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Stop removing original versions of games when you sell the remastered ones
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SHODANFreeman Please continue selling the original versions of games, or at the very least including them as bonuses with the remastered. Some of us would like them for historical and archival values, and don't consider the remasters the end-all be-all versions of games.
Tharkon Remember, if a game is not available for purchase, it becomes abandonware. SO its just good for you. You then have both the moral and legal right to get it for free and it does not even constitute piracy.
#NotALawyer, please check your countries rules and regulations.
FallingBright taking off the classic version of RPGS is a legit crime. Makes me feel much more comfortable buying games off of steam. I used to support GOG like it was an actually important entity in our culture. With the endless porno games and erasing classics for trash remakes??? Yea, steam works too.
Charodiy_UA There was no Original Metro 2033 in the Gog store as I remember, but I want it to be available in my library (yes, I have Metro Redux)! In some aspects like most of the character models, some weapon models, and effects Metro 2033 Original is much-much better, I can confirm that and I think other gamers can support me.
Faile069 I understand the point of view of e7th04sh. Thanks for long answer with good arguments.
I have one point important point: Mods!
There are thousands of Mods out for original versions. People made them but do not upgrade them a for remastered version.
This is fine to me. They spent a lot of time for keeping theits Mod update for all original versions. 10 Years later, remaster appears. Nobody can catch up to a 10 years old code.
Personaly I am looking for a W10 working original of Skyrim incl all original patches and dlc, goodies etc. Just for Mods. I own the remastered all inclusive version.
The original version do not start with W10. I suspect the DRM.
And an big NO to unoffical sources.
PickedSheep i wish they could do what bethesda did with the classic Doom games which with one purshase now you get all versions of said game, but sadly idk how much control GOG has over this situation
Ifullyagree That's actually some bad devs who do, but yes, GOG shall work on preventing such replacements. It's not rare to have a perfectly working old version (e.g. Saints Row IV) being replaced by a crap one, sadly, with zero ways to return except doing (oh no!) piracy. If GOG doesn't want people being forced to fix that by piracy, it must change the policy.
RedRubio Imma be honest here chief, I get that the publisher "wants" - but what about the fact I bought a game and now I can't have what I bought because the publisher "wants"? The customer "wants" too!
Shahius I totally agree. We absolutely must have a choice.
antoneh Yes, surprisingly I come to GOG for good old games, not new cash grabs.
5chneemensch Yes. Remasters/Definitive editions are often paired with some significant downgrades. Souls 1, Shadow Of The Colossus, Human Revolution... All inferior to the original.
WolfEisberg Yes that would be good
WolfEisberg Yes, that would be good
tomsudobrej Oh yes, keep the originals, often I don't care about the remasters or remakes... I love the old graphics!!!
MolodyiGamer63 Metro game (original version, 2010) will be the good addition to the Metro series in Gog store
polocatfan That's not something GOG can control. (Unless you mean removing them from someone's library which GOG is 100% legally not allowed to do and I suggest you seek out a lawyer in that case.)
marcob I believe is a choice by distributors more then theirs
HikariWS I guess it's the publishers that remove old games, but in any case I'm +ing it.
im_adrian Upvoting, but I think this is a legal issue that GOG can't actually do anything about without risking a lawsuit.
##@@##@@ Gothic 2 Original please
Tikkia Umm... whether or not the orginal stays up after a remastered version gets released is determended by the owner of the IP in question. If that is not gog then gog is limeted to carrying the remastered version only or not carying the remastered version at all with the clasic version not being an option reguardless.
Sh4d0w66-----lID Actually GOG did a great job with the Baldur's Gate series. The original versions are free to download once you have purchased the lame "mobile" versions.
Blakes7 I'd like to point out to people that a remake of Master of Magic is in progress. So if you don't own the original get it before it gets removed or included as an "extra" as part of the remaster.
Ryarod I'm new to GOG.com, so I am just being introduced to these things that supposedly do and don't go on here.
If this is something that actually happens... yes I have to agree. You beat me to saying why: Historical and Archival value. The original, if it has earned its status, should be considered immortal.
Besides, keeping the originals around makes sure of quality control; a remaster is obligated to live up to the standard of the original, a pressure more strong if the original stays available for anyone to buy and play.
Serpent1989 I also add my vote to this great wish! I still hope that one day GOG can make a deal with Bethesda and give us the original Doom 3 and therefore the original Doom 3 addon Resurrection Of Evil as well. Although the BFG edition is fine so far, it contains plenty of changes and especially some heavy cuts, like no standard flashlight anymore, narrower FOV and an entire section missing in the Hell level of the expansion, making this level laughably easy. I guess GOG is just too lazy of doing all the programming work on the originals, so that they run on newer systems, while they do not have this work to do with the remastered versions and can sell those right on the spot. This is very sad and I hope that GOG can go back to earlier times, where they were willing to do the job, which they have put onto their shoulders themselves. I even accept a higher price for the original, than for the remastered version, as long as I can play the very original. After all, this is what GOG was all about some years ago: Selling the classic games without any DRM and not some remastered nonsense.
GoGghostly I would think that it is GoG's decision whether to sell something on their store. They can say to the publisher, " You can choose to sell your new remaster on our store, or not. You can choose to remove your original from sale, or not. We will not sell your new remaster instead or your original. If you want to sell your remaster here, you must also sell your original here. This is the GoG way. It's in the name. Good...Old...Games..." See? Easy.
neumi5694 This would get my upvote, if it was GOGs decision.
The publisher decides what gets removed and what not.
Sanjuro Voted. That is something I would like to see come true... and something that isn't very likely to happen since it's not GOG alone who gets a say in what is and what isn't sold here. We'd have to convince publishers as well.
gamefood Voted.
VashCZ I absolutely agree.
SirAdamBeckIIGS This.
I want the old versions of Sam & Max: Save The World, Beyond Time and Space and Devils Playhouse that used to be on GOG without having to buy the censored and largely unnecessary remaster.
lord_mendes I will NEVER buy a "remastered" versions of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. I would not pay Beamdog for this bullshit. It's not even a true remaster. The graphics are same, because game sources are LOST. But Beamdog are too lazy to create new graphics from scratch. It is much easier to sell the same game under a new name.
But worst of all, you delete old versions of games from the catalog. You deprive me of the opportunity to buy classics. I will not sponsor scammers. Give me the opportunity to buy classic games!
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scooney It needs to be illegal to memory hole games like publishers have been doing the second a remaster is released. Old versions need to continue to be available. This is important not only for game preservation, but also because sometimes the original releases are the superior versions.
flanner YESSSS!
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Djaron sadly it's a publisher/devs side issue, gog has no control other it... Like beamdog which bought rights over most of the old ADD/infinity engine games while they were "remastering" (remaster as in "putting some mods as easy one click install solution for lazy people who cant be bothered with patching/modding their retro games) and then, as they got the right over the IP, forced the removal of the original versions to force folks into buying their new version.
How confident in their own "new product" does it make them if they remove the older version in fear it would be "too risky competition" for their new work ? That says a lot about the publisherS/devs of said games who are litteraly destroying retro games legacy with this behavior...
If your remaster is good or convenient, people will buy it over the old version, and people who prefer/want to get and keep the original version would still do it too... Former would never have bothered themselves with buying the old one, and later are not interested in your stuff and WONT be your client so why try to force it to them at gunpoint ?
EchoOfMidgar Exactly! I just want to see my progress of games' old versions. When they are included in so called enhanced editions, you can play them, but GOG Galaxy does not track your progress at all.
I am an old school players, I do not care about enhanced editions, I play games the way they were intended to be and I am sorry that GOG does not provide such a support for many games anymore.
Totenglocke GOG has no control over this, it's the publishers / devs who remove original versions from sale.
ARGANTONIOXXIII I agree I wanted to buy Planescape Torment but now there is only the enhanced edition (but at least contains also the original version).
e7th04sh Removing originals to push remasters makes you look greedy. You set a low price for remaster that is fine for USA and West Europe, but for those of us from countries with a little less GDP it looks like we suddenly have to pay non-trivial price tag for something that was available for free last 15 years. Until a trend for retro games arrived and suddenly it was worth it to once again charge for it. For both distributors and those who last owned games before they were abandoned it's basically capitalizing on a movement that they did not put effort into. The retro game movement did not make those titles relevant again to make some people some unexpected buck. If the original business model already ended and we're talking about something that outlived it's original marketing, trying to prevent people from using it now for free may be legal, but is far off from what I can consider fair. It's not like people who put effort or money into making those now-retro games be were depending on ability to sell a little bit more copies for a very small price 15-20 years after the release and otherwise their whole business calculation wouldn't work out, so you can't say that not wanting to pay for them now is freeloading.
And if we insist that one should support the creators 20 years after their game release, then let me just also point out, maybe we don't want remasters, ok? If you wanna know for sure, let us buy originals for a price that makes sense for a product this old - $2 ? And see if really enough people want to pay $20 for a remaster if they have the alternative?
Retro games, while protected by law for many decades or maybe forever, I am not a lawyer, are not really a product at this point but part of culture. For many people, between their release and today, in the period when they were "abandonware", that is products you couldn't really pay for because legal owners did not care to organize selling them, as they didn't think there is a market profitable enough to pay for arranging distribution - we often chose this games because of the fact that they were "free". Not because we wanted to steal something unguarded, but because they WERE old enough so that it was obvious that nobody is really losing anything. We were often the kind of gamers who did not want to pay for this year's releases because we valued those parts in games that don't change this much. Those mechanics or ideas or stories that don't require latest largest development teams and technologies and uber hardware. We took games that were very good and free. It's not like we picked those retro games because we didn't know how to steal latest cracked games from torrents. If the owners of those games really still tried to sell them all this time for $20 then fine, but that is just NOT the case.
So what we pay for is about $1-$2 for what the product can be objectively valued now + whatever more you charge to optimize your gains.
I love GOG, but this one practice, while definitely not enough to make me turn my back on you, is something I noted and watch carefully. Companies exist for profit, but to maintain a great brand loyalty they need to have integrity, some code of conduct. So basically it might just not be worth it to break character and go for some minor additional profit, without thinking if we're really providing anyone something here they needed from us, or are we actually making their life worse of because it benefits us.
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