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GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

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Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#201

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

sallveburrpi wrote: post #155
georgeecollins wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, but the model that Valve pioneered is the model that supports 90% of all commercial PC games made today, a higher percentage if you cut out MMOs and free to play games, which you certainly don't own. I love GoG and I have worked closely with a lot of people there on projects they are great. This announcement seems like good news. No one has to sell games on Steam. No one has to use a model where they "rent licens…

How is GOG a viable business if everything gets pirated?

Many games on GOG are at the tail end of their sales cycle (i.e. were released on Steam long ago) trying to eke out a few more sales, are from small indies for whom any attention at all is good attention, or are very old^H^H^Hclassic games that garner purchases for nostalgia's sake by older gamers that can afford more discretionary spending.

Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#202

Post by technothrasher »

nurettin wrote: post #147
andrepd wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is teenagers or poor people or people from third world countries that pirate for financial reasons just would not buy those games regardless. I'm unconvinced that those pirates affect sales in the end to any meaningful degree.

When I was a kid, piracy was the norm. If your friend had a game you liked, you would just grab the tape, go home, insert into the recorder and make a copy. I didn't know about buying games or what I did was bad until well into the 90s.

> I didn't know about buying games or what I did was bad until well into the 90s.

Really? When we were pirating games off each other as teenagers in the early 80s, we absolutely knew we were getting games for free that the publishers wanted us to pay for.

Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#203

Post by rasz »

embedding-shape wrote: post #11

From the FAQ: > Is GOG financially unstable? No. GOG is stable and has had a really encouraging year. In fact, we’ve seen more enthusiasm from gamers towards our mission than ever before. I'm really happy to hear this, as I always feared their hard stance on no-DRM would scare off publishers and developers, but seems that fear might have been overstated. This year I personally also started buying more games on GOG th…

>>a really encouraging year

This years DOScember was really huge. Tons of streamers and viewers on Twitch for example, retro gaming is picking up steam (/s).

Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#204

Post by 867-5309 »

guizadillas wrote: post #142
hhh wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes they do. When I used to pirate a lot of games because I was broke I was gleefully happy to see a GOG release. The scene exists for a reason, it is a very trust based ecosystem.

Yeah I usually trust anything a girl who is particularly fit repacks

good luck sourcing the (supposedly) malware-free release

Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#205

Post by transcriptase »

Fiveplus wrote: post #23

> Can I still download offline installers? Yes. This is the only line I was looking for. I stopped buying on Steam sometime ago because I realized I was just renting licenses. GOG is the only major storefront where I feel like I actually own the product. As long as offline installers remain a core tenet, I don't care who owns the company. That said, it helps that it's someone returning to their roots rather than a pr…

People said the same thing when Steam launched, yet my profile sits there with a badge saying 20+ years and I can’t recall a time I’ve encountered an issue that was the fault of Valve versus a developer or publisher.

At this point the games I “own” on physical media like CDs have theoretically started to degrade before the threat of Valve revoking my ability to install or play has come to pass.

Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#206

Post by buzzerbetrayed »

transcriptase wrote: post #205
Fiveplus wrote: post #23

> Can I still download offline installers? Yes. This is the only line I was looking for. I stopped buying on Steam sometime ago because I realized I was just renting licenses. GOG is the only major storefront where I feel like I actually own the product. As long as offline installers remain a core tenet, I don't care who owns the company. That said, it helps that it's someone returning to their roots rather than a pr…

People said the same thing when Steam launched, yet my profile sits there with a badge saying 20+ years and I can’t recall a time I’ve encountered an issue that was the fault of Valve versus a developer or publisher. At this point the games I “own” on physical media like CDs have theoretically started to degrade before the threat of Valve revoking my ability to install or play has come to pass.

Correct. And if steam ever retracts anything, I’ll pirate the game then with a clean conscience.

Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#207

Post by kgwxd »

EA-3167 wrote: post #180
georgeecollins wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, but the model that Valve pioneered is the model that supports 90% of all commercial PC games made today, a higher percentage if you cut out MMOs and free to play games, which you certainly don't own. I love GoG and I have worked closely with a lot of people there on projects they are great. This announcement seems like good news. No one has to sell games on Steam. No one has to use a model where they "rent licens…

Piracy is widespread, that's undeniable. The question that industry groups and lawmakers love to avoid or lie about however is how much of that piracy represents lost sales, and how much represents people in the third world finding a way to participate with all of the people who can afford it. I pirated a lot as a kid because I had no money, there were no lost sales there. As an adult I don't pirate at all, because I…

Once you pay who? Money going to the wrong people is far worse for "creators" in the long run than if you had just copied it. Every digital industry has proven the argument billions of times over. If you're going to bother feeling guilt, aim it at actual injustice.

Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#208

Post by kaoD »

transcriptase wrote: post #205
Fiveplus wrote: post #23

> Can I still download offline installers? Yes. This is the only line I was looking for. I stopped buying on Steam sometime ago because I realized I was just renting licenses. GOG is the only major storefront where I feel like I actually own the product. As long as offline installers remain a core tenet, I don't care who owns the company. That said, it helps that it's someone returning to their roots rather than a pr…

People said the same thing when Steam launched, yet my profile sits there with a badge saying 20+ years and I can’t recall a time I’ve encountered an issue that was the fault of Valve versus a developer or publisher. At this point the games I “own” on physical media like CDs have theoretically started to degrade before the threat of Valve revoking my ability to install or play has come to pass.

The problem is what will happen when Gabe Newell passes away.

My GOG installers will never degrade though.

Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#209

Post by Detrytus »

Ekaros wrote: post #100
bcye wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they are just heavily reinvesting?

I think reality is that being game retailer is harsh market if you are anyone else but Valve with Steam. Selling copies redeemed on Steam is workable, but seeing that pretty much all big publishers are back on Steam should tell a lot of state of the market. And GOG has bigger mind share than actual market share.

Still, making only 32k PLN ($9k) profit on 137M PLN ($38M) revenue seems like a really badly operated business.

Re: GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder

#210

Post by fwipsy »

mindcandy wrote: post #157
buran77 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people who have no money to spare for games it really doesn't matter if games come with DRM or not. They wouldn't afford them anyway so "for free" is the only option that matters. For people who have money for games but don't want to pay, the presence of DRM matters very little. 99% of games are usually trivially cracked, especially if you are willing to wait for some days or weeks after launch (an important sale…

> especially if you are willing to wait for some days or weeks after launch (an important sales window for the publishers). “Important” is an understatement. Even for long-term success stories, the first three or four months often accounts for half of a game’s revenue. And, despite so many people theorizing that “pirates don’t have money and wouldn’t pay anyway”, in practice big publishers wait in dread of “Crack Day…

Do you have a source for sales data when a crack becomes available? If so, that seems like definitive proof that piracy does affect sales.
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