Yes, I can disagree about the general idea of regional pricing. However I can also be realistic and see that there's a reason why GOG is not refusing those games/publishers. If you call that hypocrisy - be my guest. I don't see it that way. Imo it would be hypocrisy if I would buy a regionl priced game without any kind of compensation - which I don't.

Since I usually have several games left on my wishlist the wallet funds GOG is offering are also far from being worthless to me so every time I still would have bought other games as well I don't pay regional prices for real. If I would not have bought those other games I buy using the wallet funds then it would be different. And yes, I see that offering wallet funds is not the same as giving paying us the difference directly but it is a second best solution for GOG as well. Simply paying the difference would mean that GOG is making a loss with every regional priced game - probably not the goal of a company. So they offered wallet funds instead so that they keep the money eventually.

I guess the difference is that GOG check that you've bought the vacuum cleaner at the desk in their store but other shops insist on installing a customer service desk in your home.

That is where we think different. There is no grey area for me. Either this or that. Good or bad. Stick to your principles or don't and GOG did not!
Your example is perfrect for my definition of hpyorcrisy.
GOG: "We don't what to, but we are forced to offer reginal prcies, but we offer you this worthless shit as compensation."
Me: "Wrong. You are not forced to do anyhting, but you made a simple business decision, with which you think you will make more money than staying true to your principles and on top of that you use a lousy excuse to still look like the good guys."

For me it is simple as that. Do I have to pay the same price as every other person on this planet? If no, than I would pay too much and lose money. Result ... has been that qiet a few times ...I will buy the game elsewhere or not at all.


I have no problems with drm. I have and use Steam and Origin (where else could I play Battlefield?), but what I'm allergic to is bullshit and hypocrisy and that is exactly what GOG has become. They will tell you that they are the good guys, but need to make these shitty moves like throwing away their principles.
Neither Steam nor Origin ever did such an shitty pr stunt and are honest about what they are and what they represent.

I don't see Gog actually caring a lot about principles. What I see, is a business that is trying to stay alive, relevant, and profitable. That's how it's always been. It didn't include maps and aldersgate because that was the right thing to do, they did it because it was the only thing that sold the game. I also didn't add good translations because it was the right thing to do, they did it because it's sold the games. They didn't have regional pricing, because they needed people to come visit the website. They wanted to have a unique store, with unique people who are passionate about gaming and honest internet marketing. But it was unsustainable. So they had to go back on one promise, take some heat from for it, and then did the right thing by going back on the promise and adding wallet credit. they are doing the right thing, they're trying to listen to their customers and do right by them. There's nothing wrong with the company being paid to treat customers with dignity, and listening to what they want and providing it. That's what Gog is doing for most people. And I appreciate that I can have backups of my games, because occasionally I need them.

I wonder about your definition of "shit" - we are talking about money here - or not? Also, nobody is forced to do anything, correct - but a business wants to stay alive and to do that it has to grow. The market for classic games is not endless and without classics publishers/devs disagree with flat prices in most cases.

Depends on the definition of "paying". If you wanted to buy another game as well and you will now have to pay exactly that amount less (because of wallet funds) that you payed too much for the other game you would not lose anything.

"Neither Steam nor Origin ever did such an shitty pr stunt and are honest about what they are and what they represent."

And that is the thing I really will never understand. You prefer companys to rip you off (Steam games are nearly always regionaly priced without any compensation) as long as they don't tell you anything else. GOG is trying to make it a bit better but you still hate them for it because it's not perfect anymore and because they dropped (technically it is not completely dropped) a principle Steam never even had before. So "bad" is good as long as people don't lie about it ot trying to sugarcoat it?

I feel that would render GOG utterly pointless.

That video didn't age well at all. My favorite part is when he gives the consumer fake money to compensate for regional pricing. I can only imagine the dread when they realized that they had to take the route they mocked just a couple of years ago. :D

I can see why they had to go with regional pricing in the end, the biggest problem imo was having a big mouth about it to begin with.

So you give Steam and Origin a pass because they never had principles? You are fine with their regional pricing because they never said in the past they don't have regional pricing, but on GOG you can't accept it (even with the compensation that GOG offers) because in the past they didn't have it? And then you call others hypocrites? :D

I am much more pragmatic about all this, I don't make it political or ideological like you do. In general I don't like the idea of regional pricing, but it has never been a deal-breaker for me. Even back when GOG didn't have regional pricing (and I liked that they didn't), I still bought games also from e.g. Steam with regional pricing.

Now that GOG has also regional pricing, in the end what matters to me whether I find the price agreeable, not whether a Russian or Sri Lankian can get it even cheaper. If the game costs only e.g. 2€ to me, I don't mind much that someone else could get it for 1.50€ or 1€. I buy the game when I find the price agreeable, to me.

It is like when I visited Thailand, cultural places and exhibitions had two entry fees: more expensive one for foreigners like me, and cheaper entry fees for locals (thai). In general I don't like the idea of having to pay extra (even though I make more money than most thais), but it was not a deal-breaker for me since the entry fee was still quite low.

ALSO, if regional pricing has allowed GOG to introduce DRM-free games that wouldn't have otherwise appeared here, then I am actually glad that GOG has introduced regional pricing. I rather have a game DRM-free with regional pricing, than no game at all DRM-free.

Sure it did, it aged perfectly. Nothing at all is wrong with that video. In fact, it's refreshingly & shockingly honest. The message of that video is 100% accurate. Regional pricing is a straight-up scam/ripoff that discriminates between different customers based upon the country they live in.

And regional pricing also assumes that everyone within a given country is as well-off financially as every other person within that same country, which of course is never true; that's a way of over-generalizing people in the same way kind of way as racism, sexism, etc. (along with all the other unacceptable 'isms') do. Yet for some reason regional pricing almost never gets called out for being unfair discrimination/sweeping generalization, whereas the other kinds are condemned.

I wonder how long GOG will keep up their old videos like that one (or the one about their games providing manuals, or Crossplay allowing you to play the same game with others regardless of the platform they bought it on, etc.). I wouldn't be surprised if they start to delete those videos since they reveal that over time GOG hasn't made good on the things it said it would.

The video was actually removed shortly after they introduced regional pricing but it was quickly put back after people on the forum caught on and started complaining.

People have been predicting the Galaxy Apocalypse for years but the offline installers are still around. I have no reason to think they will be removed.

And on the topic of regional pricing, I think GOG did the best out of a bad situation. If your regional pricing it's higher than the base price, you get wallet funds following the fair pricing policy. Unless you plan never to buy anything else in the store, it's like the difference didn't exist. For those regions that have a cheaper price... well, good for them, enjoy your luck. It's not something new: before digital distribution, physical games also had different prices in different countries.

Regional pricing was clearly something required to bring more games to GOG, and unlike a hypothetical mandatory client, it doesn't really affect me.

Part 1 (because of fucking forum software)

You are right. I'm not forced to buy anything from GOG, but still back in my head like to believe that they will change for good. And as I'm not forced to buy a game from GOG, I did not buy any game in a long time. That's all I can do to show GOG I'm not ok with their decisions.
And again the "need to grow to survive" and "no endless classic games".
a) Every year there are new "old classic games" that could be acquired, because ... time flies.
b) I like that killer argument (Totschlagargument ... falls der englische Terminus nicht passt) "need to stay in business), because with this "argument" GOG can justify any- and everything.
c) Before GOG starts to grow even more, they should fist solve their problems at hand like missing updates, a abysmal webpage (and forum) and games that do not work on Windows 10. Why not first get this done and get new things working? I forgot. That would cost money, but as long as enough people fall for GOG they can just go on like always ... half assed.

Part 2

It is exactly like that. If some of you can't get your heads around that, I can surely live with it, but for me it makes perfect sense.
Steam and Oriigin never told me "we are better than all the other stores and we fight the injustice (like no regional prices)" and the turn around tell me "haha fuck you! We lied to you".
If you let GOG get away with that (as almost everyone does), I guess GOG made the right choice, at least from their business point of view. But as long as GOG will not change their stance on this issue, they will never get one single dollar or Euro or whatever currency from me.

That is no problem for me, if you are upfront about it and don't tell fairy tales about you (GOG) being the white knight in shining armour, but when it is suitable for you (GOG) you just become the evil black knight. That is when I'm out.

Where do you draw the line what is ok to get a game in GOGs store and what is not? (Think of a big AAA game like Assassin's Creed or the newest FIFA or or or)
Just a little DRM like say a serial number you need to enter to start a game. Would that be ok? How about a single activation the first time you start a game? Still ok or too much?
Well, my line has been crossed some time ago.

Part 3

I can't add any more quotes. Scheiss verfickte Forumssoftware!

I think they prefer the slow and steady method.

Exactly ! Besides old games, being DRM-FREE is the only real difference between GOG and Steam.