And very abruptly too. One day it was business as usual complete with upcoming games, the next this appears:
Originally Posted by Good Old Games site
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
If there was anything you wanted to buy from there, tough luck. There's no closing down sale or anything, the store's already disabled. I can't even get on the site to download the games I own but don't currently have installed; will have to wait for that solution, whatever it turns out to be.
When they said on their forums that they had a big surprise coming for their second anniversary no one expected this.
Furunculus Maneuver: Adopt a highly logical position on a controversial subject where you cannot disagree with the merits of the proposal, only disagree with an opinion based on fundamental values. - Beskar
If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat
"Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur
Or it could be taken to read that someone wanted them to start using DRM and they refused, and because of that someone big didn't want anything to do with the site any more. I do wish they;d say something more, it's all so vague that we're left with no real idea to what to expect.
Gah! It's dawned on me that this is the second time I've narrowly missed out on I-War 2. When it first came out I wanted to play it very badly but it was only on shop shelves for a tiny window, so when I came to get it the game was impossible to find anywhere. No internet shopping back then. It went up on GoG; I was planning to pick it up soon, along with Freespace 2 which I also missed out on back in ye day, and boom, site dead.
That really blows. I went onto their forum yesterday and saw they were still trying to find a way to make their games Windows Seven-compatible.
What's worse, I bought a few games there that I never downloaded and was planning to get some more (Sanitarium, HoMM2, etc.)
Whatever has happened, I think closing down the website without giving a prior notice to customers is a poor move.
Edit: After thinking about it, this is nothing else than a complete **** move. They added new games to their catalogue two days ago, said they'd add more. A member of the team said something about windows 7 compatibility a few days ago, and they just shut down like this? It either have to be a joke, or a haxxorz. Anything else would be really, really disappointing.
... or, they were threatened out of the blue with legal action by a publisher and had no choice but to shut down abruptly. If they do open it up so you can download already-purchased games, this is the more likely case. I'm pretty curious to find out what prompted the closure.
If I werent playing games Id be killing small animals at a higher rate than I am now - SFTS
Si je n'étais pas jouer à des jeux que je serais mort de petits animaux à un taux plus élevé que je suis maintenant - Louis VI The Fat
"Why do you hate the extremely limited Spartan version of freedom?" - Lemur
A Neoseeker report includes an interesting comment:
Update: GOG's PR man Tom Ohle has responded, saying, "As the message on the site says, this doesn't mean GOG is gone. We'll have more to share in the coming days. No need to jump to conclusions :)"
Rumors are floating about this is actually a cleverly worded (and cruel) PR stunt for announcing the site going out of beta, which was due anytime now.
Yes, pieces are emerging on sites which, when put together, suggest that this is all nothing more than a stunt. Grrr!
According to translations from a Polish site CDProjekt has been brought by another company. They own GoG. GoG was one of the few profitable sections of their business so the new owners are not keen to close it or risk that profitability. Since that takeover CDProjekt's shares have doubled in value. Financial areas have been warned to ignore anything that appears on the GoG site for the next few days; one would assume this is to protect share value before the big reveal.
Recently there have been hints on GoG's own forums etc that something big was about to arrive, something cast as good news. Most assumed they would exit beta, or had signed a big publisher. They were still behaving like a company which knows it has a future.
There's a big announcement coming at a conference too. It's hinted it is linked to GoG.
Finally, there's the comments like the one quoted above where people 'in the know' are suggesting that something will continue, just in a different form.
Strange situation. I don't know which angers me more - losing the site, or this being a stunt. If it's a stunt it is likely to backfire; a lot of people may well decide that they don't want further dealings with GoG since they toy with their customers like this. If they're introducing DRM of some sort and hoped that this would disarm the disappointment (i.e. people would be so pleased the site survived that they would accept whatever 'terms' were necessary) then they are crazy! Far better to announce "Well, our parent company has been taken over and our new owners want DRM. Sorry, guys, we tried but our hands were forced."
If any of this is true then they've taken down the store - and blocked people's access to the games they do own - to save their servers from being hammered by panicking customers. Thinking of saving their costs rather than preventing panic.
Scummy. And from a company which otherwise has a great reputation of treating customers well.
As long as nothing stops you guys from being annoyed anyway, everything is fine, right?
I'll just wait and see, haven't bought all that much from them but I'd grant them a PR stunt, the whole thing about introducing DRM seems like nothing more than speculation, the site is down now and how it continues we will see, I'm certainly not going to get annoyed prematurely. Going out of beta doesn't seem like a big thing if all it does is remove the word "beta" from the site logo...
... or, they were threatened out of the blue with legal action by a publisher and had no choice but to shut down abruptly. If they do open it up so you can download already-purchased games, this is the more likely case. I'm pretty curious to find out what prompted the closure.
Yeah, exactly like you know, when some company suddenly decides to close down and the workers arrive in the morning only to find the gates closed and their working tools missing? It usually causes some rightful outrage. Same situation here in my opinion.
Whether it is true or a PR stunt (which seems more and more likely as new comments from people-in-the-know appear), it was a stupid move. There's no excuse really. I'm not mad, because I only have like two games from them, but still I liked what they did and thought it was a cool company. Until now that is.
A Neoseeker report includes an interesting comment:
You need some serious to close down your store, block access to games people bought (and rightfully own) then tell people not to jump to conclusions. I've never done business with GoG before but if this is some kind of PR stunt I never will.
Since some of you are probably too annoyed by the mere existance of Facebook to ever get close to it, here is what they posted there:
The official statement from GOG.com's management about the whole situation will be announced
soon. We'll have more details about this tomorrow.
I'd say innocent until proven guilty, if this annoys you, my advice is to never buy something digital via download ever, if you do there's always a risk that the site may vanish for a day or two or even forever. And if being able to download things you bought again and again then I'd say avoid the iTunes music and movie (not app) store like the plague. Then again if some brick and mortar store goes bankrupt I wouldn't expect them to give any warranty if your stuff breaks either.
And I haven't seen scores of protesters in front of stores that are renovating either, ok, GOG just offer a cryptic message, but people getting annoyed after only a few hours seems over the top to me. I'm not even a big GOG fan but I don't think they deserve that much criticism yet.
Since some of you are probably too annoyed by the mere existance of Facebook to ever get close to it, here is what they posted there:
I'd say innocent until proven guilty, if this annoys you, my advice is to never buy something digital via download ever, if you do there's always a risk that the site may vanish for a day or two or even forever. And if being able to download things you bought again and again then I'd say avoid the iTunes music and movie (not app) store like the plague. Then again if some brick and mortar store goes bankrupt I wouldn't expect them to give any warranty if your stuff breaks either.
And I haven't seen scores of protesters in front of stores that are renovating either, ok, GOG just offer a cryptic message, but people getting annoyed after only a few hours seems over the top to me. I'm not even a big GOG fan but I don't think they deserve that much criticism yet.
They most certainly do deserve the criticism. The store analogy doesn't hold up since a store does not provide you with a service you're using constantly. You go there and you leave, if it's closed you can go somewhere else that day. GoG in this instance is more like an ISP who is experiencing unexpected outages. GoG provides a service to their customers which they've cut off with no prior notification or warning. Whatever their intention, they hold an obligation to warn people of the upcoming outage lest they face angry and concerned criticisms. How have they responded? With cryptic words and no shown interest in clarifying the matter at this time.
The same thing happens around here when the internet goes down unexpectedly, even if it's for a day or two, it causes concern on the customer's part due to how sudden the service was interrupted. I can completely understand anyone who is angry at the way GoG is handling the situation.
Also, in the case of Steam, they already said they would have all games unlocked and free to download with plenty of time in advance.
But since Steam pretty much is so in profit it is as if money grew on trees anyway. They won't be 'closing' for a long time.
Gamersgate and Impulse might though.
Days since the Apocalypse began
"We are living in space-age times but there's too many of us thinking with stone-age minds" | How to spot a Humanist
"Men of Quality do not fear Equality." | "Belief doesn't change facts. Facts, if you are reasonable, should change your beliefs."
I don't think I'll ever use GOG now. What a foolish stunt.
CR
Ja Mata, Tosa.
The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England cannot enter – all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement! - William Pitt the Elder
"Whether we could keep gog.com the way it is"
"Cannot remain in its current form"
AKA, they just trolled us.
And according to their twitter...
As stated on www.gog.com everyone who bought their games will be able to redownload them.This option will be available in the upcoming week. 16 minutes ago via web
Last edited by Martok; 09-22-2010 at 22:39.
Reason: No nation-bashing please.
They most certainly do deserve the criticism. The store analogy doesn't hold up since a store does not provide you with a service you're using constantly. You go there and you leave, if it's closed you can go somewhere else that day. GoG in this instance is more like an ISP who is experiencing unexpected outages. GoG provides a service to their customers which they've cut off with no prior notification or warning. Whatever their intention, they hold an obligation to warn people of the upcoming outage lest they face angry and concerned criticisms. How have they responded? With cryptic words and no shown interest in clarifying the matter at this time.
The same thing happens around here when the internet goes down unexpectedly, even if it's for a day or two, it causes concern on the customer's part due to how sudden the service was interrupted. I can completely understand anyone who is angry at the way GoG is handling the situation.
How is the GOG service any more constant than that of any other download service or forum? Once you have downloaded your games you don't need the site for them to work, contrary to the newest UbiSoft games for example. You can just go to Gamersgate or amazon and buy your games from there, it's even easier than walking to another store. If your ISP goes down, you have no access to the internet but if GOG goes down you can still play your games. If you didn't save them, how about a little patience since they said from the start that they're working on a solution to let you get them again? Patience is a virtue.
If it was a publicity stunt, then I don't see why you would stop dealing with them in the future? Since a stunt is not a closure, how can you think they would do another stunt when they really close down? Is there some hidden law that says companies pull publicity stunts when they go bankrupt?
I'm not saying it's a good stunt, it was a bad choice, but we aren't even sure that it's a stunt at all and what the reasons for this sudden closure are, I'd give them a day or two to clarify things before I get enraged about some hearsay and cryptic comments.
How is the GOG service any more constant than that of any other download service or forum? Once you have downloaded your games you don't need the site for them to work, contrary to the newest UbiSoft games for example. You can just go to Gamersgate or amazon and buy your games from there, it's even easier than walking to another store. If your ISP goes down, you have no access to the internet but if GOG goes down you can still play your games. If you didn't save them, how about a little patience since they said from the start that they're working on a solution to let you get them again? Patience is a virtue.
If I pay to have the right to download something from them then i expect to be able to access it when I have the desire to play it, especially since I don't keep a lot of games installed at any one time. As i've said, they have an obligation then to inform their customers when this service will not be online. It's just good business practice. They didn't provide this, they pulled the plug without a warning - and the reaction hasn't been surprising. Is it too much to ask that after you pay for something, you expect to be told when you can't access it ahead of time?
If it was a publicity stunt, then I don't see why you would stop dealing with them in the future? Since a stunt is not a closure, how can you think they would do another stunt when they really close down? Is there some hidden law that says companies pull publicity stunts when they go bankrupt?
I'm not saying it's a good stunt, it was a bad choice, but we aren't even sure that it's a stunt at all and what the reasons for this sudden closure are, I'd give them a day or two to clarify things before I get enraged about some hearsay and cryptic comments.
I stated that if it was indeed a stunt then there's no way I could see myself ever using that service. Why would I ever openly give money to people who go out of their way to do this kinda PR? If it wasn't, then it still manages to reflect badly on them by the way they've dealt with inquiries. Being incredibly vague and telling people "don't jump to conclusions" while blocking download access to the games they bought is not how you keep the trust of your customers.
I understand what you're saying, i just really don't like this at all. It feels like a huge thing to do.
I can't even get on the site to download the games I own but don't currently have installed; will have to wait for that solution, whatever it turns out to be.
Originally Posted by Meneldil
What's worse, I bought a few games there that I never downloaded.
Originally Posted by Monk
If I pay to have the right to download something from them then i expect to be able to access it when I have the desire to play it, especially since I don't keep a lot of games installed at any one time.
This is why I prefer the feel of good solid optical media in my hands.
Some piously affirm: "The truth is such and such. I know! I see!"
And hold that everything depends upon having the “right” religion.
But when one really knows, one has no need of religion. - Mahavyuha Sutra
It's the way there's no certainty and they're not even trying to provide any, and instead are deliberately trying to muddy the waters. If they plainly posted it's a revamp or whatever then fine, no problem. Just say so. If it's dead, then ok, just say so. Stop it with the hints that it's not. If they're being taken over, fine, just tell us. If they can't tell us then don't say anything until they can. If there's legal issues, just say so already. One way or another, GoG need to tell their customers - many of whom can be described as fans - what's what.
At this point everything is pointed to it being a stunt. Their own PR people are reinforcing that by spreading variations on the positively phrased "wait and see" message around the internet. If your company is dead you don't do that. If you're being sued you don't do that.
People who like what GoG do are naturally going to be very upset at the prospect of the whole thing going down. No where does the same thing GoG does. If they go then that's it, no real alternative. For anyone with an interest in legal and hassle free versions of older PC games the loss of GoG is the worst thing that can happen. For anyone with an interest in DRM free games, it's a terrible thing to happen. It's not a customer considerate move for a company to purposefully go out and tell its core audience the dream is dead only so they can turn around and say "Haha! Fooled you!"
It's like one of those hideous, scummy TV shows where they do prank phonecalls and tell people that they've lost their job, or that a relative is dead, or whatever, so they can film someone getting upset and play it for the amusement of callous idiots.
As far as access to the games go, I'm more irked by the ones I wanted but didn't buy. The ones I don't have on my PC are the ones I am less bothered about. I-War 2, missed again! Gah!
If they aren't dead then they've done themselves some serious harm. How many people will want to do business with a company which thinks deliberately upsetting its customers is a good idea? Never mind all the questions about access, reliablity etc which have now been raised.
Not sure what's going on here, but as long as the company stays alive I'm happy. I can understand people being mad though, no one ever made their supporters happy by faking their own death.
They'll show up with a big promotion as soon as the revamp is finished and we'll all remember it as a tasteless stunt, with no hard feelings at all after then.
They'll show up with a big promotion as soon as the revamp is finished and we'll all remember it as a tasteless stunt, with no hard feelings at all after then.
I have to agree here. Even though this whole thing is silly, I'll keep buying games on their store if it reopens. Simply because there's no other place to do it.
There's now a little more information out there about what's going on, some of it confusing and/or contradictory.
First, GOG itself has posted an additional announcement on their website:
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.
There's also a short update in BitTech's original article on the subject:
UPDATE: CD Projekt's official position is that it will have more to say later today. The publisher has also confirmed that Good Old Games has not been totally shut down and that work is on-going.
In addition, according to one Polish site, it isn't shutting down at all. It sounds like perhaps the site's owners have been purchased by another company. One of GOG's developers, Michał Kamiński, posted the following message on Banker.pl:
Uwaga, data konferencji to pewnie 22gi sroda wczesnym wieczorem. Informacja o tym wkrotce na GOG.com (prosze nie robic paniki po przeczytaniu informacji tam umieszczonych:). Prosze pamietac, ze to konferencja on-line, pierwszy raz w taki sposob organizowana:)
Praktycznie zamknelismy kalendarz konferencji i oficjalne info wyslemy o tym w pon-wt.
In English, it apparently translates approximately as this:
Warning, date of conference it’s most likely Wednesday 22nd in the evening. Information about this soon on GOG.com (don’t panic after reading information posted there:). Please remember that it’s an online conference, organized for the first time:)
We practically closed our conference calendar and official info will be sent on monday, tuesday.
Related to this possible buyout, someone (source unknown) posted this at NeoGaf (warning: f-bomb):
This'll be my last post here as frankly, you guys are all obsessed with the idea of this being a stunt that you can't see how up this situation really is.
I'll post this again, as the trading value (Market Cap) has been ignored (even by me) up until now. According to this, Optimus (Who own CDP I can say with utmost certainty now), have a market value of less than $6million. Even with the recent lift in their share price this company is utterly worthless. The reason? Before they bought CDP, Optimus racked up some serious debt, and took on even more to buy CDP, this has left them in a major hole financially.
As stated above, last week Optimus sold 3.5million shares and has tried to re-jig the company to transfer their debt to something less unstable, this has triggered an EGM (For this Wednesday) which on it's own, would be unexciting. However, someone appears to have bought all the shares in one block and are using their new power to force Optimus to change their company strategy. This investor is at the moment, unknown but will be revealed at the company EGM.
My opinion is that this mystery investor has called for GOG to be totally changed, possibly to have DRM introduced and to change their business model completely. This leads me to believe the investor is a publisher, but I am not sure who, but there are signs that MAY be pointing to Atari SA, CD Projekt's long term publisher partner in Europe.
So, yeah.
I won't even pretend to to have more than a vague understanding of what's been happening, but it sounds like maybe more is going on than any of us have guessed.
Or not. Maybe it really is just an incredibly stupid PR stunt. Supposedly, we'll know either way in the next couple days, as more info will apparently be revealed tomorrow and/or Wednesday.
Last edited by Martok; 09-21-2010 at 02:15.
Reason: grammar fix
According to GoG.com’s twitter account, the DRM-free functionality of GOG is causing hassles with publishers. This is curious since last week, they secured the license to distribute the Age of Wonders series. So someone big must have kicked up a fuss about the DRM situation.
Now this is where things get interesting. Optimus S.A, the company that merged with CD Projekt in 2009 (the company that made The Witcher) and subsequently GOG.com, has scheduled an extraordinary general meeting for this coming Wednesday. This was after it was confirmed that approximately 5.5% of the company will be sold to a unnamed private investor. This naturally sparked concerns regarding a possible takeover, however that is very unlikely since 5.5% isn’t enough to secure control of the company on its own. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be verified since I could not find an accurate list of current shareholders. All the Polish websites produced conflicting information regarding who controlled what percentage of the company. Optimus S.A’s corporate website detailed the two co-founders of CD Projekt as the primary shareholders with an equal 20% each, while a Polish financial site listed another bloke as a holder of around 50%, which is ridiculously unlikely.
Either way, 5.5% is not enough to takeover the company unless one of the co-founders with 20% is trying to screw the other one. And if the claim of someone owning 50% is accurate, then 5.5% is a drop in the ocean.
So, a take over is unlikely. Also, reading through the draft agreement of the EGM didn’t show any mentions of a takeover or change in ownership or control.
Optimus S.A posted a profit for the first half of this year, in contrast to the loss they posted last year. GOG.com is a good, constant revenue source, so closing it down in the wake of a take over is an illogical business decision since its a valid revenue stream that has little or nothing to do with its parent company. I would say 99.9% of GOG users even know its owned by CD Projekt, let alone Optimus S.A.
The only way it would make sense is if a competitor tried to get GOG through a take over, but which publisher would try to take over a multi-million holding company to get hold of one of their smaller revenue streams? Considering the cost to buy of a company, deal with the additional administration, restructure/re-appropriate staff, etc, it would be crazy to go through all that for a part of the revenue stream that you could just purchase straight up from the holding company. It doesn’t quite make sense.
Furthermore, the stock price of Optimus S.A shot up 9.5% on Friday, so something is definitely afoot there.
The following quote comes for the Polish financial site Bankier, translated by Google, so please excuse the broken English:
“The aim of the negotiation and conclusion by Optimus investment agreement was to acquire funding for projects within the group Optimus in connection with the planned development, a significant reduction in debt of the company to shareholders, to improve the group’s balance sheet structure and the possession of Optimus among akcjonariuszy Optimus professional instytucji Financial – the report says the company.
That could be construed as a very cookie cutter response from the company, so I’m not sure how much truth is contained in it. The only way we will be sure whats happening at the parent company is when the report of the EGM this Wednesday is released.
Naturally, this could just be GOG.com ending the beta through a bizarre marketing stunt, and the full release pops up soon, but the fact that there is some much happening at the parent company surely cannot be a simple coincidence.
Stay tuned for updates on the fate of this truly brilliant platform.
It's still hard to tell what exactly this all means. So was GOG ordered to suddenly shut down without warning because a publisher had problems with their no-DRM policy? Are they being bought out by someone else? Is it just a stunt after all, and/or is the site merely ready to leave beta?
Can't say any of this looks favorable. I expected some kind of answer by the time today was over, but the waters have only managed to become muddier and muddier. The signals being sent by pretty much everyone involved are confusing and mixed. I guess we'll know more Wednesday?
Good Old Games is dead
Originally Posted by Good Old Games site
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to close down your store, block access to games people bought (and rightfully own) then tell people not to jump to conclusions. I've never done business with GoG before but if this is some kind of PR stunt I never will.
#Hillary4prism 
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