Re: Galaxy 2.0 STILL not correctly being treated as beta.
-----ORIGINAL TICKET-----
This was a serious and widely-known and discussed problem prior to my previous contact with support. I have found a link to the Mantis reporting tool, and submitted a report there about it as well, which has received exactly zero meaningful action in over 2 weeks. On noticing that, I checked the history on Mantis, and found more than the recent 4 week timeframe on support tickets had passed without any meaningful updates having been made to any visible reports on the platform. There are major service-breaking problems with Galaxy 2.0 which were known before it was forced on users, and which are still without resolution. There is NO REASON - not just no GOOD reason, but no plausible bad reason either - to keep the Galaxy 2.0 beta as a forced update in violation of user preferences about beta testing.
My previous complaint about this was responded to, and promised to be passed on, in mid-June. No action has been taken regarding the problem. Nothing AT ALL has been improved on ANY of the major issues raised. Galaxy 2.0 still lacks crucial basic functionality, down to things as simple as merely RECOGNISING GAMES CONNECTED WITH A GOG ACCOUNT in some instances. That is a bug which was identified and reported while the beta client was still actually being correctly treated as beta, and is the kind of issue that NEEDS TO BE RESOLVED before pushing software out of beta. You still have Galaxy 2.0 labeled as being "beta" because it's not ready. But you are not treating it as beta, you are treating it as a released platform even though it isn't ready for you to do so.
You can't have it both ways. As much as your platform isn't making this mistake in as severe a manner as Steam (which is literally harming some customers), you are making the exact same mistake as Steam. And you are going to see the exact same result - which is customers LEAVING your platform until you fix it. This is already happening. Many people have directly promised - and are following through on that promise - not to buy anything on GOG until you fix it. I've actively avoided purchases on your site on several occasions in spite of a desire to own the game in question and a good sale price on that title. I'm not ENTIRELY avoiding you, but I'm being far more picky than I normally would be about the price points at which I'll spend money with you. Because you are currently not providing acceptable service.
I want this support contact to go on record as NOT just the complaint about the lack of proper access to the last known stable Galaxy version (which was the most recent iteration of 1.2) and the massive platform-breaking issues contained in the 2.0 beta (which you can find in my previous complaint to support about the problem), but ALSO as a set of three separate formal complaints about:
1. the gross mishandling of the Galaxy 2.0 forced beta.
2. the timing of the forced beta (in the middle of a time where you have a known compromised support turnaround time), and
3. the lack of ANY - let alone ADEQUATE - official response to user feedback addressing these concerns.
I wish for all of these issues to be addressed AND RESOLVED in full before you close this ticket.
Thank you for your time.
-----REPLY MORE THAN A MONTH LATER-----
Hello,
Thank you for your message - I will forward it to an appropriate team.
We are sorry to hear that you’re dissatisfied with our services, as well as for the lack of responses on Mantis; I can assure you, however, that all your messages reach the GALAXY team and are a useful source of feedback. Please keep in mind that the GOG GALAXY 2.0 is still in its Beta stage and, while our GALAXY Team is doing all they can to make it better and better, this unfortunately takes time.
As per my previous message, I’m afraid that I’m unable to comment on if or when certain functionalities will be implemented. I’m also not at liberty to discuss company’s business decisions regarding the app. We appreciate your understanding on this matter.
Please keep in mind that GOG GALAXY is and will remain optional - you can manage your GOG library and download your games using our website.
If you are experiencing any issues with games not being recognized by GOG GALAXY, please let us know which titles are affected, so we can investigate further. If possible, please send us a screenshot which illustrates it.
I apologize for the inconvenience and such a late reply.
-----MY RESPONSE-----
YES.
GOG GALAXY 2.0 IS IN BETA.
THIS IS THE PROBLEM.
That right there is the core of what's WRONG here. I have, and many other have, knowingly and specifically OPTED OUT OF BETA TESTING for the Galaxy client. In spite of that fact, we had to take extra steps using a third-party workaround to prevent the LAST KNOWN STABLE VERSION of the client from automatically updating to a BETA VERSION which is not ready for launch yet. WHILE. OPTED. OUT. OF. BETA. TESTING.
I am disappointed in the delays in support ticket responses. NOT because you don't have good reason for those delays. I'm disappointed because a massive part of the reason is your company's own decision to force the use of the clearly-not-ready beta version of the Galaxy 2.0 client on your users. That poor decision NEEDS TO BE ROLLED BACK until the client is actually in a fit state.
Yes, Galaxy as a whole is optional. But that ALSO isn't the problem. I want to use a game launcher for my games. And I want to play games which are focused on online play, for which the launcher is MUCH LESS optional. But I do NOT want to be FORCED into updating to an unfinished and obviously unstable beta version of the Galaxy client. THAT is the problem, not any imagined forcing of use of a client in the first place.
And as for Mantis, in the history of all tickets there, here's the list of closed tickets which were both for actual service-impairing issues, AND were closed due to a reason other than being duplicates:
-
You'll notice there is no list. You have vast numbers of severe problems, which, as noted, includes issues where users are losing proper access to games on their account when relying on the new client. No, I don't have screenshots or specific examples from my own experience. I have seen evidence that problems this severe were being reported and have been known about since beta, and the root cause of the issue has not even been properly addressed on Mantis, let alone resolved. It has also not merely not been addressed, but not even responded to in the forums, nor has there been any official response in the forums to ANYTHING, even in the discussion topic which expressed a desire to communicate with users about Galaxy 2.0 - this lack of communication is a massive red flag and has been a significant motivating factor in a series of decisions to NOT buy videogames and to spend money elsewhere at times when I've had money to spare. Your other service-breaking problems, of which there are many, have similarly gone without any public response, and without any resolution to the problem.
The severity of the issues, the fact that many have been known since before the Galaxy 2.0 beta became a forced update, and the lack of communication with customers, all come together to contribute to this problem. The delays in support are understandable as a result of the current pandemic, BUT exacerbating the delays by forcing an unfinished beta client onto your customers is making the problem MUCH worse than it needs to be. The slow progress on Galaxy 2.0 WOULD be understandable as a result of the pandemic ONLY IF you weren't forcing users who opted out of beta testing to be opted into beta testing against their informed refusal of consent by "updating" 1.2 into a provably-inferior 2.0 version. And THAT is the point of this contact, NOT just a general dissatisfaction with the time Galaxy 2.0 is taking to get any progress.
Bring back Galaxy 1.2 as an OFFICIALLY SUPPORTED PRIMARY CLIENT VERSION until you are in a position to provide proper support, a proper update schedule, and an actually polished product for Galaxy 2.0's launch. That is not the current situation, so you should revert the client until it is, while maintaining the availability of 2.0 for those who wish to keep using it.
Thank you.