I have written about that topic a bit: Les IA génératives sont un fléau !

That’s going to be my only intervention about generative AI, as it is highly unrelated to the GOG Patrons marketing scheme.

If we are starting to post user IDs publicly in the forum now then here is your ID for a uBlock Origin filter:

I will always maintain the opinion that buying additional games helps GOG far more than donations or subscriptions.

"But but but this money goes directly to GOG, as opposed to having to share it with publishers!"
Yeah - and that's the problem. GOG is a store. GOG is NOTHING without the publishers, so publishers must keep getting their share if we have money to burn. It's their games we want after all.

Buy a gift for someone. That way GOG and, more importantly, a publisher gets supported. You get to keep your library "tidy" and you make a random GOG user happy.

Far better than this nonsense that some executive will pocket as a bonus.

Exactly. I would rather buy a game that costs 10$ and gift it to someone than spend 5$ that will go to the CEO's pocket.

Here's a thought for you. The data and numbers given directly from CDP is right there. How about instead of relying on AI and other people to analyze the data for you, you do your own independent research?

Damn straight.
People, instead of supporting a ridiculous initiative which heralds the very beginning of a paid two-class system here on GOG, how about you all buy a gift code for someone. Anyone. You still "donate" towards GOG's bottom line, but simultaneously you encourage publishers to stay on this platform.

What you choose to water tends to grow.

Except that I've bought tons of games here for years and I'm reasonably sure that most of the amount that went into r&d went into Galaxy (essentially GOG trying to become like Steam and enshittifying our offline multiplayer experience in the process, with some games getting their LAN features ripped out in favor of the "superior" Galaxy integration) which I care nothing about.

After that, their next priority has been to improve my purchasing experience on the website, which is nice, but it doesn't address the reason I'm buying games here and not on Steam or Epic to begin with.

So no, unless they give me a clear concrete game plan to improve my offline experience, they are not getting any extra money from me beyond what I pay them when I buy games here for me (which I will do as long as they remain the better drm-free option to enable my continuing enjoyment of my games offline, but not longer than that... if they are smart, they will strive to stay ahead in that department).

For starters, they could improve my automated backups of my collection (right now, I'm using an unofficial client I wrote myself) by providing a good Linux compatible client of their own geared towards keeping my backup up to date and maybe add some pictures and game descriptions to my backups with a nice offline dashboard while they are at it (crazy, I know).

Then, they could focus on making my games last forever on an OS that will last forever (ie, not Windows). After all I read, I'm not sure I will upgrade my gaming box to Windows 11 ever. Once things stop running well on Windows 10, I will probably run a combo of Windows 10 and Lutris/Heroic Launcher (because seriously, f*ck Microsoft and their ads and ai that spies on you and their forced online registration to setup your os... with all the sh*t that they put in it, you'd think they were offering their os for free, except that they are charging close to 200$ for this turd) and if newer games here stop running well on that setup, maybe that will be an indication that I should stop buying newer games here.

I don't know what CDP is actually planning with GOG or what they are thinking about the situation. Nothing of this is public. If this store is as struggling as some people here think then we will see more of this in the near future. It is October again. We will probably read about more layoffs in December like last year and next year we will know how the winter sale performed. If GOG will be closed or sold off at some point then it will be sad and it will be a huge blow for everyone having an alternative to Steam and Epic which is also offering DRM-free offline installers. The current alternatives to GOG aren't really great and are much more worse than GOG. It will be just Steam and Epic then.

That's not the point here. I'm not talking about GOG's future or what they have in store or some bullshit like that.

The point is you have 12+ years of financial data all public at your fingertips to analyze. All publicly available just like how I accessed it. Probably 400+ pages of reports every year to read on GOG's books, news, lawsuit statuses, notable releases, employee counts, and plans every year in such overwhelming detail that people here that don't actually want to read it. Might as well throw in the public Q&As, presentation materials, interviews, podcasts, so media posts, and news articles too for a comprehensive overview.

If you think I'm wrong, why don't do do your own calculations and analysis instead of parroting what other people or an AI has said?

if you assume GOG will steal this money, why send them any money?

Where did he state GOG will steal anything?

"Far better than this nonsense that some executive will pocket as a bonus."

Executive bonuses are part of the business. Savings in running costs will fatten executive pockets. This is not theft.

okay... I simply understood this as suggesting that I shouldn't pay GOG, but pay GOG and the publisher

but I still don't see the problem in paying GOG :) if you do, then don't