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Tantrix: Makes me wonder if it happened for real.
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El_Caz: Wouldn't be surprised if it's the main reason some companies may not be on board.

We talk practically with all gaming companies, with some, for quuuite a long time. So it is easy to guess why some games are still missing;-)
So far we don't see serious reasons/threats to change our vision of GOG. We have lots of ideas how to grow it and keep it the way we love it.
One of the ideas is extending price points and probably some day it will happen. As the catalog grows and range of products being extended, from really old ones to pretty fresh ones, we see that two price points are not always enough. Some games should cost less than 5.99:-) and some games we can acquire could be a bit more expensive. Basically idea of extending price points is not to make games more expensive on GOG but to able set more accurate price to value ratio.
It is not easy to get them, but we'd love to see some days some more old school games for let say.. 3.99.. of course there are some other issues to solve, for example cost of transaction and technical infrastructure starts to have pretty big share in the revenue, but who knows, maybe some day...
If some day we extend the price points, for sure, we will prepare to this very well. There are certain threats/risks which are crucial to avoid. For example publishers may try to sell us games for higher prices than we think they deserve. That is one of the reasons we won’t rush towards new price points. As we build huge catalog and establish prices for many games, then we can think of acquiring games worth to pay a bit more than 9.99, but still, really little above 9.99;)
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Navagon: One question: when you introduce new price points (or simply set a minimum and maximum price), could that have an impact on existing titles? If, for instance, Ubisoft thought that the Might and Magic 6 Pack was worth a few dollars more, would they be allowed to raise the price?

It is still very hypothetical situation for today (I must stress that). But let say we have 4 instead of 2 price points. Then I don't see possibility of moving the games to upper price points just for a sake of higher revenue per piece. First of all I think market (meaning you guys:) won't accept new, higher price (because for a long time it was cheaper) so certain game with higher price point will stop selling well. So it is pointless I think.
Actually I think that more probable is other direction, meaning from higher to lower price points. Let say there is a veeery old and good game for 5.99, for years available as abandonware, and it is not selling well on GOG. So we can persuade publisher to move it to cheaper price point as it is a chance that for smaller money it will sell much better.
The only thing is that we'd really love not to change prices too often. It is a good side of GOG.com, that beside promos, pricing policy is very stable. So changing price points of certain games should have a good reason.
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wodmarach: just add a 2.99 and a 7.99 price point games like the ones released today would have been much more appealing at the 7.99 point as it would be more competitive with other DD services

GOG compete with other DD services different way. Regarding pricing the most important is to have it fair - good price to value ratio, this is what we are looking at
(ok, sometimes by accident we are cheaper than other DD services too;).
We don't want to compete with other services with prices. It is not our goal. We compete with quality, which in many cases is priceless. What is the value of the time and nerves wasted on trying to run newly purchased game?:) Or the value being independent from reliability of internet connection? Or what is the value of the processor power used to run crappy client software?:) The last example, for me is absolutely priceless as I hate all not-so-well-written programs sitting in my comps memory and making it boot and run slower:)
Of course GOG is often cheap. But the reason is not to compete with others but because we think that older PC games just should cost around that money:)
BTW: we think that new releases should be cheaper as well, but to change that is quite complicated, but hey, there are not impossible things on Earth;) GOG concept 3 years ago also looked quite hard to make…;)
tburger -> I'd say reality is simpler. Most of the big companies works with certain guidelines and standards. So let say there is one guy or small team taking care of DD. And those people selling to all DD platforms in the same model. Previously approved by bosses etc. And then we come. And we want non-standard conditions. First we ask for games, which quite often, are not sold any more, then we ask for strange price points - moreover to be used worldwide (at the same time we refuse deals which cannot cover whole globe), and then we ask for permission to adjust games to new systems. In one word, we ask series of quite uncomfortable questions for corporate people working on the certain routines with other DD companies which don't ask any questions, just taking games (working or not;) accepts any pricepoints and then report sales and sometimes ask for promos.
So because we don't follow the standard patch in fact we ask for troubles, but that part of the fun!;) ...And for big companies revenues are still not often big enough to bother to change their behavior. They are rather keen to ask us, guys can't you just sell games as all other companies do? And our answer is NO:) and we keep on asking, and proving that it is worth to sell games also through our channel. Also we try to ensure that we just need a permission, rest will be done by us including finding all additional materials..
So I'd say, that biggest problem in general is that GOG goes not the obvious route, route which require additional work/decision process from publishers. But step by step we persuade more and more companies. And next are about to come!:-D
Post edited July 29, 2010 by Mikee
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Egotomb: The same purist that put tages on The Witcher. The DRM thing is more of a business angle no saints running this company :)
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ACDude800: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think that would be Atari's decision, not CDProjekt's. Developers usually don't get to tell their publishers what kind of DRM to use.

...People use Tages name and think that it explains all. But if we go into small details we can discover the truth;) Real Tages DRM system was not used in The Witcher!:) As we know DRM system works the way, that it connects servers to validate each copy and standard TAGES DRM do that. Connect TAGES servers and allow usage of certain software. In The Witcher though, Tages protection only check if in cd drvie sits original disk with a game, there was no online connection needed to run/install the game! So the most hated part of DRM was missing there (in fact DRM itself meant at the beginning only systems with online activation).
And of course publishers have final word in many cases, but also for them sometimes it is hard to be against authors;) and here you can guess why there was no real DRM in TW1;)
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Mikee: And of course publishers have final word in many cases, but also for them sometimes it is hard to be against authors;) and here you can guess why there was no real DRM in TW1;)
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Tantrix: Thanks for telling, I plan to get the Platinum Edition of Witcher, and this confirms to get it ASAP after payroll 8)

Platinium has no any DRM afaik. And this is last edition with many extras - I'd recomend that. There might be cheaper release but not earlier than Q1 next year, just slightly cheaper and without all this extras...
Post edited July 29, 2010 by Mikee
...and one more thing (to sound more optimistic;) All I wrote is not to complain!
And it does NOT mean that there are no new big annoucments coming!;)
Ooooh Nooo!!! :-) You'll see.. you'll SEE! :-D hihiii :-D