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Hey, GOGgers,

We're not perfect, we're exploring new frontiers, and we make mistakes. We thought DRM-Free was so important that you'd prefer we bring you more DRM-Free games and Fair Price was less critical and that it could be sacrificed in some cases. The last two week's worth of comments in our forums (nearly 10k!), show that's not the case. We didn’t listen and we let you down. We shouldn't sacrifice one of our core values in an attempt to advance another. We feel bad about that, and we're sorry. Us being sorry is not of much use to you, so let’s talk about how we will fix it.

One: DRM-free forever. Abandoning fixed regional pricing means it will probably take longer to get some games, but you've made it clear that sacrificing fair pricing for more DRM-free games isn't acceptable.

Two: We will adamantly continue to fight for games with flat worldwide pricing. If that fails and we are required to have regional prices, we will make up the difference for you out of our own pockets. For now it will be with $5.99 and $9.99 game codes. In a couple of months, once we have such functionality implemented, we will give you store credit instead, which then you will be able to use towards any purchase and cover the price of it in full or partially. Effectively gamers from all around the world will be able to benefit from the US prices.

This will apply to every single game where we do not have flat pricing, such as Age of Wonders 3 (full details here), Divinity: Original Sin, and The Witcher 3. If you remember the Fair Price Package for The Witcher 2, this will be exactly the same.

Three: We still intend to introduce the pricing in local currencies. Let us explain why we want to do it and how we want to make it fair for everyone. From the very beginning our intention was to make things easier for users whose credit cards/payment systems are not natively in USD. The advantages are simple because the price is more understandable and easier to relate to. There would be no exchange rates involved, no transaction fees, and no other hidden charges. However after reading your comments, we realized we have taken an important element away: the choice. In order to fix this, we'll offer the option of paying in the local currency or the equivalent in USD. This way, how you pay is always your choice.

Four: You are what matters, and we will be sure to involve you all more in what we're doing and why we're doing it. Let's start by meeting you at GDC - we’d like to invite you to meet us face-to-face Monday the 17th at GDC. Obviously, not all of you can come to San Francisco, so we want to invite all of you to an online event with us early in April to ask us whatever you would like. More details soon.

The bottom line is simple: there may be companies that won't work with us (although we will work hard to convince the most stubborn ones ;). Yes, it means we might miss out on some games, but at the same time GOG.com will remain true to its values and will keep on offering you the best of DRM-free gaming with Fair Prices.

Once again thank you for caring so much about GOG.com. We will work hard not to disappoint you again.

--Marcin "iWi" Iwinski & Guillaume "TheFrenchMonk" Rambourg
Store credit is just going to bait us to spend more money. Regional pricing is unacceptable in any form. It is extortion plain and simple.
An improvement, although a marginal one. The store credit is a decent compromise, and although I'd still prefer to have no regional pricing at all that bridge was crossed a while back (at least for new games). I'm more concerned with changes to the pricing of the catalog of old games, where it sounds that despite a bit of lip service not much of the original plan is actually changing.
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GOG.com: Three: We still intend to introduce the pricing in local currencies. Let us explain why we want to do it and how we want to make it fair for everyone. From the very beginning our intention was to make things easier for users whose credit cards/payment systems are not natively in USD. The advantages are simple because the price is more understandable and easier to relate to. There would be no exchange rates involved, no transaction fees, and no other hidden charges. However after reading your comments, we realized we have taken an important element away: the choice. In order to fix this, we'll offer the option of paying in the local currency or the equivalent in USD. This way, how you pay is always your choice.
The way this is written it sounds like people are only getting a choice in the currency they're paying in, not the pricing index they're using. For instance, if at some point GOG decides to charge $9.99 for US residents and €8.99 for European residents, it sounds like those in Europe would only get the choice of whether they pay €8.99 or $12.47- in other words, the only choice is what currency they get overcharged in. Now, if the choice is actually between the local price (in local currency) and the US price (in USD) then that would be quite nice and we could believe that this introduction of regional prices actually is for the benefit of customers. However, the only clarification at this point is a complete non-answer from TET, which doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.

There's also the concern of whether regional pricing will be accompanied by regional versions, a concern which has yet to be addressed at all. Basically the overarching concern is that you're setting up the infrastructure for your customers to be treated differently in a variety of ways based on their location, and generally these differences don't result in any customers being treated better.
I just want to second ( and will third and fourth it if the comments warrant it) my plea to GoG to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Reinstitute regional pricing on all games, and triple all prices for the US.

I would pay good money for the entertainment of watching the 180 degree turns and reading the pretzel logic of why.
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Kunovski: at least GOG didn't change in things that matter, they're still awesome, helpful and wiling to please everyone
Can't argue with that, and I hope it will stay that way. ( Although trying to please everyone usually doesn't end well... Heh. )
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OldFatGuy: I just want to second ( and will third and fourth it if the comments warrant it) my plea to GoG to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Reinstitute regional pricing on all games, and triple all prices for the US.

I would pay good money for the entertainment of watching the 180 degree turns and reading the pretzel logic of why.
Hah hah, nice. Where do I have to sign? *prepares popcorn and drinks*
Post edited March 11, 2014 by CharlesGrey
So glad about this!

Now people, THIS is why GOG is the best. They DO care about their customers.

GOG best digital games store since ever! Go GOG!
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OldFatGuy: I just want to second ( and will third and fourth it if the comments warrant it) my plea to GoG to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Reinstitute regional pricing on all games, and triple all prices for the US.

I would pay good money for the entertainment of watching the 180 degree turns and reading the pretzel logic of why.
Some men just want to watch the forums burn. ;)
Thank you GOG!
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outtathaway: Store credit is just going to bait us to spend more money. Regional pricing is unacceptable in any form. It is extortion plain and simple.
Which is why you have the option of not buying the game! ;)
i still can't get the minor thought out of my head that this was ploy to foster fan love. i think that unlikely, but i also think it unlikely that GOG got a true community pulse on this issue. Perhaps site visits went way down, maybe sales significantly dropped. But i can't imagine it realistically being so. Other doubts arise from my search of understanding. That sucks. What a mess.
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GOG.com: <snip>

Two: We will adamantly continue to fight for games with flat worldwide pricing. If that fails and we are required to have regional prices, we will make up the difference for you out of our own pockets. For now it will be with $5.99 and $9.99 game codes. In a couple of months, once we have such functionality implemented, we will give you store credit instead, which then you will be able to use towards any purchase and cover the price of it in full or partially. Effectively gamers from all around the world will be able to benefit from the US prices.

This will apply to every single game where we do not have flat pricing, such as Age of Wonders 3 (full details here), Divinity: Original Sin, and The Witcher 3. If you remember the Fair Price Package for The Witcher 2, this will be exactly the same.

<snip>

--Marcin "iWi" Iwinski & Guillaume "TheFrenchMonk" Rambourg
Hey Gog staff,

I sincerely hope this new (old) policy works out for you. My only concern (and I've seen some others express this as well) is that GOG isn't negatively impacted by having to pay out of their own pocket. For me GOG being around as a company trumps non-regional pricing any day.
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WhiteElk: i still can't get the minor thought out of my head that this was ploy to foster fan love. i think that unlikely, but i also think it unlikely that GOG got a true community pulse on this issue. Perhaps site visits went way down, maybe sales significantly dropped. But i can't imagine it realistically being so. Other doubts arise from my search of understanding. That sucks. What a mess.
Oh, we got a community pulse on this. Part of my job is giving community feedback in a concise and unedited manner (meaning good or bad, the feedback must flow!) so I, and those of us who interact with the community on a regular basis, made sure that the community's misgivings were made known :) Just wanted to get that out there :)

Feel free to ask questions and we will answer to the best of our ability :)
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OldFatGuy: ...reading the pretzel logic of why.
I laughed way to much than I should after reading this magnificent phrase.

Thank you, good sire, as this is a perfect description of conduct of some people I work with. I'm going to use it in Project Completion Report which I have to prepare in near future.
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SirPrimalform: Well I must say this is extremely welcome! Thank you for listening eventually (I get that it takes time to agree on a U turn like this).

I hope someone can be more specific about how this relates to the classic games though. You talk about the choice to pay in local currency or the equivalent in USD... so does this mean € users can pay $5.99 for a $5.99 classic if they choose USD or does that mean the USD equivalent of €4.49, which is $6.22? The difference is not huge but it's still a question I'm interested in the answer to.
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TheEnigmaticT: Once we accept more than one currency--which is still a few weeks off--you'll be able to select USD or local currency for any transaction.
What he was asking and I believe most of us would know, is if we will choose currency or price. For istance, who choose USD, will have the price he usually would have had before regional pricing? Or he'll get the USD conversion of its local currency? Because in this case the issue is not solved at all. Please clarify that.

About the other things, I believe they are good signs and I appreciate that.
I wonder if you are willing to put a some kind of advertise on games with regional prices to let people know that they are not getting the same price all over the world? This would let people vote with their wallet based on their principles. The publisher may get a clear response about the good and bad of having regional pricing. Also you would be true to your customers.
EDIT in repost
Post edited March 11, 2014 by WhiteElk
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JudasIscariot: Oh, we got a community pulse on this. Part of my job is giving community feedback in a concise and unedited manner (meaning good or bad, the feedback must flow!) so I, and those of us who interact with the community on a regular basis, made sure that the community's misgivings were made known :) Just wanted to get that out there :)

Feel free to ask questions and we will answer to the best of our ability :)
Here's hoping that GOG will be going strong for a long time to come, regardless of how this whole pricing policy mess turns out, for the sake of its customers as well as its staff.

And hopefully you guys will still be able to secure many good game releases, even without regional pricing to convince publishers. ( Today's games looked pretty good, by the way -- This year has seen many good releases here on GOG already, for that matter. )