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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.
Tags: GOG, Misc
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Shmerl Feb 28, 2019
Quoting: x_wingYou can offer both, just as any package management tool does on any Linux distro.

I think Pangaea's point was, that given GOG's limited resources, they might lag with Linux installers if they are to add Galaxy support. They are already lagging with Windows installers often, if you paid attention, "thanks" to Galaxy. So for many existing GOG users, if the choice is installers or Galaxy, we are going to choose installers.


Last edited by Shmerl on 28 February 2019 at 2:55 am UTC
Klaas Feb 28, 2019
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: x_wingYou can offer both, just as any package management tool does on any Linux distro.

I think Pangaea's point was, that given GOG's limited resources, they might lag with Linux installers if they are to add Galaxy support. They are already lagging with Windows installers often, if you paid attention, "thanks" to Galaxy. So for many existing GOG users, if the choice is installers or Galaxy, we are going to choose installers.

No, Pangaea's point was that if there is no Galaxy for Linux, the offline installers cannot be tainted with crap like galaxy.dll with it's telemetry as the (officially non-Galaxy) Windows offline installers are.
Linuxwarper Feb 28, 2019
This is just sad. I have hope and expectation that, if not now, in future when GOG/CDPR business is much better that they will come through for Linux platform. It may be silly to say but I'd prefer CDPR/GOG to adopt Vulkan so that their games can run even better rather bring Galaxy first. Besides updates I really can't say I found Galaxy anything particular interesting to use. Not that it's bad, i feel the same about Steam, but I just want a client that updates and my games. Then it comes down to multiplayer versus better performance, I prefer latter.

Their situation is probably caused by Epic Games. Because of that I hope CDPR excludes Cyberpunk 2077 for a year on Epic Store, and maybe also receive a sum of cash from Epic when it's released. I'm against exclusivity but seeing as GOG is directly in competition with them, and Epic have deployed such dirty tactics to get third party games they should get a taste of their own medicine.
I believe GOG's success hangs more on Epic's failure than Steam's. Not that Steam has been a detriment to GOG. Take Proton as a clear example, we can run our GOG bought games through Steam.

While clueless people make fake news about Cyberpunk 2077 potentially being exclusive to Epic store, not knowing GOG is tied to CDPR and CDPR rep, I wonder more if CDPR/GOG will exclude Epic Store. That would be a good business decision. Similar to Ubisoft excluding Division2 on Steam. They, Ubi, may know that many people won't get Epic Store and will then be forced to go directly through their own. Win-win.


Last edited by Linuxwarper on 28 February 2019 at 11:20 am UTC
TheRiddick Feb 28, 2019
is Cyberpunk 2077 Directx11? I hope GOG don't adopt DX12.. But then again its the only way to get DXR/RTX going atm since we don't have it for Linux yet from what I understand.
Tuxgamer Feb 28, 2019
Developers need to stop using DX all together and use Vulken.
Linuxwarper Feb 28, 2019
Quoting: TuxgamerDevelopers need to stop using DX all together and use Vulken.

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/cyberpunk_2077_no_gameworks_vulkandx12

I think we need to make it clear to CDPR how important Vulkan is for us. If they can't support Linux directly, they can at very least do so through Vulkan. Short term I don't think they can support us with native games without issues, even if they used Vulkan for the game. But if they use Vulkan for better SteamPlay compatibility that will be really great. It will plant a big seed for Linux becoming more viable. With such a big game working through Linux with performance being very close to Windows, it will be compelling for gamers to switch to Linux.
x_wing Feb 28, 2019
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: x_wingYou can offer both, just as any package management tool does on any Linux distro.

I think Pangaea's point was, that given GOG's limited resources, they might lag with Linux installers if they are to add Galaxy support. They are already lagging with Windows installers often, if you paid attention, "thanks" to Galaxy. So for many existing GOG users, if the choice is installers or Galaxy, we are going to choose installers.

And what I'm pointing out is that you can have a manager using as base the installer, just like we do with package managers. Of course, being an update tool (i.e. you don't want to download a full package every time), you may have to put some brain in the base installer so it could be flexible enough in order to create full updates or partial updates, which is the feature that GoG installers doesn't have (AFAIK). BTW what I'm saying is not something new, this is just like games used to get updates in the past, with the difference that now you have a frontend (galaxy) that manages to install each one of them in sequence.

In the other hand, if you tell me that galaxy design affects the old way things used to work (i.e. the distribution model that made GoG unique), then the problem may be that in order to create galaxy they made a copy pasta of the system that have Steam which is difficult to adapt to their business model. Anyway, this probable design flaw doesn't surprise me looking at how "difficult" has been for them to create a multiplatform frontend to manage your library and access the GoG social network features...


Last edited by x_wing on 28 February 2019 at 2:45 pm UTC
Pangaea Feb 28, 2019
Quoting: KlaasNo, Pangaea's point was that if there is no Galaxy for Linux, the offline installers cannot be tainted with crap like galaxy.dll with it's telemetry as the (officially non-Galaxy) Windows offline installers are.
Indeed. Plus, if GOG had Galaxy for all platform they support, why have separate installers at all? It has to be a headache for them internally. So they would have more reason to drop the promise of Galaxy being optional, and simply offer nothing but Galaxy-based installers.

I like to have control over what happens on my computer, and don't like all this telemetry and phone home BS, so I refuse to use Steam, and I refuse to use Galaxy. Given other GOG moves over the years, I'd be worried if they were to release Galaxy for Linux. It will probably happen one day, I just hope it's in the very distant future. And I'm using lgogdownloader to back up my games these days, in case something dodgy happens. Takes a bit of space, sure, but as long as the harddrives don't crash, that's not really a problem.

I don't think GOG are in very dire straits though. They are backed by CDPR, which will probably make another killing when the 2077 game is released. Unfortunately I don't expect Linux support there either, but I do think the game will do very well, if the quality in Witcher 3 is anything to go by. Apart from kickstarters and direct purchase from developers (like with Rimworld), GOG is the only place I buy games these days (if quite sporadic), so it would be a big disappointment if they go under. The bar has been lowered since 5 or so years ago, but they're still the best in the business for gamers who value their privacy and independence.
Purple Library Guy Feb 28, 2019
Quoting: Linuxwarper
Quoting: TuxgamerDevelopers need to stop using DX all together and use Vulken.

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/cyberpunk_2077_no_gameworks_vulkandx12

I think we need to make it clear to CDPR how important Vulkan is for us.
I don't think we need to make anything clear to CDPR; they won't listen anyway. I'd still rather have GOG than Epic. But let's face it: GOG and CDPR have no particular fondness for Linux. They will do more things for Linux when they feel there are enough people gaming on Linux that they will be leaving significant money on the table by failing to do so. Until then, it doesn't matter what we make clear to them.
And, we aren't there yet.
Purple Library Guy Feb 28, 2019
Quoting: PangaeaGOG is the only place I buy games these days (if quite sporadic), so it would be a big disappointment if they go under. The bar has been lowered since 5 or so years ago, but they're still the best in the business for gamers who value their privacy and independence.
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