Itch.io?

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Quoting: CalebQ42…I see the point you want to make, but the simple fact is that without any DRM then very few major developers/publishers would release on PC.

Ultimately, this is a bargaining process. They try to get our money, we try to get ourselves some games. They present their terms, we present ours. They insist on DRM and the fact that they are our masters and we are their slaves. They can make any rules, change the rules at any given time, retract their promises, ban us from their "intellectual property" (remember, games are being licensed to players, not purchased by them) for whatever reason (hate speech? bad sportsmanship? wrong country? wrong region? …or old and trusty "violating the rules of our community" :) ) and we have no say in it. And we agreed.

In an alternate reality we could say "No, this is unacceptable! Either you respect us or you are not getting any sales." And they would have no choice than to agree because between DRM-free releases and no sales at all they would be forced to settle for the former. I believe this is called "Vote With Your Wallet".

Remember, digital games are ultimately just a vanity, they are not needed for survival. And for each oh-so-brilliant AAA "Absolutely Can Not Miss" GOTY award-winning game with slavish DRM there are 100 fun and interesting DRM-free games (some are even Open Source). And we only have 24 hours per day.

Quoting: CalebQ42Instead they would opt to only publish on consoles where they have near complete control.

They can. And I can refuse their "generous" offer (which I in fact did).

Quoting: CalebQ42At least with Steam, Valve seems to genuinely care about customers and Linux; the fact they allowed refunds for Helldivers 2 for players with 100+ hours proves they aren't as bad as nearly every other major gaming company.

Oh, Valve® is a in-for-a-profit entity, it cares for money. And reputation/market dominance, which translates into "more money". And in this case Valve sensed that other 3rd-party in-for-a-profit entity has just tried to abuse its "cash cow" and lure customers from Steam™ into PSN, essentially hijacking the control (you may "bought" our game from Valve, but it is us, Sony, who really control the game with our PSN account, ha-ha-ha!!!). So, that's bad for PR and needs to be stopped. Nothing personal, just business.

I believe, this can lead Valve to clean Steam from 3rd-party account poisoning.

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Quoting: Guest…I'm not signing up or downloading a shitty launcher for playing my games.

Does this also include Steam® Client™?

The moment players accepted that it is OK that their games are gated by one client closed-source program with online capabilities and the ability to "verify" legitimacy of game launches (you know, "Digital Rights Management") the Pandora's Box had been open.

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Quoting: F.UltraSo let me get this straight, Embracer themselves and all media is lying for some unknown nefarious reason?

Like that is something new to them…

Lying? Yes, absolutely. "Nefarious"? Not at all! Just protecting Public Image by trying to mask their nearly catastrophic financial state. You know, Shareholders won't be pleased if PLAION's stock market value plummets.

Quoting: F.UltraAlso not entirely sure why you are conflating layoffs with finding buyers for valuable assets that you suddenly have to sell off? Remeber that Saber was a founding member of Embracer so this is not something that they really wanted to do.

They need cash. Embracer has purchased a lot of dead gamedev studios in order to make an impression of a really big company. They are broke. Most of the dead weight they've got can not be re-sold in a timely manner. These studios are the only ones Embracer could find a buyer for.

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Anyone who wants to see how Embracer/PLAION/Koch Media deals with true Russian gamedev companies can look at authors of "Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG" ("Dark Crystal Games"). It took Embracer less than a week to cut all contacts, stop all game support (including readied but never to be released patch 1.4) and run away with the money.

So no, I wont buy this "We can't deal with pesky Russians" story.

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I despise Embracer Group and PLAION while not particularly caring for Saber Interactive or other studios mentioned in the news.

So… Is it good news? If anything, this shows that Embracer/PLAION is struggling to stay afloat and in desperate need for cash. Good.

Quoting: F.UltraThe selling of Saber have nothing to do with the financial status of Embracer or with their previous missed investments. This is simple done because Saber is Russian and the CEO of Embracer is also involved with renting out property to (among others) the Swedish Defense and they simply have let him know that he should either cut ties with Russia or with them, he can't have both. And it also looks like their business with Saber is infringing on the export embargo on Russia.

[sarcasm]So, Nimble Giant, 3D Realms, Slipgate, New World Interactive, Fractured Byte, DIGIC, Sandbox Strategies and Mad Head Games are Russian too. Good to know.[/sarcasm]
If Embracer/PLAION could absolutely not have any dealings with anything "Russian" (yeah, sure, like such a thing as "Russian Game Studio" exists… ) then why now? Not, let's say, two years ago?

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Interesting!

When I first had heard "Nau Engine" is supposed to be open-source I didn't believe it (considering "Unigine" is as-closed-as-it-can-possibly-and-impossibly-be). Now, I see they are actually serious about it.

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Quoting: poiuzThe windows version is updated?

Of course. (Remember, Windows has Galaxy Client that gets updates immediately, unlike "offline installers" we are forced to rely upon). And yes, the Windows version is currently updated to 6.00HF2.

This is not the exception. It is the norm for GOG.

Quoting: mphuZIf a person is really my compatriot, then he will perfectly recognize this site.

Excuse me? Since when I'm legally obliged to know every shady store out there?
Just so you can understand me easily: Я не собираюсь гадать, в каком Яндекс-маркете или у какого Ростелекома ты собрался покупать ворованные ключи. Хорошо, может быть и не ворованные, может эти "уважаемые партнёры" закупили ключики загодя и теперь распродают остатки неликвида. Что это меняет? Ты говоришь, что этот именно CDProjekt продаёт свои продукы. Пруфы в студию! Пока что с твоей стороны -- одни домыслы и тупые игры в "угадайку".

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Quoting: mphuZ

Quoting: Alm888I am genuinely curious what have I missed.

If you really are from Russia, then you will easily find out exactly where the game is sold.

Sorry, it does not work that way. What's the site name? "rutracker.org"? Since when the GOG-keys are being sold on the third-party sites?

As I've said, shady key re-seller sites do not count.

On a different note, recently the "all-favorite" game "X4:Foundations" has gotten a 6.00HF3 patch. Guess what version is on GOG?

That's the level of "service" Linux gamers are being treated with.

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Quoting: mphuZWhy should I read something on the Internet if I live in Russia myself and see everything from the inside?

WOW! What a coincidence, my compatriot!

Quoting: mphuZYou know that you can sell games for Steam and GOG on different platforms, right?

Me? May be. CDProjekt? No. I mean, which stores have I missed? VKPlay? No, doesn't look like it:

You *do* understand the difference between CDProjekt selling their games to Russians directly and someone else re-selling (probably stolen) Steam keys for the game on a shady site, don't you?

Yes, you can "emigrate" into Kazakhstan in order to purchase the game on Steam, but I doubt this counts.

I am genuinely curious what have I missed. Can you post a screenshot of a place where exactly CDProjekt has started to sell its games to Russians?

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