Has GOG ever thought about selling phsycial versions of their games? The only physical versions of gamesI I see seem to be steam codes so it's almost pointless to buy physical versions of PC games. Since GOG is drm free anyway, I could see this as a real selling point. We believe in game ownership. you can easily own the physcal version or have it in your digital library. It will never be taken from your library and we will not restrict how you use it. It just seems like a really good selling point to me. just a thought.

It is too costly to produce physical versions. Buying games via retail is dying a slow death.

GoGamer did that a few years back. I remember buying lots of physical copies of games from them. GoGamer is no longer in business. Physical media is expensive to make, store, sell, and maintain. Everything is digital now. I'm saying that as a fan of physical media. But everyone's gonna be robots in 50 years, so I guess the brass upstairs have decided, in their infinite wisdom, to begin the transformation of human society with video games and computer media. Give it another 10-15 years and kids growing up won't ever even know the term 'DVD disc player.' All information will be beamed into their heads via Big Brother's Brain Net (then sold back at jacked up prices on the China-Net holo-scape black market).

Yet physical books, cds, dvds, blurays are still sold. Hell physical versions of pc games are still sold, granted they are pretty worthless as phsyical dvds because they are just steam codes.

It's a valid point that physical media is more expensive, but in the short term, and considering GOGs clientel, thought it might be a good opportunity. Perhaps not for every game, for a game like Witcher 3, this would be an opportunity that GOG would have over steam. And again, not for every game, but certain select games.

Even with it being more expensive, selling a physical version of the game is a way of advertising your game or getting noticed. Take Walmart for instance. A lot of people walk through Walmart on a yearly basis, even daily. Out of those people, so many are going to buy a console or a computer, while they are doing that, they might actually check out the computer games.Your game gets noticed by a passerby. This is also a reason why I believe there are still physical versions of pc games even if they are just steam codes. There are also a significant percentage of people who like having physical media, or perhaps if they bought the collector's edition of the game. The DVD / bluray or whatver it is needs to be present, along with the artwork, figurine or whatever else is included. It finishes the package.

Music is a good comparison, because after digital downloads the new trend is streaming. Yes, there are still cds sold, but the market share is getting smaller and smaller. And with growing streaming services digital downloads are also going down. And most important, you can still play your cds on 20 years old cd players.

Let's take a closer look on game distribution and you see with day 1 updates and fast internet connections the main object of a physical medium, to transport and keep data, is mostly gone. That's btw also relevant for oldies, because with upcoming new operating systems and new hardware these oldies also needs to be updated and patched. What's left is what is vinyl for music lovers - special collector's edition with extra goodies.

The only "physical" solution I would think of would be a copy service GOG could offer to poeple with a slow internet connection - pay xyz$ and we will burn your games on dvds and send them to you. But still here I believe it would be too costly for gog to do so.

I think that's the reason why physical releases are slowly going the way of the dodo. Everthing is centered around Steam or some other DRM, anyway.
Steam has essentially bred an audience that's constantly going "digital is teh future!", "I hate physical discs taking up space on my shelf!", "It's soooo convenient!" and "THE SALES, THE SALES!"
It's the same kind of audience that is partially responsible for nearly every game these days playing, looking and feeling the same, because they want everything to be standardized and cry foul if a game features a different kind of control scheme or whatever. It's all about a kind of instant gratification mentality.

Apart from the production costs for physical media, a major problem is also licensing. GOG is allowed to sell their games digitally, but retail releases would require completely new deals with the rights holders. That is, if those were even willing to agree to such a deal in any way.
Additionally, the question would be "where should these be sold?", as handling the sales laws for physical video games in all the different countries would very probably be a legal and practical nightmare.

All in all, the cost and effort required here would simply be unproportionally bigger than the market's interest is likely to be.

I don't think that digital gaming is killing physical goodies, but DRM did. I personally stopped looking at new video games' boxed copies since Steam/Origin/Uplay locking. I made 3 mistakes though (Fallout New Vegas, Dragon Age II and Shogun Total War). There is no way that I will ever buy S/O/U boxed copies in the future (but maybe to complete with a DRM free copy bought here on GOG or another DRM free store).

Luckily I like strategy games and wargames, so I like what Matrix Games/Slitherine opted: you can buy a DRM-lite (nothing more than a CD Key) digital copy, or a physical box; they have 3 categories : "express" with only a DVD box (larger than simple DVD Box actually, they are the same as the ones for multiple DVDs) with a CD included (and a PDF as "manual"); "standard" same as the "express" but with printed black & white manual; and finally "collector" with a colourful printed manual instead. Sure, it isn't cheap, but I am fine with it (and for every boxed copy you can download digital copy too).

Another option I know is Kickstarter. But, you have to be patient (to have the original release, and mostly to wait for DRM free copies which are often delayed because only a minority wants them).

And finally, I don't remember the website, but I have heard of special boxed copies releases for indie games. I remember the first game, it was Teslagrad IIRC. But if someone could help, it would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I did a little research, it was The Indiebox (pretty obvious if you think about it ^^).