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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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tumocs Feb 26, 2019
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Last edited by tumocs on 26 February 2019 at 6:36 pm UTC
GreenFox Feb 26, 2019
Quoting: GuestOh, meh. GOG haven't been competing very aggressively, they never put a lot of effort into advertising the platform; which they should have done as soon as GOG Galaxy was ready.

GOG Galaxy isn't ready. There is no Linux version. How can that be "ready"?
Avehicle7887 Feb 26, 2019
If this means more modern titles to GOG, then it's still a win. I'd rather have more modern games than pay less, at the end they'll still be DRM-Free which is what I care about the most.
Klaas Feb 26, 2019
Is Galaxy ready? Where is the Linux version? Where are the sane choices made during the development that are non-invasive. They've added Galaxy-based telemetry to many of the games (e.g. Witcher 3) that tries to phone home if you do not block it by your firewall.

It's part of many Windows “offline” installers that can only be circumvented by using innoextract which does not work on some installers because GOG choose to use a beta version (5.6.2) of Inno Setup that does not exist anymore, because they've decided to skip ahead to 6.0.0. I've been updating my offline backup this month and I've looked into some of the “internal” changes. It's Galaxy that seems to be run during the normal installation process.

At least the missing Linux version of Galaxy means that there are some clean installers.
Scoopta Feb 26, 2019
Quoting: Avehicle7887If this means more modern titles to GOG, then it's still a win. I'd rather have more modern games than pay less, at the end they'll still be DRM-Free which is what I care about the most.
I'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.
kaiman Feb 26, 2019
GOG is my favourite outlet for acquiring games these days (unless there's a DRM free physical copy to be had), and it will remain so, fair pricing or not. The money saved that way never amounted to significant sums in any case, and if I really feel a price is "unfair" in my currency, I can just wait for the product to go on sale.

So I'm hoping for the best, that their service remains financially viable and stays around so I can continue to own future games. That's certainly more worth to me than a few cents saved here or there in the short term.
Xaero_Vincent Feb 26, 2019
Yep the games distribution marketplace is a crowded one now and with so much competition it's a race to the bottom as far as profits go.
eldaking Feb 26, 2019
"Epic store will increase competition, stores will have to innovate or improve" - price gouging screws smaller (i.e. non-Steam) stores, forcing them to remove novel and positive features and lay off employees. Cheers for "competition" through non-competitive means, yay!
Asu Feb 26, 2019
please release galaxy for linux.
hardpenguin Feb 26, 2019
QuoteFair enough, that all sounds quite normal in the business world.
No, it is not. Letting go a significant group of (often experienced and long-term) employees without any further notice is never ok.
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