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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
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OldFatGuy: For all the folks who keep worrying about whether this is going to mean gog becomes unprofitable, then there is an obvious and easy answer.

They raise the prices everywhere. The same.

Orrrrrrrrr let me guess, those of you voicing this conern *ahem* wouldn't like THAT and would rather them go to regional pricing???
Preposterous!
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Cavalary: And not selling the game of a rotten publisher is the right message either way. You don't rank your core values that you touted all these years and decide that holding on to one is worth throwing away the other. They haven't sold regionally priced games (excepting the court-ordered Witcher 2 snafu) so far, so that'd definitely be no change whatsoever, and I hope that (with the exception of these already contracted now) they'll continue not selling them.
Those who don't care for principles are free to make their purchases from other stores that have none (which is to say, nearly all of them). If this actually means that they'll properly go back to their policies in full then those of us who do can return here.
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Messi_is_Messiah: Screw your principles man, games are games, and when they go 75% off like they always do we're only talking about a few cents in the end anways.
Exactly, if its only a few cents, no reason for publishers to insist on regional pricing... :)
As far as I can tell, GOG has opted to do right by us, and I am thrilled. If this is the case, I will resume supporting them at every opportunity. This means buying games even if I'm not sure I'll be into them, gifting and doing giveaways to spread games I already like far and wide, and not least of all contributing to the forums.

THANK YOU, GOG!
So...is anyone still not happy? Because this seems pretty damn fair to me. Bold move GOG. I don't envy the negotiation you'll have to do here on out.
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nadenitza: What new games?
Along with the announcement of regional pricing they also announced three games that wouldn't have come here without it and one can expect that this would have been true for more games.
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CharlesGrey: You keep saying things like that, and I have no idea whether to feel excited, afraid or just confused. :P

What's the deal with GOG always being so... secretive about any new game releases or website and service changes?

( Then again, anything you guys say seems to cause a shitstorm, so maybe it's best to keep any statements as vague as possible. :x )
When it comes to interactions where other companies and their products are involved, such business dealings almost always are under non-disclosure agreements for a variety of really good reasons, and sometimes potentially required by law directly or indirectly (such as some matters concerning Sarbanes-Oxley for example), but also not tipping off competitors, etc.

Aside from concerns regarding legal matters and related to competitors though, when one conducts matters too publicly too early, the public can go with it and take it in any random direction with violent emotion, misconstruing plans, misreading or misunderstanding things and eventually causing a massive amount of havoc in the process that could negatively effect a project in ways that are unpredictable. In contrast, not communicating anything at all about things in advance can have a similar effect. A company or even an open source project for that matter - needs to very carefully weigh the pros and cons of announcing anything at all beforehand as once it is out in the wild, the media, the customers, the followers and their imaginations and emotions can really put all kinds of spin on things which can come back in a negative light which is definitely something you want to avoid. It's often less damaging to say less now and more later than to say more now and wish you had not later.

Also, sometimes enough information simply isn't known and giving people some information only seeds their desire for more information, and then more, and then more and in the process forming various ideas in people's heads about what is to come, when it is going to come and they develop expectations which may or may not be realistic and then later are angry when their expectations aren't met. Additionally, one might have plans to do A, B, and C, and announce it, give a date of April 10, 2014 lets say, and then in the process of actually doing it realize that "B" was just a totally bad idea but enough information wasn't known about it until 2 months after B was announced to the public, and C turns out to be more complex to do within the timeframe estimated and wont be available in time for April 10 so you get egg in your face because your words are often interpreted as "promises" to people instead of a snapshot in time of current intentions which are subject to change in the future. People in general hate change (I think everyone can think of many examples for this) and so one needs to be very calculated about discussing future plans, especially if such plans involve changes to the way people are used to things.

People always want more information. No matter how much information us humans get about something - we want more information because more information is better for us to form opinions and make decisions about things. It's totally natural to want the information. It's just not in the best interest of the information holder to divulge that information in an ongoing stream of completely open transparency all the time for reasons I cited above amongst many others. Communication is a sensitive thing, and easy to mess up. Explaining things to people tends to make people want you to explain more, and then explain more again, and people who disagree with you and your position will take whatever explanations you give them and knowingly or unknowingly try to use them against you as fuel, demanding more explanations, etc.

Sometimes less is more, and more and more businesses learn this over time to choose the things they announce publicly very carefully and at an appropriate time, erring on the side of caution of not giving info unless they feel certain it can be done in a way that gives everyone including themselves a good experience. When they get it wrong, it can explode in their faces (both too much or too little info/communication). This is for example, game companies like Valve, Blizzard don't say much of anything involving future game projects they might or might not be working on, don't give out release dates for games until the last minute, etc.

Being privy to sensitive information is a tricky business to decide what to share and what not to share, because if you get it wrong it can have serious consequences and silence is often a much less risky prospect compared to oversharing more often than not.
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BKGaming: Yes exceptional cases... your crazy if you don't think it will have an effect on which games and how often...
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IAmSinistar: Thank you too, Nostradamus. It must be comforting knowing how it all plays out. Or is it the despair and gloom-seeking that is comforting? If so, take heart. If things don't go to smash this time, there will always be a future change you can peg the oncoming apocalypse to.
It goes both ways. Some people think that it's the end of getting bigger titles, some people wanted to think GOG would be adding DRM since they wanted to go the regional pricing route, and some people would undoubtedly throw crying, screaming fits if GOG decided to increase prices by a dollar a game across the board to make up for them eating costs involved with trying to even out region pricing for people who would get a bad deal. There is no way to win when it comes to making so many disparate people happy. All I can hope for is that GOG won't get their collective throats cut by their own customer base if they have to go the price increase route, and that their profitability will still be sufficient with them choosing to spend so much on each person who buys a game with an inflated price. Going to start taking part of my gaming budget and buying a few things when I can for face value rather than always waiting for the 75 or 80 percent off sales.
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CharlesGrey: SNIP In someways, I'd rather pay in euros because it makes it a bit more clear that it's actually a foreign transaction.
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JudasIscariot: Also, I noticed you're back in the U.S.

How was the *ahem* flight? :D
Good, but the food left something to be desired, I miss airplane peanuts. :-P
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scampywiak: So...is anyone still not happy? Because this seems pretty damn fair to me. Bold move GOG. I don't envy the negotiation you'll have to do here on out.
Why? Isn't this more or less the same negotiation that they had before, but with the knowledge that any regional pricing won't be accepted by the customer base without concessions to us?

If anything, this is probably going to make it slightly easier for them to negotiate.
Post edited March 11, 2014 by hedwards
This sounds alot better.
My wallet is open again and il buy some games as a reward.
Thank you.
I've been saying the policy wasn't going to stick and I was right. :P
All is forgiven.
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OldFatGuy: OMG, I soooo did NOT expect this.

AWESOME.

This is what listening to consumers means. This is how it's supposed to work in every business and every industry, every day. This is.... this is how it's supposed to be.

Thank you gog.

I am going to thank you properly by making my first (among many) purchase since, well, since you know.

THANK YOU

ADDED IN EDIT: Downloading Harvester now, and took advantage of the 25% off Shadowrun Returns since it was on my wish list.

THANK YOU GOG.

Whew, for the past couple of weeks I was having some gog withdrawal, and my preferred credit card for gog was just laying there gathering dust (usually use Paypal at other gaming online shops) and I swear I heard an audible "AHHhhh" when I pulled it out.
hehe your funny u made my day
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GOG.com: 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.
Shut up and take my Witcher 3 preorder money (and give me also a Steam key please)!
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SirLesterMarwood: Disappointed by this backflip.

Clearly 'new' games that would've been headed this way won't now due to the seething masses (can't imagine GoG paying the difference over-and-over again). I've been wanting to get rid of Steam for good, and DRM-free was always far more important than pricing to me. Guess the prospect of getting new release AAA titles DRM free is now just a pipe dream.

Sigh.
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Cavalary: Be disappointed of the publishers that push these policies instead. And don't buy their games at all (that doesn't necessarily have to mean not playing them, mind you) and tell them exactly why. That's the only way to change things and make sure that eventually regional pricing will no longer be a stumbling block in obtaining games.
Oh I agree, but it doesn't seem to be big enough of an issue for gamers outside of GoG to have any affect on industry practices at large. I'm just disappointed that we didn't get to see what other games were in the pipeline that will now likely not appear. DRM-free is the only non-negotiable as far as im concerned, and sometimes you have to be a bit pragmatic to get what you really want. I can't honestly see GoG chasing new release titles hard now that regional pricing is going to fall back on them. I just cant help but wonder what we're going to miss out on...
I have to admit, I'm kind of saddened that a post about getting back to your roots doesn't include a single mention of classic games, especially after the last open letter pretty much said you'd sewn up all the classics that were possible to license. I'm here for the games that I can't legally acquire anymore, or that benefit from the extra effort of making them compatible with modern systems. No one else is really serving that segment of the market.