Slashdot Mirror
GOG.com Not Really Gone
gspr writes "On Sunday, Slashdot and many others reported that DRM-free games site GOG.com was shutting down. Now the site is back, revealing that it was all a hoax. According to the site: 'Now it's time we put an end to all the speculations once and for all. It's true that we decided that we couldn't keep GOG.com the way it was so we won't. As you probably know by now, GOG.com is entering its new era with an end of the two-years beta stage and we're launching a brand new GOG.com with new, huge releases.' So it was all an advertising stunt."
They still won't have DRM and they still won't have a download client.
Love it or hate it, this is one of the more successful marketing stunts of late.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
I hate it when people and companies pull stuff like this. But for once I'm glad it was just a stunt, because I'd hate them to disappear. Maybe if it was a good enough stunt, they'll even get increased traffic. More importantly, maybe it'll help remind people how sad it would be if the site WAS gone.
The stunt worked, they got two front page /. articles about them. Of course, the downside is that they're now on my blacklist.
GOG has been gaining popularity and consumer visibility, ESPECIALLY in the past few months. Unless they were hit with a huge lawsuit or financial disaster, there would be no reason for them to close permanently.
Sincerely,
A not surprised (yet very relieved!) gamer
Living With a Nerd
It was all a demonstration of what inevitable happens to DRM media.
I only have 2 games from them, but this kind of weird drama does make me less likely to purchase anymore in the future. It just seemed super unprofessional compared to steam and impulse.
Essentially, they call their customers suckers after taking away access to the games they chose to pay GOG money for, then call them too sensitive for feeling pissed off by that ("We're sorry you were offended"), then say that taking money for games is no longer good enough, so everyone's just going to have to take, oh, let's say whatever we decide is good enough for you.
This certainly matches with the usual playbook of corporate non-apologies - smarmy, fake ingratiation, blame shifting their own words, all while asking for more control and resources.
Say what you want about Steam's DRM model - they don't have this level of open contempt for their customers (yet). I'd seriously reconsider any titles I had associated with these jokers if I were ever looking to publish.
Ryan Fenton
... this stunt was horrible and silly and an annoyance. I recently reinstalled my computer, and when I went to Gog.com to redownload Gabriel Knight I got that stupid "zomg we're closing down" message. It feels like something straight out the 1990s, when nobody expected any degree of seriousness from Internet companies - thanks for reminding us how WE SHOUDLN'T TRUST YOU in the future, that's great marketing.
So far as I can tell, nothing they said was untrue, people just read more into it.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
For 2 months the GOG forums have been rife with posts about how their birthday event better live up to expectations, or else (else is always ominously undefined). I think many customers were getting a little annoying. Living 2-3 days thinking GOG might be gone probably grounded a lot of these folks and imo it serves them right. I've purchased a ton of stuff from GOG and will continue to do so, since they're still offering the product that I want.
I was depressed when I saw the notice not because I wouldn't be able to redownload some games I'd lost in a hard drive crash but more because there's no other company like them. GOG folding would be essentially saying, "Okay, Steam wins." Steam sucks in my mind, if that's online game sales, count me out. I already feel marginalized for enjoying PC games (even if I do have a 360), I'd be left with only indie titles sans DRM on my PC. I like my indie titles but I also like some of the big releases and the classics.
I think there might have been a couple of behind the scenes reasons for doing this and all in all, it will benefit GOG in the longrun. It probably cost them some goodwill in the short term, but if the cost is low enough that's not de defacto a show stopper.
All the people who said they had failed was either reading a bad summary or didn't check it out for themselves.
Their temporary page had two things.
First, was, they "could not continue operating like this". Now, that can mean they're going out of business, or it can mean something else. The literal translation is, "change is happening". That change could be "this site is dead", or it could be "please wait for the new and improved GoG 2.0".
Secondly, they said "you will be able to download all your games on Wednesday". So something was happening today. If they were shutting down, it's a last-gasp download mania.
Fact is, they didn't say "GoG.com is now closed for business, we thank all our customers for the past 2 years". It's also sort of unprofessional, because it screws everyone who bought a game just before they shut down, but haven't downloaded it yet (which is a dick move).
Nobody would *seriously* be inconvenienced if Netflix locks out their video streaming for 6 days. Or if Microsoft kills their Xbox Live access for 6 days. Or if their email provider/ISP locks out SMTP/POP3/IMAP/Webmail for 6 days. Or if FexEx/UPS refused to deliver anything to them for 6 days.
Would you seriously consider using any of those in the future?
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
...is the negative reactions now.
"Huff! Puff! Well, *I* won't be buying form them again after *this* treatment! Harumph!" Seriously, people, do you have any idea how you sound? Like a curmudgeonly old fool. Oh, you are SO offended! And you know *someone* out there is thinking of suing because their fragile little selves were damaged.
My reaction was "Oh, shoot, I was going to go and get Syberia next week." and then "Oh, cool, I can still get Syberia." Any reaction more serious that that is a complete failure of your perspective matrix.
As for Syberia, hey, I played the updated Monkey Island and now have an urge to go play some of the point and click puzzlers I missed. Weclome back, GOG. :-)
If all the haters actually understood what GOG is, as individuals, as a company, and as a service, compared to Steam, say, you'd grok what they do and just learn to accept the admittedly amateurish publicity stunt and just be glad they're not gone.
Who else is doing what GOG does? Where else are you going to get DRM-free, XP/Vista/7 compatible, inexpensive, absolutely great classic titles legitimately and with such good service?
If you want them to be professional and compete with Steam, they're doomed. Steam has "slick" covered. But if GOG tries to find its own niche, they have a fighting chance. GOG has to be different to do what they do.
Honestly, I don't like much like the stunt, either, but I am glad it was a stunt and not the more expected bankruptcy.
I'll take honest amateurism over shiny, slicked down professionalism any day of the week.
Selah.ca. Pause, and calmly think on that.
They do more than that. They verify the games work without problems, using dosbox, under XP/Vista/7. They code and do actual porting on other titles because they have more than just dos games. They remove DRM where it exists. And they've gotten some great exclusives. They're honest (obvious by their amateurish behaviour), they have integrity, they're open and willing to communicate. Give them another shot. Their claim about porting applies to the X% of games they sell that can't run under DosBox and even some that too to fix bugs.
Selah.ca. Pause, and calmly think on that.
and I certainly won't start now. I'll stick with Steam, Valve doesn't have to stoop to such underhanded practices to gain popularity or even commercial viability. Never mind the fact that Steam will be around long after GOG is nothing but a footnote in gamer history.
This has got to be the most ignorant thing I've read in this thread. You do realize I'll be playing my games from GOG long after they're a "footnote in gamer history" whereas your Steam games will quit working soon after Valve goes tits-up, don't you? Playing offline will only work for so long before the Steam client demands a connection and there won't be any universal unlock forthcoming (I don't know why this myth even persists, it's ignorant in the extreme), they won't own their own assets when it happens and not a single person who could do it, supposing it's even possible, will be willing to go to prison to come through for you. GOG already came through for me, the games can be downloaded, backed up, and installed at will and only the downloading part even requires an internet connection.
Of course Valve/Steam doesn't even have to go down and out, you can lose your account and all your games on their whim. They've been nice so far but that doesn't mean it'll last forever. They're have certainly been wrongfully banned accounts in the past and the only "oops, our bad" I've heard from them involved 1000s of accounts. What happens when 5 accounts get wrongfully banned? They won't investigate and no one will care.
Enjoy Steam if you want, it may be a gilded cage but it's still a cage.