It appears things aren't going overly well for game store GOG at the moment, under increasing competition they're starting to feel the heat.
First of all, in a report on Kotaku, GOG recently confirmed that they let go a bunch of staff. They claimed it was only "around a dozen of positions" while also bringing in new staff in other positions. Fair enough, that all sounds quite normal in the business world.
However, Kotaku spoke to an ex-staff member who basically said GOG haven't been doing so well financially. That seems to now be somewhat backed up a little, as GOG just announced today that they're ending their Fair Price Package program. This was the system that users could get wallet funds back on purchases, if the price of the game was more expensive in their country compared with North America.
What's also interesting in this announcement from GOG, is that they said they were able to cover the extra cost from it in the past and still turn a "small profit" which is no longer the case. As they say "With an increasing share paid to developers, our cut gets smaller.", so it sounds like they will at some point reduce their cut from developers (sound familiar?).
Their current plan for the Fair Price Package program is to continue it until 31st of March, so you have until then if you made use of it. Any funds you're given, will remain with you for 12 months so they won't vanish right away.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: Lakorta(…) During the "pay a few bucks and get a random game" they gave refunds to Linux users if they got a Windows game. (…)
Yes, I've read that as well, but that does not have anything to do with Linux. They refund every random game if the user does not want it and it has not been downloaded.
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Quoting: ScooptaI'm assuming by more modern you don't mean AAA because it'll be a cold day in hell when AAA devs release anything DRM free.
Not all of them are crooks. More are releasing DRM-free today than a decade ago. And the biggest credit for it goes to GOG.
Last edited by Shmerl on 26 February 2019 at 9:39 pm UTC
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stretch611 Feb 26, 2019
This is sad... As one of the few stores out there that doesn't just resell steam keys, this is a blow to competition.
Personally, I could not care less about GoG Galaxy... Instead I respect the fact that they do sell title supporting linux. However, even this aspect "needs improvement." There are far too many titles out there that actually have a linux version where the linux version is not available on GoG. This is the number one reason why I am slightly reluctant to use GOG.
I have 487 titles on steam (though most where bought through bundles) and only 129 games on GOG. (and many GOG titles are back from when it only dealt with "Good Old Games" or GOG Connect.) I have bought a few titles through GOG recently, but most titles by far are through Steam or Humble Bundle due to not knowing if or when a title will support linux on GOG.
I do not think this is the end of GOG... and I would not want that. However, they do need better linux support in the actual titles they offer if they want me to spend a larger portion of my money there.
Personally, I could not care less about GoG Galaxy... Instead I respect the fact that they do sell title supporting linux. However, even this aspect "needs improvement." There are far too many titles out there that actually have a linux version where the linux version is not available on GoG. This is the number one reason why I am slightly reluctant to use GOG.
I have 487 titles on steam (though most where bought through bundles) and only 129 games on GOG. (and many GOG titles are back from when it only dealt with "Good Old Games" or GOG Connect.) I have bought a few titles through GOG recently, but most titles by far are through Steam or Humble Bundle due to not knowing if or when a title will support linux on GOG.
I do not think this is the end of GOG... and I would not want that. However, they do need better linux support in the actual titles they offer if they want me to spend a larger portion of my money there.
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Quoting: damarrinGOG operates in a different environment to Valve. Linux is completely negligible in their native Poland, they are almost certainly disinterested in Linux themselves and the Witcher 2 debacle was more than enough to turn them away from Linux users almost completely (I think it’s very probable the Galaxy no show on Linux is also due to that) They’re also a publicly-traded company and anything they do that doesn’t bring them profits is a huge liability to their share price. Their shareholders are Polish, so they don’t care about the Linux market at all and any actions to support us will be viewed as nonsensical.
Hmm, so if they don't care for the Linux Community, why should I care for them?
They operate in an international market. So it is not that interesting, if the polish people do not care about Linux.
It would be nice, if they would care about us, but sadly they don't. As a German I would like to support a european company. But not in this way. No TUX no BUX ;-)
If GOG will really support Linux, I would consider buying games in their store. But surely won't happen. They seem to have serious problems. Linux will not be prioritized.
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Most of the complaints about "GOG not supporting Linux" come from Steam users who think Linux support = updater client. GOG do support Linux by selling Linux games. Most of the Linux GOG users don't care about the client, let alone closed source one.
Problem isn't the client, but lack of some games caused by not supporting Galaxy infrastructure for Linux. But those who aren't using GOG (Steam only users) rarely get that, since... they aren't using GOG ;)
Being constrained with resources, I'm not surprised they aren't prioritizing Galaxy much. I get an impression that they tried to bite more than they could swallow with their current Galaxy effort. They should have started with something minimal (just updater) like itch.io. And once that was solid, move to more features and so on.
Anyway, it's sad that GOG seem to be struggling with being profitable. Hopefully they'll figure a way to get into the positive again.
Last edited by Shmerl on 26 February 2019 at 9:54 pm UTC
Problem isn't the client, but lack of some games caused by not supporting Galaxy infrastructure for Linux. But those who aren't using GOG (Steam only users) rarely get that, since... they aren't using GOG ;)
Being constrained with resources, I'm not surprised they aren't prioritizing Galaxy much. I get an impression that they tried to bite more than they could swallow with their current Galaxy effort. They should have started with something minimal (just updater) like itch.io. And once that was solid, move to more features and so on.
Anyway, it's sad that GOG seem to be struggling with being profitable. Hopefully they'll figure a way to get into the positive again.
Last edited by Shmerl on 26 February 2019 at 9:54 pm UTC
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Quoting: einherjarIf GOG will really support Linux, I would consider buying games in their store. But surely won't happen. They seem to have serious problems. Linux will not be prioritized.
You're confusing "supporting linux" with "treating linux like a first-class citizen." Discord and Epic do not support linux, they don't offer any linux versions of games. GOG supports linux, but doesn't treat it like a first-class citizen. Valve does, but then again they have (or had, at least) a platform that basically prints money.
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And there are the abandoned games on GOG that lag several years behind the Steam version. And some games have updated Windows and Mac versions, but the Linux version is outdated. Obviously that is not only GOG's fault, but they are a part of that problem.
@Shmerl: According to elcook GOG is doing fine. And you know how accurate and honest he usually is.
@Shmerl: According to elcook GOG is doing fine. And you know how accurate and honest he usually is.
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Quoting: Klaas@Shmerl: According to elcook GOG is doing fine. And you know how accurate and honest he usually is.
I guess fine is relative. They still don't have resources to implement Galaxy infrastructure for Linux. Which means things aren't perfect. Still, claims that they don't support Linux are just false.
Last edited by Shmerl on 26 February 2019 at 10:04 pm UTC
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Kind of sad GOG is taking a hit.
The gaming market is hitting the same issue as online streaming.
Movie streaming replaced TV but then so many streaming services showed up that it became just like TV.
These online games stores are going in the same direction.
We had Steam and GOG. And all games were easy to get on one of two platforms.
Now the stores are multiplying and exclusives are forcing people to choose or end up with a miriad of accounts.
The gaming market is hitting the same issue as online streaming.
Movie streaming replaced TV but then so many streaming services showed up that it became just like TV.
These online games stores are going in the same direction.
We had Steam and GOG. And all games were easy to get on one of two platforms.
Now the stores are multiplying and exclusives are forcing people to choose or end up with a miriad of accounts.
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Quoting: razing32Now the stores are multiplying and exclusives are forcing people to choose or end up with a miriad of accounts.
Normally developers shouldn't benefit from exclusives. Same way let's say film creators should in theory be interested in selling their films through all Internet video stores to maximize their profits. The problem is vertical monopolization. I.e. merging of distributor and publisher / creator. When someone like Netflix or Disney not only make films but also distribute them exclusively through their store, it becomes a horrible mess.
TL;DR: exclusives are signs of unhealthy, monopolizing market.
Last edited by Shmerl on 26 February 2019 at 10:11 pm UTC
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Quoting: tmtvlQuoting: einherjarIf GOG will really support Linux, I would consider buying games in their store. But surely won't happen. They seem to have serious problems. Linux will not be prioritized.
You're confusing "supporting linux" with "treating linux like a first-class citizen." Discord and Epic do not support linux, they don't offer any linux versions of games. GOG supports linux, but doesn't treat it like a first-class citizen. Valve does, but then again they have (or had, at least) a platform that basically prints money.
Hmm, I said really support Linux. Actually you do not get all games with Linux Versions in GOG store and I can't see them ever releasing a Galaxy Linux client.
And they do not release their own games on Linux. That is not really supporting Linux. It's some kind of "half hearted" Linux support. But I never said it's no Linux support.
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Quoting: damarrinGOG operates in a different environment to Valve. Linux is completely negligible in their native Poland, they are almost certainly disinterested in Linux themselves and the Witcher 2 debacle was more than enough to turn them away from Linux users almost completely (I think it’s very probable the Galaxy no show on Linux is also due to that) They’re also a publicly-traded company and anything they do that doesn’t bring them profits is a huge liability to their share price. Their shareholders are Polish, so they don’t care about the Linux market at all and any actions to support us will be viewed as nonsensical.
BS. EU is the market with highest Linux market share(ChromeOS excluded), and while Germany is the leader, Linux is on the rise in other countries too. As for the state of Linux in Poland, I know of at least 4 Linux distros that originate here:
- QubesOS(https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=Qubes,
- Sparky Linux(https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=sparky,
- Openwall(https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=openwall,
- poldek(aka. PLD Linux Distribution, https://www.pld-linux.org/).
According to Ubuntu statistics(https://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/statistics, 1.9% of installations occured in Poland, and Polish is the 9th most popular language. Which is impressive, if you realize there are only ~45-50 milion Polish speakers, including emigrants.
Last edited by Pikolo on 26 February 2019 at 10:29 pm UTC
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Quoting: LakortaWhile they're not as committed as other companies (e.g. Valve) to supporting Linux (see GoG Galaxy) they do support Linux (During the "pay a few bucks and get a random game" they gave refunds to Linux users if they got a Windows game. There are also several reports of them helping developer porting or packaging their games for Linux). Also I do respect their stance on DRM. So I wish them all the best, would be sad if they had to close their store.
Scale of budgets though Valve has billions they can throw at any project and never ending money tree and near domination of the pc gaming market and their comittment to Linux is a self preservation one not for a love of linux, in case MS brings back the embrace extend extinguish policy again. CDPR operating budget for gog is probably less than a 1/4 spends on linux.
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Quoting: Klaas@Shmerl: According to elcook GOG is doing fine. And you know how accurate and honest he usually is.
I'll just repost it here for the reference:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/conclusion_of_the_bfair_price_packageb_program_9b7f5/post199
QuoteFirst of all, thank you for your support. This was not an easy decision to discontinue the FPP program and we're grateful to you for understanding the reasons behind it. We see that quite a few of you raised concerns about GOG's future. As a part of publicly traded company, we can't comment on any financial results until they are officially reported, but we want to ensure you everything is good with GOG. Being part of a big gaming company, some reports - especially some given by significant media outlets - can often sound much scarier than reality.
You've been also concerned about your access to the games you’ve purchased on GOG. We've covered this topic years ago and it's been in our User Agreement for a long time (please check the section 17.3). This is not only a legal obligation to you but a core part of our ethics as a company.
But don’t worry, all is good, and we have a great plan for the future of GOG. We can’t wait for you to see some of the exciting things we have coming very soon.
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Quoting: razing32Kind of sad GOG is taking a hit.
The gaming market is hitting the same issue as online streaming.
Movie streaming replaced TV but then so many streaming services showed up that it became just like TV.
These online games stores are going in the same direction.
We had Steam and GOG. And all games were easy to get on one of two platforms.
Now the stores are multiplying and exclusives are forcing people to choose or end up with a miriad of accounts.
Could be worse if you lived in the UK you have to pay the government to own a tv in your home every year and youtube counts as tv it didnt originally but it does now because it can be watched live. But yeah it is true the exclusive shows is the only way to get you stay and in some cases you end up paying nearly as much as cable/sky to make sure you dont miss anything.
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Well they haven't been getting many purchases from me as they refuse to bring galaxy to linux and lack so many games that have linux support but are on other stores. So they arn't really trying hard. I love DRM free but it's kind of hard to buy games from them when they aren't providing products for purchase.
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commodore256 Feb 26, 2019
Good, I'll get more keys from the former soviet union.
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I use gog mainly for older games, and especially during sales, the old games are so cheap that regional pricing doesn't matter. Anno 1602 in wine is still fun, and I am having a look at anno 1701 as well. I don't expect to buy any new games from gog though, although anno 1701 kind of does feel like a new game even though it was released in 2006.
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Can someone tell me what all the fuss about having GOG Galaxy on Linux is? Speaking personally, I couldn't care less whether there is a client for GOG or not. Whilst clients for storefronts can be useful, I'm interested in the availability of games for Linux.
If Galaxy was to be available for Linux then what real difference is there from Steam? After all, some games even come with Galaxy dependencies.
If Galaxy was to be available for Linux then what real difference is there from Steam? After all, some games even come with Galaxy dependencies.
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Just got an e-mail from GOG about their updated terms of use. Of particular note, they have a new third-party purchase feature coming up:
Quote6.8 We have a direct to account distribution feature (we’ll call it ‘GOG Direct to Account) where distribution platforms who partner with us would be able to sell games or other content to you, where you could choose for that game/content to be automatically activated within your GOG account, without the need to redeem any codes.
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