rjbuffchix: I appreciate you for reaching out to these companies but buying on Scheme anyway isn't exactly helpful. What incentive do the Japanese publishers have to ever bring games to GOG (or in DRM-free form anywhere, for that matter) if people are going to buy on Scheme anyway? I know that buying on Scheme gets you the game on an individual level but it also makes it even less likely others like me can get the game, who refuse to use Scheme. That's pretty lame.
And lest anyone point out that SOME Japanese-made games are part of the user-generated "DRM-free" list of Scheme games that can apparently run without the client, I will point out that some were previously on that list such as Final Fantasy IX and X until they were updated to include DRM.
It's up to GOG to fix that issue. You're free to make the choice of not buying anything on Steam, but by doing so you need to accept the consequences from that, and that means you're going to miss out on a lot of games. If people buying on Steam make it less likely for you to get something on GOG, well again, I'm sorry that's the case, but it's up to GOG to fix, because it's an issue on their end.
For the past entire year, from September 2020 - 2021, every game purchase I made was on GOG. I spent close to $2,000 in that time period. I've supported GOG the best I could, I've said nothing but good stuff to other gamers, I've reached out to studios requesting games, and realistic games at that. Stuff that doesn't have DRM, doesn't have Denuvo, or has had Denuvo removed, and as I said I did get some positive responses from Square Enix over the past year. I'd contact them at least twice a month, and I'd always get a unique response back.
I'm just done doing all of it though. I wish things were different and every single game was on GOG, Steam and EGS, and it let the consumer decide what's best for them, but that's just not realistic, and it's not a battle I want to fight for anymore. It's up to GOG to maintain a fresh supply of title acquisitions and to built partnerships and relationships with studios so they can continue to provide a great service. It's also important for them to continue to maintain a healthy relationship with thier audience, which some would say they're doing a poor job at.
Just so we're fully clear here I made my very first game purchase on GOG in September of 2020. My account is much older, but it was created back when I think they were giving away a GOG copy of The Witcher 2 if you owned it on Steam. But during this past year I've had more problems and issues with GOG than I've ever had on Steam. I have a 16 year old account on Steam that will hit 17 years in a couple weeks.
I've had issues with DLC missing from my account that had to be manually added back in, I've experienced an issue where everyone who pre-ordered a game had their bonuses go "poof", I've had a game broken and stuck in a Galaxy failed update loop because anyone who pre-ordered wasn't considered a legal owner anymore. It hasn't been a total mess, but it's not the kind of thing you ever want to see happen.
I've talked to GOG support more than any all other support related calls, chats, etc, combined! And I'm not joking about that at all. I've talked to Steam support during those years maybe once or twice, and it was to dispute community content getting flagged, banned, and removed. Which I won the dispute on and Steam said that shouldn't have happened and it was flagged in error.
I've also seen titles, and some that I've even bought, that have been seemingly abandoned by developers and are content and features behind on Steam versions. GOG does nothing to make this visible to potential customers clearly marking the game is outdated, or holding the developers accountable. I mean, I get that they can only do so much, because those devs can just leave the platform altogether, but it's a bad situation for the people who shop here when it happens.
Despite all that, I'm still going to shop here, and I don't want to see the store die, but it's still GOG's problem, and I'm not going to battle for them anymore. If a game I want is out on both Steam and GOG I'm going to choose GOG, but I won't be prioritizing GOG over Steam anymore. The game is always going to come first now, DRM or not, I just don't care anymore. I still will maintain my no Denuvo rule, but that's where I drawn the line.
Also, in response to you claim about Final Fantasy X being updated to add DRM, well, I'll dispute that right now, because I literally just installed the Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD Remaster on Steam to check, and I could launch the game without the Steam client running. So I'm not sure where you got that information, but it's wrong. As far as FFX/X-2 Remaster is concerned it's no different from a GOG game being installed through Galaxy.
