There is a developer out there who has released 4 games on GOG so far, along with many updates for them along the way.

They also have another 2 games that they haven't released on GOG yet, but they did on steam.

And also there's another (paid) update for one of the games on GOG which has not yet been released on GOG, but was released on steam.

So that's 3 releases behind steam. When asking about the timeline for these releases I only get the vague "no plans yet but maybe in the future", which essentially means nothing.

So it does look like this studio is abandoning GOG as a platform.

Obviously there must be a reason.

Is GOG really such a hostile platform to release the games on that even multiple release developers are turning away from it?

I'm kind of done trying and advocating for this service.

It's unable to retain even the oldest developers.

I just can't understand it.

Developer in question: https://www.ironhidegames.com/

Yeah, gog seems to be content in letting their store slowly rot from multiple ignored issues over recent years, and some of the longtime diehards here get defensive if you bring this up.

Neither can any of us understand unless you bother to name said developer for scrutiny of both the situation and your claims.

Otherwise it is just a clickbait topic title of generic outrage with no meaning.

It might not be that gOg is hostile, but that the games are not selling well enogh here to make any economic sense.

Indeed, one would assume this is the most likely reason.

Topic aside, I don't understand why there always seem to be people posting doom and gloom about gog without offering inside knowledge or any facts of substance. "I dislike this thing related to gog, so that means they're closing any day now, or they hate devs, or they're woke activists, or I'm leaving for good." Do any other stores even allow members to post anti-store comments? Do these negative posts become a self-fulfilling prophecy, constantly predicting bad things will happen to gog results in bad things actually happening to gog?

Maybe it's just generic internet behavior? Something happened I dislike, so I'll attribute some completely made up explanation?

There's a number of games not released here from devs who used to publish on GOG, even direct sequels to games that were released here, like Rogue Legacy 2, or Door Kickers 2 (we did get the pixelated 2D spin-off... thing, but not the actual sequel). At this point I've given up on expecting anything to have a release here just because its predecessors did. I'm just happy when it does happen, like with Trine. Even despite that, my wishlist is lengthy and I'm always behind, so it's no skin off my back if the devs/publishers don't want to sell me a DRM-free copy of their game, and prefer I buy something else instead.

I've spoken to a number of indie devs -- some who have published here in the past -- and I've heard the same "we don't have any plans on a GOG release at the moment, but maybe in the future?"

Whatever the reason, GOG does have trouble keeping devs releasing on the platform... and... even keeping their initial GOG releases on GOG (ie The Long Dark, For the King, etc.)!

Just last week I was looking on Steam and came across Kyn, an indie fantasy RTS. When it was pulled from GOG, it sounded like the game was pulled from all sales... but... turns out that wasn't the case. You can purchase the game on Steam right now!

And then you have Microprose who keeps dropping new games on Steam but almost none have shown up here. And when I've asked (email)... no reply.

Again, I don't know where the problem in the GOG / dev relationships lie, but there definitely is something wrong.

Some developers, especially independent ones, might feel that releasing their game on GOG is not worth the extra effort. They may think that since most of their sales come from Steam, there is no need to worry about other platforms like GOG. Not to mention, they have to deal with the console version as well.

If the relation were a crucial factor in game releases, then we would see stores like ZOOM having more games. In my opinion, people are overthinking it too much. Ultimately, it all comes down to money, and if expanding to different platforms is generally worth the effort when most sales are already made on Steam. Also, I seen some devs say they don't like releasing games day one of DRM free store.

Edit: I personally seen a dev post on steam how he felt releasing on GOG would be to much work and steam is enough

Also, I can't imagine that GOG looks attractive compared to the steam forums because of how hilariously lacking it is in both spam moderation and community features. We're in the stone ages compared to Steam, and Steam doesn't exactly have many fanciful features. But at least it <i>has</i> [expletive] features.

And doesn't trip over formatting when two or more requests are combined.

Taking any chance you can. haha

GOG should be doing every single thing they can to make any exporting of Steam games to GOG as smooth as possible.

That includes improving their Steam SDK Wrapper to work with more game engines, mimicking Steamworks's UI/UX by making the most useful tools tools using feedback from their CDPR counterparts who manage their Steam listings, and offering DRM stripping services for games and updates if the devpubs can't do it themselves due to technical, staff, or financial limitations. Thanks to the great responses from this thread, I would also be willing to sacrifice modern features like achievements if it meant having a DRM-free version instead if there are any developers hesitant about the extra work they have to do.

Next, they need to provide better benefits to the devpubs to incentivize and retain them. I don't know what the best ideas are, but spitballing a few: guaranteed minimum income, using their social media platforms to spotlight devs' work, user-selectable custom website themes/banners/avatars by GOG's in-house graphics designers, higher revenue cuts on their older games if they release more games on here, a private forum for devpubs to publicize feedback on GOG DevPortal on the frontend/backend/etc., authorized legal services to secure the rights of abandonware to make it available for market, etc.

Not to mention invoicing automatic for devpubs. Auto-generate reports of how much quantity was sold for each title and at what price and then transfer the funds to them automatically at the end of next month. And if there are any disputes, the devpub can sort that out with their own sales monitoring tools. But the whole compensation should be automated and just extra passive income that the developers don't have to work much harder for than providing the original build, goodies, and patches for their games.

If only 6% of game devs think Steam's 30% cut is fair and they have a plethora amount of automated and decentralized autonomy, then I can imagine how much lower that satisfaction rate is for GOG who still does everything manually, with less resources, and less revenue. GOG can't compete with Steam's userbase at all, so they have to bring something uniquely competitive to the table that incentivizes devpubs to publish here even if it won't be as profitable for them.

@Unashamedweeb....bruh....I understand and still have no idea what the point was. I agree gog needs to court more, but where are you going with that wall of text? Its not sarcasm, I do agree with you. Just didnt seem like it ended with a point made.

This, I imagine.

I think it's just more of UnashamedWeeb's opinion of what GOG should do. Will it work? Who knows? If GOG had an Epic's budget, they could probably do it.

Maybe spamming Steam emails with gog discounts? >;^}