Good Old Games - "Good New Games"

There's actually no such thing as Steam "selling at a loss." That's the secret weapon of the model. Aside from the costs of setting up a game for sale, the additional cost per sale is negligible - in the noise as far as they are concerned. It's really just a question of negotiating the price with the publishers.

I don't have any insight into how GOG.COM works, but I imagine it's pretty much the same way... They probably suggest the $6 or $10 price point to the publisher, and ask for carte blanche in offering sales.

And for the freebies --- well, traditionally, for a game that's just not gonna sell much anymore, I'd expect them to offer a flat fee for the right to give the game away. It's no longer useful as a direct revenue generator, but it still has value as a marketing device for GOG.COM.
 
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Jay, if GoG is going to sell new games then they might go indie as well. It might be a good thing that you couldn't get on Steam. Now you might be able to get onto GoG.

Classic games and indies.....now that is a company I'd buy from as much as possible.
 
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Warmark said:
GOG has always been the most trouble free digital download site for me and I always really liked their DRM free philosophy, basically they trust me and I trust them.
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Yep. The reason I love GOG is because it is a perfect example of my preferred business model. Hassle-free downloads of simple executables with no DRM and pdf manuals. That is what I like, that is what I want. So every new game that comes to GOG is a game I don't have to buy elsewhere, which is a great thing.
 
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DoctorNarrative said:
Yep. The reason I love GOG is because it is a perfect example of my preferred business model. Hassle-free downloads of simple executables with no DRM and pdf manuals. That is what I like, that is what I want. So every new game that comes to GOG is a game I don't have to buy elsewhere, which is a great thing.
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Same here. I love the GOG buying experience and love my stable of classic PC games. If I can add a few high-quality newer games to that (that are DRM-free) I don't see a down-side to this and a lot of potential up-side.
 
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I might actually start buying games from them when this goes into effect. I generally buy games when they are 1-2 years old. Right now I had no interest in playing anything on their catalog, they have lots of great games and I played them many years ago, but I have no interest in playing them anymore. With that being said, though, Steam might still win because of their frequent sales, which is when I have bought 90% of the game I buy for years now. So GoG will need to compete with Steam sales to get my money.
 
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I just counted the number of games I have obtained through GOG.COM. The official count is 89. That is A Lot. Much more than I've purchased through Steam.

Granted, some of these were freebies, and many if not most were purchased on sale over the years for Even More Ridiculously Cheap, but that is a LOT of freakin' games.

I wonder when I'll hit 100....
 
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The discussion about GoG vs. STEAM always reminds me of the discussion about if the mercy seat is better or lethal injection. Same goes for the debate about Origin vs. STEAM.

I don't trust any DD service in the long run. If one day only one of those services remains it will be like tv channels reduced to AMC or even worse NBC.

Remember these days. With every penny you pay these services you create a monster. You have been warned.

BTW: Buys on STEAM: 0. Buys on GoG: 0. Boxed copies bought: 400+
 
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Sir_Brennus said:
The discussion about GoG vs. STEAM always reminds me of the discussion about if the mercy seat is better or lethal injection. Same goes for the debate about Origin vs. STEAM.

I don't trust any DD service in the long run. If one day only one of those services remains it will be like tv channels reduced to AMC or even worse NBC.

Remember these days. With every penny you pay these services you create a monster. You have been warned.

BTW: Buys on STEAM: 0. Buys on GoG: 0. Boxed copies bought: 400+
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Given that when you buy on GOG, you can download and never visit GOG again, I think you are making a lot over nothing.
 
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I went to Best Buy last night - the PC game section had been reduced from a half-isle to two stands (and one of the two was all shovelware / casual). Boxed games are going the way of the dodo and vinyl records. I'm not thrilled about that - I have a giant collection of game boxes for favorite games I just can't bring myself to throw out (Ultima VI, the whole Wing Commander series, Wizardry 7, and many great and sundry etceteras). The boxes and the pack-ins are part of the history for me, and I love 'em. But I think those days are gone.

And yeah - GOG.COM is DRM-free, download-and-keep-game-forever. I like not having a monopoly on the digital distribution scene, too, so I patronize whomever offers me the best service. I get games from Steam, GOG.COM, Impulse (though not lately, since they have been bought by GameStop), and Desura. Because of Steam's DRM (and some other oddities that annoy me), Steam tends to be the "last resort" for me, but it's hard to say no to ludicrously cheap sales.
 
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Yeah, I used to really enjoy going to Best Buy, CompUSA Software Etc., Babbages (obviously many of those 'back in they day') and just pursuing the gaming isles. Now its half an isle, and the majority of the titles are just the big names that have been there for years.
 
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RampantCoyote said:
... Do they start including "mediocre old games" or "bad old games?" (Arguably, as they sell Master of Orion 3, they are already doing that…)
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Not to mention the M&M game we won't mention. *looks apprehensively in dte's general direction*

pibbur
 
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Do they have Fry's Electronics where you guys are at BlatantNinja and Rampant Coyote? You may need to start going to them. They have and probably will always have a huge selection of PC games. They can have many rows dedicated to just PC games because they are as big as Costco. Seriously huge freaking shop I love them :)

They might only be on the west coast though. I know they have a lot in California, one in Las Vegas and a few in Arizona, but not so sure about anywhere else.
 
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skavenhorde said:
Do they have Fry's Electronics where you guys are at BlatantNinja and Rampant Coyote? You may need to start going to them. They have and probably will always have a huge selection of PC games. They can have many rows dedicated to just PC games because they are as big as Costco. Seriously huge freaking shop I love them :)

They might only be on the west coast though. I know they have a lot in California, one in Las Vegas and a few in Arizona, but not so sure about anywhere else.
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Sadly, even Frys has succumbed to reduced inventory of PC games. In the Los Angeles area the PC games at Frys made up to 3 full long isles. Now it is just one long isle. Plus Frys used to have a lot of imported games (that was where I got Gothic 2) but now just the big sellers. Last time I was there they didn't even have Deus Ex HR.

Right now my retailer of choice is Target. The never had a large selection of game but it is the same amount of floor space they had 5 years ago. Plus Target seems to get all the brand new hot titles. And typically when you get a newly released game (AAA title) you get a 10 gift card. They did it for Deus Ex and for Skyrim.

In any event if adding new games keeps GOG viable then I wish them luck. But I still wanna see them working on adding Emperor of the Fading Suns.
 
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AHhh man that just fracken sucks. Every time I come to visit America (once every 2 or 3 years) Fry's Electronics is one of the first stops. Next are the Warhammer shops and after that I can finally sit down and visit. I love Fry's, but the last time I was there they had three rows dedicated to just PCs with imported games as well.

Guess it looks like it'll be online only pretty soon. Well in the states. Over here we still have a bunch of smaller software stores that carry a large assortment of games. She even imports the games I ask for. They're always busy as bees in that shop.
 
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skavenhorde said:
Do they have Fry's Electronics where you guys are at BlatantNinja and Rampant Coyote? You may need to start going to them. They have and probably will always have a huge selection of PC games. They can have many rows dedicated to just PC games because they are as big as Costco. Seriously huge freaking shop I love them :)

They might only be on the west coast though. I know they have a lot in California, one in Las Vegas and a few in Arizona, but not so sure about anywhere else.
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Curse you for even bringing up Fry's! That is one of the main things I miss about living in Texas. We do have MicroCenter, which is basically what the old CompUSA used to be, but its not nearly as good.
 
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Sorry about that. Great store. Kicks the everloving hell out of Best Buy and just about anyone else. Once Fry's goes down that's it for PC games because if they don't have the shelfspace then no one does.
 
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The Fry's in the valley has a VERY long aisle of PC games, and maybe half another aisle (especially if you include the Mac games). But they very rarely have any decent sales prices, and few real old games. Good for admiring, but not buying. :p
 
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blatantninja said:
Curse you for even bringing up Fry's! That is one of the main things I miss about living in Texas. We do have MicroCenter, which is basically what the old CompUSA used to be, but its not nearly as good.
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We have a MicroCenter here in MI, and I like it a lot. They have a surprisingly large selection of PC games, including older hard to find titles. They also have really good prices on CPUs, memory, etc.

Of course it's hard not to like them when their biggest competitor is Best Buy.
 
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Sir_Brennus said:
The discussion about GoG vs. STEAM always reminds me of the discussion about if the mercy seat is better or lethal injection. Same goes for the debate about Origin vs. STEAM.

I don't trust any DD service in the long run. If one day only one of those services remains it will be like tv channels reduced to AMC or even worse NBC.

Remember these days. With every penny you pay these services you create a monster. You have been warned.

BTW: Buys on STEAM: 0. Buys on GoG: 0. Boxed copies bought: 400+
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In my case, I don't have any optical drive in my laptop, so all software applications and games are strictly digital download.

I picked up a few pretty amazing big package deals on Steam over the past couple years, so I ended up with over 70 games, most of which I have not installed yet. I have about 10 games in my GOG library, also taking advantage of special sales deals. Most of the GOG games I have not downloaded either. I have one game on Origin - my free copy of ME2 that came with purchase of DA2.

I've purchased quite a few software apps via digital download, including expensive ones such as CS5 master collection, etc., and in my view buying games in this way is quite similar.
 
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Sir_Brennus said:
The discussion about GoG vs. STEAM always reminds me of the discussion about if the mercy seat is better or lethal injection. Same goes for the debate about Origin vs. STEAM.

I don't trust any DD service in the long run. If one day only one of those services remains it will be like tv channels reduced to AMC or even worse NBC.

Remember these days. With every penny you pay these services you create a monster. You have been warned.

BTW: Buys on STEAM: 0. Buys on GoG: 0. Boxed copies bought: 400+
Click to expand...

Must have missed this one. Like it or not, it has its place and is only going to be getting more popular in my opinion.

*However*, with regard to GOG, you download the installer to your PC and can archive it any way you see fit and have no need whatsoever to be connected to GOG ever again or even connected to the Internet in order to install said software. You buy it, download it and it's yours. It is no different from a boxed copy at that point except if you were to run your boxed copy through an industrial shredder, good luck getting a brick and mortar retailer to provide you a replacement copy for free.
 
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