Would GOG encourage sales with a loyalty program?

I'm not particularly a proponent of loyalty programs, but with Sony instituting one today -- and since all GOG sales are made through GOG accounts -- I've started wondering whether some redeemable points scheme would encourage overall sales here?

I don't think so.

Most people who want to buy on GOG will already do so when they can, due to them having a strong desire to have DRM-free games.

What GOG really needs is more & better fresh new games being released on GOG on a regular basis (i.e. games like Elden Ring), and long before they've become ancient and old.

Until if & when GOG solves that problem, - which is the #1 core reason for why GOG has a very small market share - then anything else they do to try and increase sales will be a moot point that doesn't actually work.

Loyalty systems are extremely predatory and are divisive to their respective communities. They'd do better to negotiate with publishers and offer better discounts and more bundled/packaged deals to everyone.

Not particularly disagreeing, but how are loyalty programs predatory? Incentivizing additional purchases?

My main issue with local loyalty programs is that they track purchases, but with GOG already tracking purchases via accounts...

By "more & better fresh new games" do you specifically mean AAA mainstream games, since that is the example you gave? Because we do get many fresh new games here.

Yes, but a step further. It encourages overspending just to get "those extra points". There's a fine line between encouraging customers to buy things, and tricking them into buying to reach a certain "goal". Good for business, sure. But bad news for customers with poor personal control over their spending.

GOG is a storefront where you want a no-frills experience with your purchases. The frequent and frankly generous sales should be enough to keep people buying. We should not need to stoop to some of the lowest forms of consumerism.

It depends on the conditions for the loyalty program.

Few restaurants that I ate at offered free or discounted food/drinks after a certain number of purchases. This tracked with either your phone number or a punched card. It's not a huge money saver, but it's a nice bonus to have if I frequent the establishment anyways, and isn't a loss if choose not to.

Where I get iffy is paid memberships. Paid memberships require stronger commitment to make a certain amount of purchases. It can pay itself off if you are a frequent buyer who takes full advantage of the special discounts and offers. Otherwise, it's just money down the drain.

What does GOG offer that would even make such a program viable? I have 400 games, and I've been here since 2012, what would that gain me?

DRM-free is pretty much all they need for my loyalty.

I'd rather have decent normal prices instead of all this premium, loyalty, subscriprion and whatever crap going strong now.
Late stage capitalism, please die. Like, now.

Ditto and Installers. Like to keep my games close :P

It might be interesting to buy vouchers for in-store currency. Say, you purchase one now, and can get to spend it not inmediately, but after X time (days, weeks?). You get a bonus, (say 10%, 20%?) more than what you paid for the voucher. You can also give it to others as a gift instead of having it injected in your account.

It might. it would not be pretty. However, it is also likely that events might lead to a regression. Like the one we have started to see in globalized commerce and supply chains. On the other hand, patches and an ongoing re-formulation like the one being promoted in Europe, on environmental grounds.

Life in the second half of the XXI century (at least in the Northern hemisphere) might be rather different from what we knew so far. Even by 2050 it ought to be well felt already, with strong hints way before that.

How naive could people be to even consider Fukuyama for a second.

I'd be okay with it if they did one that just offers a small discount or maybe adds one or two premium goodies from games we purchase. EG: if we bought just the base game, but have a certain loyalty score, we get our choice of a specific number of goodies from a higher-tier package.

However, it needs to be done in a way that is fair and realistic. A way that respects us as consumers and doesn't expect us to spend unrealistic amounts of money in a certain timeframe. Time should be completely irrelevant (no deadline for spending points) and it should not be centered around how much money we spend. Rather, it should be centered around HOW we spend our money here. You should earn more points for buying full price, but still earn some points even when buying on sale.

If they did a loyalty program, it definitely just needs to be as consumer-friendly as possible. It needs to truly feel like a way to reward people who support GOG and DRM-free gaming, rather than a cash grab to encourage people to spend unhealthy amounts of money here.

I understand your concern (and do acknowledge there are people out there with addiction issues)...

... but I'm uncertain how GOG deal with "whales." If a person is addicted to games -- or purchasing them -- they will find a way to do that whether discounted or not. With that being said...

... I would very much dislike a loyalty program that was based on lootbox gimmicks or if it was somehow chance-based (ie Fanatical's mystery bundle sales). A loyalty program shouldn't participate in anything resembling chance or gambling, but...

... a loyalty program that gives you points that can be redeemed toward future purchases doesn't seem IMO a far stretch from the current newsletter coupon codes.

The other reason I kind of like the idea of a loyalty program is that it would be nice to accumulate points and use them toward games of your choice... instead of waiting for a sale on those specific games.

My question would be whether a loyalty program would be worth GOG's subsidizing? Would it generate enough overall sales to make it worthwhile for GOG?

Does Steam have anything similar to a loyalty program? I vaguely remember Steam "stickers" that you could trade for some kind of credits / discount.