A fair point. They don't have that. Yet. And they're certainly never going to if they don't try to compete.

But if GOG doesn't try to compete and instead stays stagnant so they aren't shifting 'focus' at least to some degree from their 'fans', they're pretty much going to be dead in the water. And that will likely mean at some point down the road those 'fans' are going to be looking for somewhere else to buy their games and wondering why GOG couldn't stay in business.

It's probably some modern thing; companies and managers are the new rock 'n' roll stars.

If they have finite resources then cutting back on one team/dept to give to galaxy will hurt the dept they cut from.

Also if no-drm/etc ever becomes one of the things they cut back on many here are going to be upset.

1. With their current profit margins they don't have the resources to compete with steam in a meaningful way(if they just try and be a steam copy anyways)....even if they take money from their parent company.

2. They aren't going to grow much bigger, imo, unless they can somehow make something that somehow convinces a good number of steam/etc users to switch sides.

TBH... no matter my fears about GOG turning away from their original "good old games" mission... this kind of innovation was supposed to be commonplace in the marketplace of digital delivery systems -- not every distributor having generally the same system bolstered only by exclusives (BTW, watch how that's going to turn out in video streaming!).

As I noted, if that dept isn't doing anything to help the bottom line, then it hurts nothing.

Yes, at which point they'll lose a lot of their customer base. Whether that's something that would be worth it for GOG is likely something they'd look at from a business and financial viewpoint.

But this discussion is moot. The OP was asking if GOG was losing focus on their 'fans'. My point is, this isn't a rock band. It's a business. They're focusing on business. If they feel they need to focus on some things that may alienate a portion of their user base, just like any other business, that's what they're going to do. They're probably well aware that some of their decisions will piss off some of their customers. But they're also probably equally aware that those customers represent a fraction of a percent of their overall user base and have projected that the changes will result in a net increase by attracting new customers.

But what makes you people think that there's a whole bunch of old games out there that GOG CAN but WON'T release? (referring to that "old mission")

1. True, but if they cut back on core concepts/customers then it hurts some(thing). Also to bolster their galaxy dev/production budget they'd likely need to cut back on more than the snack budget or something similar.

2. a. It might be but if they cut back on things that turn off the original userbase and they spread the word it might do more harm to the site than good.

2.b. They can focus on business all they want but it doesn't help a company who claims/purports to be about the userbase/community.
If there are still games that are "good" and "old"(both subjective terms but with generally accepted confines) they can still try to get or devs/etc to get onboard then their mission is sitll ongoing. There are literal LISTS made by users of games they could still get here....some of which they have the current IP holders signed up the site/company.

They're catering to their market. Their market is a lot different than it was 10 years ago. Their larger audience seems to love where they are going now. I'm kind of mixed. But that's how it is. Sometimes good things change, and they get better for some, and worse for others. It really sucks when you're one of the ones they're moving on from in favor of the larger audience. Bethesda did it with the Elder Scrolls and their interpretations of Fallout. Skyrim was one of them most disappointing games I ever played when they dumbed it down for the console pleb audience. Daggerfall and Morrowind are the pinnacle of that series, but they went away from what many of us consider to be superior games to please people too stupid to appreciate the better games.

GOG is similarly moving on to cater to a larger audience. I'm not as upset about these changes, but still it will become a problem when DRM-Free becomes obsolete due to "Access over Ownership" becoming the industry's new mantra. Goodbye modding, goodbye revisiting old games, goodbye reviving dead titles with modding communities. I hope that never becomes the primary distribution method. I'd like a streaming service, IN ADDITION to my ability to purchase the games I really like.

Look, you can argue this in circles forever. But once again; I was pointing out that GOG isn't led by the desire to please 'fans'. And by 'fans', I'm talking about the vocal minority that generally questions most things GOG does.

It's a business. They're going to make decisions that they feel are sound business decisions for the company. Yeah, you can sit and say "But this decision might be bad because..." but do you really think the decision makers in the company haven't considered the repercussions of their business decisions? I don't. No matter how inept one might believe they are, if they were that bad at decision making they'd be dead already.

*edit* Spelling

If an IP holder (signed up or not) doesn't want GOG to sell their game... well then that's that. People can make a million want lists and it still won't change a thing.
The point is still; how do YOU know if GOG CAN or WANTS to sell a game here?

1. If they can go after the near non-existent dollars from those they cna steal from steam then they can focus on those with valid concerns(valid, not the ones with invalid concerns).

2. They are having trouble lately, though. Their last income report states they had very narrow net profit margins.

The only reason i'm not using GOG is that their client lacks features. 2.0 sounds great so far and maybe this will be a good reason to start using it.

Fans are the worst, they ruin everything.

You don't, but as long as they have rights holders on board with games to still release then the mission is not "complete" imo......whether or not they wants to release every such game is irrelavant to that discussion then.

Some fans improve things by creating some memorable fan works, though.

As pointed out, "Fans" is really the wrong term to use, customers is much more apporproate.