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You might remember a heated topic recently that the GOG version of 'Armello' was renamed to 'Armello DRM-Free Edition' and it won't be getting the DLC. It seems GOG are offering refunds now.

Writing on the forum post a GOG staff member said this:
QuoteHey everyone, a short announcement:

Due to changes to the GOG.com version of Armello and the fact that some online functionalities and future content for the game will not be available on GOG.com, we want to make sure all prior owners have a choice. If you feel that the current version of Armello is not something you wished for back when you bought the game - please contact our support team for a refund.


I still think it's crazy to lock out users like that on one particular store, but it's nice to see GOG offer refunds. It's the right thing to do after all, since they essentially have a poorly supported inferior version of the game. It gets updated late, won't get DLC and certain online features.

They actual developer of Armello posted on Steam about the issue:
QuoteJust because another studio or game has DLC on DRM Free, doesn't mean it's immediately a possibility for us or Armello. Assuming as much is incredibly naive. Every team's processes, resources, and games are innumerably different.

Almost every single piece of conjecture about ways we could have or should roll out our DLC on DRM Free have either been wildly off course or avenues we've already investigated.

Now, of course it's theoretically possible to have DLC on DRM Free, I mean, there's a robot taking selfies on Mars right now. So sure, given infinite resources and time we could undertake the task of rewriting the underlying architecture at the core of this decision, but that's straight up not feasible for a vast number of reasons that are unique to LoG, Armello, where we're standing right now and where we see Armello's future.

I don't want to automatically assume anything, but the reply here sounds really odd. It's true we don't know about their processes, but considering plenty of others have DLC on GOG it's just really damn weird.

They also claim it has nothing to do with piracy, as a lot of people were claiming the developers were doing it to keep it locked to Steam to prevent piracy of the DLC.

Nice to see refunds being offered, but still sad to see GOG get essentially shafted by a developer.

Thanks for the info Luke! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial, GOG
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Colombo Sep 12, 2016
Quoting: liamdaweIf you seriously don't understand why this is bad practice, then to be frank, you're part of the problem.
Yeah, obviously I am too dumb to understand something... Lets bitch again that they are stupid and can't implement proper system.



QuoteClaiming it's not possible for them to do it I also still claim is bollacks. They just don't want to say the real reasoning, that's all it is.
Yeah, because you said it, it must be true! Thats how it works, right?

All I wanted was someone to analyse problem, dissect it into small parts, trying to understand why they are doing something as it. Then putting it back together so we know where exactly the problem is.

So I'll try to do it from my dumb perspective, it would be wrong, because I am dumb and I don't understand the issue at all, obviously!
1. slow updates on GOG
-- Need to manage several version. Given that a lot of games on GoG have this issue, but they don't have this issue on Steam, this might be due to devs being lazy. Well, everyone is lazy, right? So maybe Steam way of updating stuff is easier?

2. multiplayer features -- From what I read, GoG and Steam version can't play together in multiplayer. But what exactly was promised?

3. DLC not in DRM-free -- Sure, anti-customer. But is this exactly part of the deal? Did they promised DLCs everywhere? Is someone who is selling two different versions of game support them with the same set of features? Given how LoG developed game (look at beta, Steam only), they probably caught themselves in a trap. They relied too heavily on Steam libraries, so the architecture they build on them works only on Steam.
But, are we even entitled? I personally think that this is much complex issue. I would be really interested in reading some thoughts on it, analysis, comparison. I think that we would be able to find older and newer examples of this happening. Simple one could be PC and console versions of games having different set of features, namely console version of games not supporting modding. And it seems that everyone more or less accepts it.


Now, you are much smarter and understand this issue to the last bit, so I expect you to come with the smart way and complex analysis of the problem at hand.
Liam Dawe Sep 12, 2016
1) Yes other developers have said Steam is easier before.

2) The point is none of this has been properly explained until now after people purchased the game. As the game fell behind on patches and now wont get extra content that Steam will.

3) There are plenty of times when this has happened to other games across different platforms. Doesn't make it right. The entire point is people expect the place they buy a game from not to change what features they actually get/are able to get.
Salvatos Sep 12, 2016
Quoting: EhvisIf the claim is true that all the DLC content is included in the base game for multiplayer purposes, then the DLC is just a "right to use". Which is DRM and therefore can't be sold on GoG. There is no solution to this other than to take it away from the multiplayer experience. Either way, people will be unhappy.
Nailed it. The same would apply to Worms W.M.D. for example, where people who own the preorder extras grant the ability to use those extras to everyone they play with (during those matches only). I don't know if Armello actually uses that same reasoning with the new DLC, though. I have the Kickstarter-exclusive heroes and those aren't shared with other players. When you play online you have to use the standard heroes. Assuming the DLC also includes new cards and stuff, I presume they didn't want to activate them during only a fraction of gameplay since people paid for them, but I imagine they could have.

I think they basically traded one problem for another, but I don't know which was worse. One could have hampered the DLC sales, but the other apparently shat all over GoG users and led to refunds. They'll have to do the maths and figure it out for themselves but I doubt they would change their mind at this point.
redshift Sep 12, 2016
Quoting: lucifertdarkI don't care what anyone, even Valve, says but Steam IS a form of DRM, close your steam account & see how many games you have still in your possession.
I'm not arguing here. Valve's CEG is DRM. But Valve clearly doesn't want to be associated with that acronym.
Crazy Penguin Sep 12, 2016
Quoting: lucifertdarkI don't care what anyone, even Valve, says but Steam IS a form of DRM, close your steam account & see how many games you have still in your possession.

Did this once and I came around ~80% of the games are still playable :).
Glog78 Sep 12, 2016
I don't get it ...
Q: The game was promised on kickstarter as DRM free and they devolped a DLC system relying on steam ? << Thats fucked up and should be asked ...
Comandante Ñoñardo Sep 13, 2016
Quoting: redshift
Quoting: lucifertdarkI don't care what anyone, even Valve, says but Steam IS a form of DRM, close your steam account & see how many games you have still in your possession.
I'm not arguing here. Valve's CEG is DRM. But Valve clearly doesn't want to be associated with that acronym.

I agree..

Every user knows that Steam IS A DRM... But for some Developer (I don't want to give the name) , Steam CEG is not DRM and never has been a DRM; is a feature that enriches the player's gaming experience :|

DRM is BAD by itself... And DRM on Linux is no less than EVIL.
emphy Sep 13, 2016
It's a bit saddening, really. In the steam forum they're pretending to prefer to refund rather than leave unhappy costumers. At the same time log is refusing to refund kickstarter backers despite not providing a drm-free version to those backers.

Developers like this are extremely damaging to crowdfunding efforts.


Last edited by emphy on 13 September 2016 at 10:44 am UTC
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