Financial fraud is not 'magic'
GOG's YOY from 2017 to 2018 for Revenue in Q1-Q3 is down at least 30%

its obvious that the conversion rate is insufficient.

Basically everyone is projecting whatever they most dislike about GOG as the main/only reason for their problems. Curation, new games instead of old, messed up website, too much focus on Galaxy, not enough focus on Galaxy, being in cahoots with SJWs, being in cahoots with nazis, GOG Connect... - you name it, and I'm sure someone will tell you that's the root of all evil.

You´re right, now I know why I havent bookmarked that one---because who could be stupid enough to miss a sticky? *sigh*

Thanks for pointing it out.

Very sad to read about the lays off, and i'm very sorry for the people affected by this situation. Good luck to you all.

GOG's main issues

1) GOG Galaxy was anemic at launch and after 3 years is 'barely' a servicable client compared to other clients
2) GOG wasted 3 years dragging their heels on GOG Galaxy feature sets
3) GOG now has to compete with Steam AND Epic. An entrenched competitor, and a new competitor with more money than god

They had 3 years to get GOG Galaxy in a place where its better than the steam client (a very very short bar to overcome) yet were unable to do that. They had 3 years to come up with a competitor ot Steamworks, and they failed to do that.

Now they're bleeding money and any sway they had with devs is now gone with Epic being way more attractive.

GOG shot themselves in the foot, let it bleed for 3 years, and are now wondering why they're out of blood.

oh if anything, that is magic. But intercompany loans to subsidiaries however, are neither fraud nor magic

CDPR revenue is down almost 100m in that timeframe, more than 30%, might the two be connected by any chance? Say if maybe the game developing company is using the sales platform as distribution channel? And if this game dev company is between games right now might it affect the sales platforms sales a bit maybe?

I know it's complicated stuff, but try to think a bit.

CDPR is not losing money

GOG is

Yes, very perceptive of you. Did you understand my post? Just checking, because your answer indicates otherwise.

I don't know how much of this has been dramatized by the political gaming journalist but one solution I would be ok with, if it meant getting more games day and date.

Would be that games are allowed to be released with DRM on the platform but with a guarantee that after X amount of days/months, the game is released DRM free with a offline Installer.

I'm hoping this is all ready happening but there needs to be more pro active work on getting the big ticket games to the platform, either using the solution I suggested to do this or find your own way to do it. Also the no brainer games need to come to GOG for example Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster & Final Fantasy IX are DRM free on Steam why are there not on GOG yet?

Anyways I think a survey asking your customers questions about the future of gog would be a good idea, ask if there ok with the idea I suggest for example in it.

Nevermind the terms. Don't miss the premise, which is that GOG has grown and the market has changed in such a way that offering a DRM-free catalogue just isn't enough to sustain the platform's growth, or even keep it afloat. It's possible they could downscale their operations massively and focus solely on being a DRM-free single-player boutique but they would quickly fall into obscurity, pretty much giving up any last reason for any dev to want their title here.

I feel bad for the people who got let go. We can only hope this means a change of direction for the better.

Yeah, curation is actually like cancer. They deprive GOG of extra income and deny loyal fans certain deals and releases; some of them, with thousands of votes, too. Also, they are anti-consumer, since they always use trigger-words and sorry excuses, like "x game is too niche". "Niche geeks" actually, supported GOG and made it a giant, able to rival others.

Look...GoG isn't in serious financial trouble...

Here's a broader historical breakdown...
Just GoG:

2012: +8,247,000 PLN
2013: +9,515,000 PLN
2014: +7,105,000 PLN
2015: +10,442,000 PLN
2016: +4,811,000 PLN
2017: +15,998,000 PLN
2018: -1,739,000 PLN (3 quarters only)

They aren't closing because of one bad year...especially when it's a loss of about 1/4 their usual annual profits after taxes.
No one likes a loss, and GoG is reacting like any company would. The sky isn't falling. Especially after record profits in 2017...

Let's see what the 4th quarter did. The quarter that is usually the most profitable. We will know on March 21. Until that time, people are grossly overreacting to news from a clickbait journalist who "uncovered" less real information (besides the dozen layoffs) than is available in the public financial statements.

Absolutely. The moment GOG makes Galaxy mandatory and removes offline installers the only competitive edge they will have against rival platforms is the titles on offer.

Just want to say thanks for your posts on this topic. They've been like a little island of calm reason in a sea of bed-wetting panic!