Happy DRM-free New Year!
There are 16 hours left on GOG’s big bundle sale.
It is worth reading through the original and yearly GOG threads (for those interested).
Here is the link to original GOG thread:
Here is the link to the GOG 2013 thread:
Have an interview (on Wired.co.uk, via Ars Technica) with GOG’s managing director:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/12/gogs-managing-director-gamer-resistance-to-drm-is-stronger-than-ever/
Nice bit from that interview: we are thinking of running an anti-sale next year [laughs], where, for a day, our entire catalog will be priced at 150 percent of original price with a big message splattered across our main page: PLAY THE ONES YOU OWN!
Good lord, no shit. He’s right there.
What ???
Is this the beginning of the end for GOG?
Fallout was the first game I got on GOG when it started…I think it was free initially.
[edit] …sorry, I see this was already covered in the 2013 thread. I missed it until today.
I’m worried. Will other publishers start to realize there’s value in their old titles now? Will GOG become like Netflix with games coming and going?
That’s not really a GOG thing, that’s a Fallout license thing. I honestly expect Bethesda will put Fallout 1 & 2 back out there, probably for free eventually.
It’s unclear if they’ll distribute through GOG, but either way it’s not a big deal for GOG.
As MrPerson alludes…no.
The situation with Fallout is unique. When GOG put it up originally, they licensed it from Interplay. Interplay sold the license to Fallout games to Bethesda after that. GOG’s contract allowed them to continue to sell the game, however, until the expiry of the contract. When that contract expired, all rights to sell those Fallout titles reverted to Bethesda.
Oops. Well, my apologies. Chalk it up to being too upset to actually read anything after seeing the notice…and my sloppiness.
Sounds ok. Is it truly unique? Did GOG buy the permanent rights to EA games like the Ultimas, or will EA come back one day to shut those down when a deal expires?
I guess I don’t really care for myself…I buy and download the games I want and I can keep them. I’m just thinking of GOG as a place to go for others who want good, old, DRM-free games.
Well, for what it’s worth I did buy Fallout from GOG and had it in my account, and I can still download it, so even though they aren’t offering it for sale anymore, they are still hosting it for the people who already own it, which is nice.
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I believe–but don’t quote me on this–that one of the things that GOG usually insist upon is persistence of purchase. Meaning that if you allow them to sell your game, even if something happens that causes that sale to expire, the original documentation allows them to continue to offer download persistence to those who have purchased it. There may have been some exceptions, but generally that’s the rule.
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If you got any of GOGs emails (they sent out a couple) regarding the Fallouts, you knew to go tag those games and “buy” them for free. If you did so, you may download them until GOG isn’t GOG. The same holds true for the overwhelming majority of titles they sell. If you waited until January 7th of 2014 to buy some 15-18 year old games…well, I dunno what to tell you.
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GOG actually provides a very nice service for a lot of game publishers regarding older, legacy titles. GOG’s footprint in the PC gaming strongholds of Europe and Russia is likely stronger than either UPlay or Origin. They offer a very hassle free way for UBI and EA to make money off legacy titles. EA knows full well that if they offered Ultimas on Origin, it wouldn’t drive new user signups. UBI knows this about their legacy titles as well. What will make or break Origin and Uplay as digital content delivery platforms is new titles like Battlefield, AC4 and stuff like that.
If you regret passing it up in the recent sales, Sang-Froid is $4.99
CMR 2005 is still available for download on my account. From what I remember, originally it and TOCA Race Driver 3 were going to be removed from accounts as well as the store, but they must have worked something out at the last minute.
Hole. Lee. Shit.
SpellForce 2: Demons of the Past is now available at GOG for $17.99, one of my all time favorite titles over the years, closest I could get to enjoying a RTS type game-http://www.gog.com/game/spellforce_2_demons_of_the_past.
That was one cool game back in its day.
Time to get our cryptography on! Great snag for GOG!
My initial reaction was one of excitement. Then I looked at some of the screenshots. I suspect this will be another Master of Magic, a game so ugly by modern standards it’s can no longer fully be appreciated.