Yeah, sorry about that.
If you followed the discussion, you noticed that OHMYGODJCABOMB is kinda fixated on that point.
And since I remembered you also having mentioned Grimoire, I looked it up, and when I didn't see you among the reviewers...well - I got carried away.
I have edited that sentence out.

Oh, I won't tell you that...I agree with you, in that they are both niche games.

This topic is a broader concern, yes, but does relate to this release. *shrugs*
All fair, and thanks. Just confused me a little. Not that I don't co-sign most points being made, though :)

And I say with what the mainstream considers game quality, please, bring on more "niche" titles like Florence, like Grimoire...anything but these microtransaction Fortnite fests.

Me: Oh, a release for a mobile port visual novel that's getting good review. I have no interest in them but hey there's no harm on GOG side selling them. Anapurna is a publisher that's been GOG partner for a while.

XXX: What? A releases for a game that I think sucks? FXXX U GOG curation team for letting this game that I think is crap and not even good enough to be sold here. What I want is for GOG only sold games that I have interest here. Like why you haven't sold X and Y and Z. That's it! I'm gonna jack this tread to show MY UNHAPPINESS towards the crappy curators (which I think are SJWs pansies) that has been building. AARRGGHHHHH!!!!!!

I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW IT!!! ;)

Again - I agree. In the end the customers will decide what they want to spend their money on (goes also for microtransactions, btw.)
And: having a choice is always better than having no choice.

The main point is that you are wasting your (and mine) time to defend a game that you are not even going to buy.

If this game is so good, then why not buy a copy? It will be the best way to prove that every "whiner" (or at least one of them) in this topic is wrong. Unfortunately, lots of your letters will not bring a penny to GOG.

And since you are not going to buy Florence, I see no reason to continue this conversation. Moreover, I think it's pretty obvious that none of us is going to change our minds.

"didn't GOG admit in a post around the new year that they were going to try to do better in reconsidering previously rejected games" - yes and I think they will be doing so, but it is somewhat subjective of course. They listed Grimoire, a Din's iirc, and Heaven's Vault.

I think they want to be careful with controversial games because games media like Kotaku seemingly are chomping at the bit for controversy (to convert it into clicks-4-cash), and GOG can't afford to lose customers and publishers. Remember Linko? Poor guy. I'd like Hatred to show up and I hope GOG reconsiders. Agony too if GOG doesn't have to hand out many refunds due to bugs.

Dungeon crawlers - I dunno if I can defend GOG so much on rejecting some of these, unless they don't sell as well as we think. Isn't "The Quest" a d.c.? It's got 400+ votes, I'd like to see it show up.

just some asides:

- I've said several times before but I still would like GOG to be able to have time to accept many more games, and I'm guessing you and many others feel the same way; the problem is they have to balance that with putting in time and effort for releases, so I'd like them to "automate" more of what they can and take a more hands-off approach if possible. "Assembly line" releases - if it passes a basic curation test/is relatively bug-free, toss it onto the conveyor belt for Galaxy integration, webpage creation, etc. Work on computer programs that make this happen.

- I'd like to see biz-dev encourage devs and pubs to use the wishlist to gather support/evidence that GOG will profit from a release here.

- A lot of this comes down to money. GOG needs to stay open.

This is actually a great idea.

I think that wishlist entries created by representatives of publishers / developers will get much more feedback, because it will mean that they are really interested to release their games on GOG.

You know that some games with a lot of votes can't be released because publishers / developers don't want to deal with GOG or because these games are in legal hell.

Wishlist entries from official representatives will be an excellent guarantee that if the game receives a sufficient number of votes in the community wishlist, it will definitely be released here.

My only concern is wishlist abuse, like a bunch people vote but don't buy it. (hopefully GOG tells the company to mention "vote if you'd buy it on GOG" when suggesting said company send out the wishlist link on social media) (maybe there's also an issue of some more unscrupulous company or indie dev using bots to cast votes, but hopefully that's pretty unlikely)

In any case, at some point I'll probably send some of what I wrote up to GOG support and request they pass it along to biz-dev. You might (politely) do something similar, like with this wishlist idea (specifically request it is forwarded to business-development) - https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?form=other&product=gog

This needs to be more elaborated.

I think it is impossible for every user here to make reliable assumptions with the superficial data of the store everyone sees. It starts with the maximal number of customers. How many users have bought at least one single game? More specific: how many users have bought at least one game during the past 12 months? How many users have bought Heroes of Might and Magic 3, the current Nr. 1 of the bestselling of all time list?

The Reddit page has 21k followers, GOG's Facebook page 445k followers, GOG's Twitter page 330k followers, GOG's Twitch account 61k followers. Some old news (2015) mentioned that 700k users played The Witcher 3 through Galaxy, see https://www.cdprojekt.com/en/media/news/gog-galaxy-home-to-over-half-of-the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-pc-gamers/ .

The wishlist is a chaotic mess. Several games have multiple entries and probably lots of multiple votes by the same users. It seems by comparing the lists that 60-80k votes is the current maximum. The reviews are also a mess. There are many questionable reviews and questionable ratings here and there.

The forum software doesn't show the activity of the users. However it is very obvious (compare it with the data above) that these forums are used by a tiny fraction of users on a regular basis. If I had to guess then I'd say these forums have 100-500 regular users.

In this thread and in numerous other release threads I've seen users with a strong personal bias. If they dislike a certain game of a certain genre you'll find complaints about the curation in the release threads. The main problem of the discussion about the curation is that all arguments (pro and contra) are based on assumptions. These assumptions are the result of how the superficial data from above is rated by one user.

Everyone here needs access to the actual data of the store to make reliable assumptions. And probably everyone here needs the same tools which the GOG staff is using to analyze the data. Nowadays, internet companies/stores are using data mining/knowledge discovery algorithms to analyze the entire user base. With these algorithms you can see patterns and trends within the user base. Usually, humans have problems to see the same patterns/trends because of the sheer amount of data. For example you can see something like this with these algorithms: "p% of the users who have bought more than k games of genre X have also bought games of genre Y".

Imho, there is an assumption that isn't far-fetched. There are now numerous threads with this discussion or complaints about the curation. The number of certain releases indicates that there is a group within the entire user base which seems to be interested in such games. Otherwise, GOG wouldn't release these games here.

All in all, I think the whole discussion in several threads about the curation is nonsensical. It's basically "I like a rejected game. Curation sucks." vs "I dislike a rejected game. Curation works." plus ad hominem attacks. There is no accounting for taste. And somehow I doubt that releasing certain games will change something. The carousel will keep rotating with different games.

Ah, I'll also give you "The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians". Disappointing since it has over 500 votes! Hopefully it'll be reconsidered.

this is such a poor discussion argument

dont think thats goin' to impress any1.
no wai did you win any college debates with that

(sorry to keep being so off-topic GOG but this is where the bomb erupted I guess)
actually just got in touch with Mana Games about "Dungeon Guardians", folks who want it here shouldn't give up hope yet.

Bwaaa I played some of this on a friend's mobile - It's not really a game, more a story telling.

If you liked the way the story thread was woven in Firewatch you'll like this too, but like Firewatch it is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster if you really get drawn in... :S

I can't really say I enjoyed it as I have enough emotional turmoil to deal with in real life without simulating more of it (I play games for the catharsis, which is why I want JETS AND GUNS 2 AND EARTH DEFENSE FORCE!!!), but it's well done and deserving of a look at least!

It's the kind of title I'd place more in the Work of Art category then the Game category.

Ditto, and very glad to hear that!! Here's hoping. I don't really like to shop on Humble after a bad experience in the past and even if I did, this is the type of game I would re-buy on GOG as soon as able, to show my support. Anyway, how are you all enjoying Florence? I guess tastes vary, but can anyone say if it the sort of experience that lasts over and over, like repeatedly rewatching a favorite movie or show?

Sorry, but you did not offend me, in fact, I find you rather silly and amusing.