wonderfield on 30/3/2012 at 15:51
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
The former may not be of huge concern for the (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usa) cheeseburger inhalers, but us here in Oceania and Europe get fucked over by jacked up regional prices on a regular basis.
You deserve to pay more. Think of the extra money you end up sending Stateside as recompense, and be thankful we allow you to buy our games at all.
Quote Posted by faetal
In fact, if GOG is publicly traded, they have a legal obligation to make money.
They aren't.
Quote Posted by Chimpy Chompy
So hang on, the first clutch of good-not-so-old-games is all indie stuff. Are we expecting big-name publishers to sign up for selling new games drm-free?
GOG seemingly had an incredibly difficult time getting publishers to part from DRM for the games they weren't even selling anymore. I don't believe they're going to have an easier time getting them to part with DRM on games publishers
are currently selling.
Al_B on 30/3/2012 at 19:57
Quote Posted by wonderfield
They aren't.
Whether they are or not - the big share ticker graph on the (
http://www.cdprojektred.com/) owning company's website would suggest they're interested in providing a return for investors and making games available for the sake of it might be slightly lower on their list of priorities.
(I'm not complaining - I'd rather they do make money rather than end up bankrupt and unable to provide the games that I've bought from them).
Bjossi on 30/3/2012 at 20:40
Quote Posted by wonderfield
GOG seemingly had an incredibly difficult time getting publishers to part from DRM for the games they weren't even selling anymore. I don't believe they're going to have an easier time getting them to part with DRM on games publishers
are currently selling.
Which is nothing short of perplexing since you could call it a miracle if a DRM implementation remains effective a few days after a game's release, why would they be hesitant to removing it many years after said release? They got nothing to lose by it, it was already piss-easy to pirate their games. I guess maybe they are afraid the companies behind the DRM could get pissed or something?
Yakoob on 30/3/2012 at 21:35
Wanting better, DRM-free games and wanting to make profit aren't mutually exclusive you guys ....
Papy on 31/3/2012 at 04:23
Quote Posted by N'Al
Their main motivation is to make money.
People who start a new business only with the motivation of making money will always choose a tried-and-true business model. Selling old games do not fall into this category, so I think I can safely infer that GOG founders obviously had a passion for those old games.
GOG need to make money, they also obviously want to make money, but saying it is their main motivation is probably too cynical. Until GOG becomes a very profitable company (I don't think it is) and is taken over by <strike>pimps</strike> investors who don't give a shit about the company's products, I tend to believe their main motivation is still their own passion.
Jason Moyer on 31/3/2012 at 05:30
GOG isn't an independent company. They're part of a larger business that most certainly gives a shit about making money, and more than likely starting GOG was part of a diversification strategy, a retail publisher trying to find a unique way to get into the digital market.
Papy on 31/3/2012 at 06:44
I'm a contractor. My main job is to offer support and advices to my clients. Recently, I decided to do a bit of programing.
You could certainly imagine that it was "part of a diversification strategy", a consultant trying to use his client base in order to get into the programming market. But you would simply be wrong. I most certainly do give a shit about money and the truth is the programing I'm doing doesn't pay as much as my regular job. The fact is my motivation for doing it is not making money, but simply because I wanted to do it.
My point is that being part of a larger business and giving a shit about money, doesn't change the fact that GOG is a new business and that its profitability is probably low. So my opinion is still that if their motivation was only to make money, then they would have chosen something else to do. I know I would have, even if I'm among the persons who like old games.
But I'd like to know... What makes you think their motivation to start GOG was to make money? Why is it so hard to believe that their motivations were their own personal interest for older games and some kind of personal hatred for DRM? Why do you think that being a business owner means you cease to be a human being, with ideas and values, and begin to be obsessed with money and only money?
N'Al on 31/3/2012 at 06:58
Quote Posted by Papy
GOG need to make money, they also obviously want to make money, but saying it is their main motivation is probably too cynical. Until GOG becomes a very profitable company (I don't think it is) and is taken over by <strike>pimps</strike> investors who don't give a shit about the company's products, I tend to believe their main motivation is still their own passion.
It's not cynical at all.
Look, I don't doubt for a second these guys aren't passionate about old games, and their business model is arguably great for the consumer (although their PR department seems to try and undermine that every step of the way).
By offering cheap, DRM-free games they are trying to raise the goodwill of their customers. This, they hope, in turn will increase customer loyalty and spread word of mouth. This, then, they hope will result in more (repeat) sales. Which ultimately means more money for the business.
It's just the way in which they differentiate themselves from the rest of the digital distributors.
Incidentally, in light of this I would say
this is far too cynical:
Quote Posted by Papy
People who start a new business only with the motivation of making money will always choose a tried-and-true business model.
But let's not kid ourselves; their main motivation is to make money, even if their business model is way more customer friendly than other companies in the industry.
*cough* Ubisoft
*cough*[Edit] In response to your later post:
C'mon now, this is a bit of a leap, from this:
Quote Posted by Papy
Why is it so hard to believe that their motivations were their own personal interest for older games and some kind of personal hatred for DRM?
To this:
Quote Posted by Papy
Why do you think that being a business owner means you cease to be a human being, with ideas and values, and begin to be obsessed with money and only money?
Not agreeing to the former doesn't immediately mean you have to definitively agree with the latter.
Noone here is claiming that business owners can't be passionate about what they're working on, or that they are heartless human beings, but they'll also want to make money out of their endeavours or else they wouldn't have set up a business.[/edit]
EvaUnit02 on 31/3/2012 at 19:52
Quote Posted by wonderfield
You deserve to pay more. Think of the extra money you end up sending Stateside as recompense,
Jesus, you're a moron. We're talking purely DIGITAL services here. There's no shipping fees and the like to consider. Hosting the exact same data globally generates no difference to a digital distributor's maintenance costs, so the prices charged to consumers should be the same globally.
$1 USD = 1 Euro is utterly fucked logic.
Quote:
and be thankful we allow you to buy our games at all.
Yeah, let's ignore the fact that a good deal of big publisher games are made in Canada or Europe, so a lot of them are hardly "your games".
EvaUnit02 on 31/3/2012 at 20:00
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
All I know is they have pre-orders up for Grimrock mmm.
Considering that pre-ordering Grimrock direct from the developer gets you a DRM free copy, a Steam key and all of the GOG extras... the GOG deal sucks hard by comparison.
