GOG.com is a drama llama?

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figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Good Ol' Games was a site that sold DRM-free classic games, and I've purchased several titles from them myself. However today their site is down with only this message:

Dear GOG users,

We have recently had to give serious thought to whether we could really keep GOG.com the way it is. We've debated on it for quite some time and, unfortunately, we've decided that GOG.com simply cannot remain in its current form.

We're very grateful for all support we've received from all of you in the past two years. Working on GOG.com was a great adventure for all of us and an unforgettable journey to the past, through the long and wonderful history of PC gaming.

This doesn't mean the idea behind GOG.com is gone forever. We're closing down the service and putting this era behind us as new challenges await.

On a technical note, this week we'll put in place a solution to allow everyone to re-download their games. Stay tuned to this page and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates.

All the best,
GOG.com Team
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The GOG twitter feed only adds:

Sometimes it's really hard being DRM-free... hard to keep things the way they are and keep management and publishers happy :(

Thanks for the support everyone. Hopefully everything works out for the best!

The official statement from GOG's management about the situation will be announced soon. We'll have more details about this tomorrow.
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While I'm glad I'll have a chance to download my games (some I didn't download upon purchase because I figured they'd be there waiting. Foolish me.) I'm really hoping this is an announcement that they're finally dropping their "beta" status. I love GOG and their offerings, and I was hoping for a lot of titles to get added (Planescape Torment, Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, SMAC & Alien Crossfire, Siege of Avalon, etc.)

If this really is GOG going out of business, or adding DRM to their titles, I am going to be pissed at the game companies who forced that on them.
 
Frank

Frank

GOG.com is gone?

FUCK. I hadn't redownloaded my shit from when I upgraded to Win 7. Thank God they're letting us download the ones we own.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

GOG.com is gone?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

*rips off all his clothes, throws Gusto through a window and runs naked into the hills*
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
GOG.com is gone?

I bought a few games from GOG.com myself. Glad I have them backed up. It's too bad, really, I'd have liked to see them do well. I think the problem is they started stocking too many old games that WEREN'T good, thus bloating their expenses.

Sheesh, just imagine if Steam vanished.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
GOG.com is gone?

Minor update to the site:

UPDATE 20.09.2010
First of all, we apologize everyone for the whole situation and closing GOG.com. We do understand the timing for taking down the site caused confusion and many users didn't manage to download all their games. Unfortunately we had to close the service due to business and technical reasons.

At the same time we guarantee that every user who bought any game on GOG.com will be able to download all their games with bonus materials, DRM-free and as many times as they need starting this Thursday.

The official statement from GOG.com's management concerning the ongoing events is planned on Wednesday. If you want to receive further information about GOG.com, please send an email to update_media@gog.com if you're a media representative or to update_users@gog.com if you're a user without a GOG account.
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So, if anyone doesn't have their stuff backed-up, they're going to be able to get it all, including bonus materials, DRM-free. A few pessimists, including myself, weren't certain that GOG would offer anything more than just the games, and those with newly added DRM.

On the other hand, this could still be a publicity stunt. The "business and technical" reasons for "closing the service" could be "we wanted to create buzz and we had to shut down for a few hours for upgrades anyway... so we closed down the site temporarily to cause public outcry". I'm not sure how likely that is. On one hand, it seems really dick-ish to let everyone believe that you've shut down without so much as a "going out of business sale", but on the other this may just be an underestimation of the media's tendency to drama. GOG could have meant this as a subtle mystery, hoping that people would take the message with the optimism they have for the future.... Okay, no one is that naive. GOG is either gone or has a real asshat running this current campaign.

If they come back with DRM, I'm out for any game I can get elsewhere. If they come back without DRM, I'll roll my eyes and keep buying. I can put up with drama from a retailer for the sake of less hassle from a game installer.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

GOG.com is gone?

I hope they're not gone, but if it's really a publicity stunt, it's in really poor taste, and they risk a brand backlash.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
GOG.com is gone?

Best tweet on the subject so far:

@GOGcom if this is some "Hacked by SHODAN" thing I will laugh
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
GOG.com is gone?

It's seeming more and more like this is some sort of marketing stunt. GOG.com posted this on their site today:



It doesn't seem to me that they'd take the time to make a teaser video if they were going out of business completely.

---------- Post added at 01:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:58 PM ----------

Don't know if it's true, but someone is claiming that this is an still grabbed from the teaser:

 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Well that really is something. Baldur's Gate was not part of GOG's collection before they went down. In fact, the rights to Baldur's Gate were up in the air recently, and despite having a limited re-release on DVD in Europe, none of the digital distribution companies have carried it (since Gametap lost it over a year ago). For a while no one was sure who owned the rights to Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment and, I think, Icewind Dale. If GOG really did manage to secure rights to these games (and didn't have to add DRM to do it), that is a huge score for them.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Yup, GOG.com is relaunching. No closure. No DRM. No download clients. No buyout/merger.

There is a weird and boring video though! Two guys pretending to be monks apologizing to the camera and very slowly doling out information.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Oh, and reading all the angry tweets and posts on other forums from people who are pissed that GOG cut-off access to games with no warning. Let this be a lesson to everyone back up your damn data! This applies to more than just games. All important computer files need regular back-up. That's one of the great parts of GOG, you can backup your games and you don't need their servers to be up to install or run those games.

Yes, there are rumors of people who bought right before the shutdown, and that really does suck, if it's true. GOG really should have cut-off purchases before they stopped downloads, and perhaps they did. If they didn't that was really stupid, but I don't see any reason to think it was more than foolish oversight. Mistakes get made, and people will have access to their games again starting tomorrow.

GOG needs to hire someone who is actually good at marketing. A lot of people never heard of GOG.com before this, so their first exposure is angry customers ranting about GOG being gone. Not the first impression I'd want. I know that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" but word of mouth is important, and GOG's going to have to work hard to make sure existing customers are placated.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

The Escapist : News : Good Old Games Not Really Gone

Just for further information on the whole nonsense.

Personally, I've always and will still go with Steam. Although it might not leave you the ability to back-up the game, and requires Steam running to play a game, it's been a constant reliable source (no pun intended) for games. Their sales have been astounding and their servers quite good. They've been around now for, what, ten years? And still going strong. It has its set-backs, of course, but it's been reliable.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
I like Steam too, but GOG does offer some nice extras. I really like that I got the soundtracks to Beyond Good & Evil, and Prince of Persia when I bought them from GOG (it's too bad they don't have the Psychonauts soundtrack).
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
GOG.com put up three new videos and they're mostly boring. Part 1 is about the history of the site, Part 2 is about the updates to the website, Part 3 is the announcement of Baldur's Gate, with Tales of the Sword Coast (and soundtrack, wallpapers, game art, etc.) for $10.

After watching these awkward videos, I'm more convinced than ever that the GOG.com team has no idea how to market itself, and honestly though the site shutdown would be a fun joke. I hope they learn more from their mistake than not to do this exact thing again.
 
nfldraftman

nfldraftman

Damn... with Civ V and Starcraft 2 eating up chunks of time, it will be hard to find time to play Baldur's Gate again...damn that was a good game. Planescape: Torment I never played (to much regret) and if/when that is available I'll probably be all over it.
 
Necronic

Necronic

Staff member
You know the saying, 'there is no such thing as bad publicity'? There's a part of me that thinks that this applies to the gaming community more than most. Gamers are.....how should I put this.....severely ADD whiny babies who get butthurt at the slightest drop of a dime but then forget about it after the first shiny thing flies past. This means that you will have people react very angrily to something like this right out of the gate, but within a week they have pretty much forgotton about it. So you don't loose any subscribers, but you do bring some in (this whole thing has finally convinced me to check them out.)

There's a good history of this psychology in the gaming community

L4D2 - Super helpings of butthurtitis, of course pretty much everyone got the game anyways. One of the most profitable games ever released.

WoW Community - Anything (ANYTHING) happens that the players don't like they scream and threaten to leave. Right after the next raid.

Diablo 3 - People were talking about BOYCOTTING this game last year based on screenshots. A year later....everyone would buy it tommorow if it came out. Still not sure how you boycott something that comes out in 4 years though.

I can't think of any other stuff just yet......but I know its there.
 
D

Disconnected

Necronic said:
You know the saying, 'there is no such thing as bad publicity'? There's a part of me that thinks that this applies to the gaming community more than most. Gamers are.....how should I put this.....severely ADD whiny babies who get butthurt at the slightest drop of a dime but then forget about it after the first shiny thing flies past. This means that you will have people react very angrily to something like this right out of the gate, but within a week they have pretty much forgotton about it. So you don't loose any subscribers, but you do bring some in (this whole thing has finally convinced me to check them out.)

There's a good history of this psychology in the gaming community

L4D2 - Super helpings of butthurtitis, of course pretty much everyone got the game anyways. One of the most profitable games ever released.

WoW Community - Anything (ANYTHING) happens that the players don't like they scream and threaten to leave. Right after the next raid.

Diablo 3 - People were talking about BOYCOTTING this game last year based on screenshots. A year later....everyone would buy it tommorow if it came out. Still not sure how you boycott something that comes out in 4 years though.

I can't think of any other stuff just yet......but I know its there.
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hear hear.
Also: is it their tears, sweat and spittle that makes the delicous haterade beverage? :)
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Now this is how you tease changes to a company. Internet video site Revision3 apparently has something going on, some of it's stars have been tweeting videos from a blog called Not Revision3 Videos

"These videos are certainly not made by the employees of the Revision3 internet television corporation.

"What a horrible waste of company time that would be. "



No drama about a difficult business model, just employee worries about perks, and Anthony Carboni worrying about management talking about him (which has been a gag several times in his series Bytejacker.) I'm looking forward to what future gags they might pull.
 
SpecialKO

SpecialKO

@Necro:

Completely agreed.

It's the casual gamers that game marketers should worry about. They're the ones who might actually move on to someone else's version of TextTwist if you screw up. They won't whine or complain, they'll just leave.
 
H

Hibou

Just downloaded Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment from GOG. They can pull all the publicity stunts they want they just gave me back two of my all time favorite games.
 
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