it's not doing anything but make you guys look bad. If your boycott works, you've effectively cancelled a relatively small platform that has done more net good for DRM-free movement, niche game developers and publishers, and video game preservation. No. If GOG is cancelled, then that's a major failure of this boycott.
* People are boycotting out of principle anyway
* The boycott is not necessarily limited to this forum thread, so we don't actually know how large (or small) the movement is
* This is only the beginning, and being vocal about it is how this can grow it into a movement
I'd also like to point out that CDPR uses GOG as its main distribution platform. Even to the extent they'll use a different one, there would likely be a portion of boycotters who still refuse to buy their games, precisely because they are closely tied with GOG (not to mention some of their own recent conduct).
To Red Candle, it probably is old news by now, as they are finally selling the game and have certainly gotten plenty of publicity from this. For the gamers who were promised the option to buy it on GOG and then cheated out of that choice only to be given an "explanation" that looks like a blatant lie even with only minor scrutiny, it absolutely isn't.
Keep in mind, this boycott is about GOG's choices and actions, not Red Candle's.
I don't see how that's relevant, but OK.
If GOG actually goes down from this boycott, they're being incredibly stupid, not to mention I'd be surprised if any of the boycotters wouldn't be sorely disappointed by such an outcome. That simply isn't the goal.
You then go on to list some details on Devotion sales on other platforms, which aren't particularly relevant IMO.
Boycotts are built on this very premise. If GOG wasn't free to choose its own path, or if its bottom line weren't about earnings, then this boycott would have no chance of succeeding.
It's simple. We're all individual paying customers, hence each of us has every right to decide what to buy or not buy. If PRC is a direct customer of GOG, then there should be no problem with PRC deciding not to buy a game from GOG, for whatever reason.
The general concensus appears to be that the "gamers" who sent "many messages" are either fictional, or people under social pressure. If this is not the case and there are numerous outraged customers out there who refuse to buy from GOG because of something they actually perceive as injustice, then it's a perfectly acceptable means to right that wrong.
That said, there is one more notable difference: Allowing a game to be on GOG (more options) vs not allowing it (less options). More options is more freedom, hence it's inherently a more worthy goal, and only very extraordinary circumstances get to make it not so. And guess what, many people don't actually see it as an extraordinary circumstance warranting that kind of exception that a political leader was once ridiculed by a placeholder game asset that has since been removed.
