I also think this is good news, at least in the ideal setting. This might have financial consequences, forcing Activision to try "new business models" that will be even worse.

It's all about average income.

You know what I find strangely hilarious? The fact that Steam prices are supposedly adjusted to account for lower incomes in Russia and other East Bloc countries, yet India, with even lower incomes, is forced to pay normal US prices (not sure how GOG handled the Witcher 3 pricing in India...)

That's actually not quite a problem. Digital only games are the ones that are expensive in India. If you take a look hea: http://www.gamestheshop.com/game-software/platform/pc/1/13 , you can see that games' default price in India is much lesser than the converted equvilant and on the discount site I linked, you can get most games for very very little.

The Witcher 3 CD costs only Rs.1800 which is much lesser than the 60X60 rupees it would've been if the direct conversion is used, which would be Rs.3600+. So that like 50% clean off from the beginning. I even got the first 5 splinter cell games in a bundle for Rs.450 which is roughly $7.5 which is MUCH lesser than the $10+$10+$10+$20+$20($70=Rs.4200+ rupees) I would've paid on Steam.

In India, PC gaming hardware is around 20% more expensive but software (ie, games) are cheaper. So I guess its kinda balanced out?

Dear gamers:

You seem to have started seeing through our sloppy marketing trickery, and you probably realized that giving away your money in advance for a "mystery box" game does not really make you cool. Maybe you were a little bit less stupid than we thought you to be? This is most disappointing, as we now will have to think of new ways to screw you over as opposed to actually make good f'ing games you'd actually want to buy, even after having seen the game for yourselves.

Love,
The AAA games industry.

Preordering something that you know you'll want to play (or as a show of support for the title) isn't unreasonable as long as the company behind the game has a good reputation for putting out quality products. That, of course, is where things have gone wrong for many companies and brands.

Indie devs aren't immune to this, but there are more of them that have managed to maintain a good reputation (which is at least as much of an accomplishment as making good games is), and since many indie games involve an implicit gamble (especially when you're dealing with a startup), people aren't necessarily as irate when something doesn't turn out the way they hoped it would.