GOG.com just closed down - Publicity Stunt - Close Thread

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It's Talk Like A Pirate Day, anything goes. I got an auto-update notification from Avast anti-virus today, and one of the update features is that you can turn on "pirate speak" as a separate language to celebrate TLaPD.
 
[quote name='mbstuff']Mother Shaq-Fu, I've got a dozen games purchased but not downloaded from GOG.[/QUOTE]

Like they said, they'll offer the ability for everyone to download any games they've already bought by the end of the week.
 
This looks to be a beyond stupid PR stunt - saw this on a number of gaming news sites now.
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 :)"
Click to expand...
Hearing talk now that GOG is coming back, but may be throwing DRM all over everything. Also hearing news everything will be made clear by Wednesday.

Who fucking knows. DD sites live and die based on consumer confidence, and this move doesn't inspire me with a lot of that right now.
 
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[quote name='animalspinners']Who fucking knows. DD sites live and die based on consumer confidence, and this move doesn't inspire me with a lot of that right now.[/QUOTE]

IDK man, clever PR stunt or not, they rectified it within a couple hours. Maybe they thought everyone had forgotten about the site and needed a wake up call :roll: I don't know if this is enough to keep me away for good. Pretty crazy though.
 
Luckily I have all my games backed up in like 3 locations. If they do come back, I will never buy from them again though because of this stupid shit.
 
[quote name='animalspinners']This looks to be a beyond stupid PR stunt - saw this on a number of gaming news sites now.Hearing talk now that GOG is coming back, but may be throwing DRM all over everything. Also hearing news everything will be made clear by Wednesday.

Who fucking knows. DD sites live and die based on consumer confidence, and this move doesn't inspire me with a lot of that right now.[/QUOTE]

If they throw DRM over everything, I won't buy from them again-- it defeats the entire purpose of the site.
 
[quote name='JP']Luckily I have all my games backed up in like 3 locations. If they do come back, I will never buy from them again though because of this stupid shit.[/QUOTE]

Not only do I not believe you, I'd like to know why. What exactly about their service and prices have been affected by some marketing giggles? I keep seeing people claiming they are done with GOG, but I imagine the next big release on the site changes a lot of minds.

The vague wording, no notice, and Sunday release all point to this being something other than a totally random shutdown. I mean, what would be the harm in posting a message on the main site saying "yeah, you have a week to get your stuff" if it was legit? Everyone jumped to conclusions despite no explicit mention of permanent shut down, and then get their undies in a bunch because they were wrong.
 
You can believe what you want, but I have quit shopping at online and B&M stores for far less stupidity. It wouldn't take much work for them to be more explanatory in their message. It seems they have gone out of their way to make it vague and bring out nerd rage just to get attention.
 
[quote name='PublikDefender']And this is why I have never and will never buy anything from steam. [/QUOTE]

But you'll buy from PSN?
 
Definitely an inconvenience for people who just bought something and were about to download before it went down. They could have at least issued a warning beforehand.
 
[quote name='JP'] It wouldn't take much work for them to be more explanatory in their message. It seems they have gone out of their way to make it vague and bring out nerd rage just to get attention.[/QUOTE]

I agree with you on this. They are looking for attention and a simple posting on their forums explaining what was going to happen wouldn't do this. I won't rule out buying anything from them again. But doing this was totally un-professional and a shitty thing to do to their customers. And if they do happen to add drm to their games, then I won't be getting anything else from them.
 
[quote name='radioactivez0r']The vague wording, no notice, and Sunday release all point to this being something other than a totally random shutdown. I mean, what would be the harm in posting a message on the main site saying "yeah, you have a week to get your stuff" if it was legit? Everyone jumped to conclusions despite no explicit mention of permanent shut down, and then get their undies in a bunch because they were wrong.[/QUOTE]

I don't know what's vague about "we're closing down the service."

So you were too clever to be duped? You're saying that your immediate reaction to this letter was either something's fishy about this or I can draw no conclusions from this vaguely worded message? If so, I commend you for your uncanny shrewdness. Or are you just hearing about this situation now and benefiting from 20/20 hindsight?
 
This completely sucks ass. I agree with others that if I had known, at least I would have grabbed a bunch more games. Man, that sale is gone too. This just really sucks. I was really looking forward to when they were apparently offering console games too :whistle2:/
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']This completely sucks ass. I agree with others that if I had known, at least I would have grabbed a bunch more games. Man, that sale is gone too. This just really sucks. I was really looking forward to when they were apparently offering console games too :whistle2:/[/QUOTE]

Yea, nothing about this makes sense.

Why even have a Codemasters sale this weekend? What was the point of sending me that email yesterday telling me the sale was going to go on until the end of today?

I think something bigger is happening here, to be honest.
 
This is bringing the site a ton of attention.. but I think he's going to end up losing more customers than anything else.
 
[quote name='Scorch']This is bringing the site a ton of attention.. but I think he's going to end up losing more customers than anything else.[/QUOTE]

Nah, I think they're only going to lose the whiny ones who probably never bought a whole lot from the site to begin with. Yeah it was a cruel joke, but I think it's silly to refuse to buy anything from them ever again over this. Now if that rumor that DRM is being added is true, well...I can definitely see quite a few people stop shopping for games there.
 
Well fuck I was about to go buy a couple of the games that were on sale this weekend and I saw that message. Dam I really hope this is a PR stunt cause GoG was THE BEST of all the digital distributors in my book.
 
[quote name='Nesrie']You're dreaming if you think that tomorrow Steam closes its door, you'll somehow magically have access to those games forever. Keep drinking the kool-aid though.[/QUOTE]

If you've backed up your Steam games then yes you will have access to the files on your computer.
 
hmm something is fishy.

Kinda blows if they are going to back out of the business... and lame on the publishers to force DRM.
 
The wording is definitely strange on their website statement. You could almost read it as they are coming back with a new version of the website or something. However, "We're closing down this service" seems to be pretty explicit unless they are just being coy.
 
I bought plenty of games from the website (and there were still more that I wanted to buy). I can't tell if this is a marketing ploy or what, but I'm not liking it at all.
 
[quote name='BMXJouster']Nah, I think they're only going to lose the whiny ones who probably never bought a whole lot from the site to begin with. Yeah it was a cruel joke, but I think it's silly to refuse to buy anything from them ever again over this. Now if that rumor that DRM is being added is true, well...I can definitely see quite a few people stop shopping for games there.[/QUOTE]

And you're basing this off of...what, exactly? A lot of the people that bought games from GOG did so specifically BECAUSE they were DRM-free. If that vanishes and it turns out that I either have to put up with a new client or a new kind of DRM to use their games, then I probably won't bother.

The only reason I use Steam now as it is is because I think they've pushed themselves into "highly unlikely to fail" territory - if they can sell so many copies of a game like Prey or Company of Heroes that they run out of licenses, that service is probably safe for the near future.

If this is a marketing stunt to be followed by an inferior relaunch, I'm done with the site (though I really doubt that ANY PR people are dumb enough to think that this would somehow increase business). If not, then we just lost a damn good thing. Either way, the customers lose.
 
[quote name='Logain8955']And the award for "Worst Marketing Idea of the Year" goes to....[/QUOTE]

Try not to give out any awards before the second-hand speculation is actually confirmed.
 
[quote name='Brian9824']If you've backed up your Steam games then yes you will have access to the files on your computer.[/QUOTE]

Civ V's street date has been broken. Any guesses as to why people with full copies of the game on the disc are unable to actually play the game, singleplayer, now?
 
I'm confused why everyone keeps calling this a marking stunt? Wishful thinking? I mean it seems pretty explicit to me. Does sound like they believe in the IDEA and would want to be able to do it, and might not be ruling it out in the future, but seems pretty explicit they're shutting down.

But GEEZ do I wish they could have given us say a two week notice to buy all the random junk we wanted! Among others, I kind of wanted the two Serous Sam games-lots of strategy type titles too. My huge backlog meant I didn't jump on them right away. *sigh* oh well :(

[quote name='Brian9824']If you've backed up your Steam games then yes you will have access to the files on your computer.[/QUOTE]

Not if Steam goes away. Having the files then is totally worthless. Everything I bought from Gog is safe and sound right here on my backup drive. Heck, this is EXACTLY why I want to be able to actually BUY my games and not rent with activation crap.
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']I'm confused why everyone keeps calling this a marking stunt? Wishful thinking? I mean it seems pretty explicit to me. Does sound like they believe in the IDEA and would want to be able to do it, and might not be ruling it out in the future, but seems pretty explicit they're shutting down..[/QUOTE]

People are guessing it's a marketing stunt because the PR person for GOG went around to places like Kotaku and Destructoid and said something along the lines of "Hey guys! Don't jump to conclusions! :) " People assume that now it's some kind of stunt, but the twitter messages are taking a much more serious tone, so who knows.

It's in the OP, I'm cataloging everything there. I want to make sure people have a chance to get all their games as soon as they can.
 
I bought a few cheap games when gog.com launched, but never went back after that since most of the old games didn't appeal to me and the prices weren't low enough.

There's probably not much of a market for these super old games, so I'd imagine they'll be relaunching the site with a new domain name and a broader approach, something more similar to Steam or any of their other similar services. Considering they already built the infrastructure, it would be foolish not to.
 
i got arcanum and vampire, backed them both up on discs. i personally think it's a stunt to get media attention and more traffic. i usually get STEAM and D2D since they are the biggest in digital download. steam is valve and D2D is IGN and IGN is FOX.
 
Son of a....

Where was the warning here? I mean really? I would have backed up my games at least, I loved the site and bout several game on it.

Well this is just....I don't know, I really have no words for it.
 
[quote name='JokerWild']Where was the warning here? I mean really? I would have backed up my games at least, I loved the site and bout several game on it.[/QUOTE]

Please read: "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."

That "solution" being the new non-beta version of the site.
 
[quote name='CoffeeEdge']
That "solution" being the new non-beta version of the site.[/QUOTE]

Or the gog team laughing at us for buying from them.
 
[quote name='animalspinners']People are guessing it's a marketing stunt because the PR person for GOG went around to places like Kotaku and Destructoid and said something along the lines of "Hey guys! Don't jump to conclusions! :) " People assume that now it's some kind of stunt, but the twitter messages are taking a much more serious tone, so who knows.

It's in the OP, I'm cataloging everything there. I want to make sure people have a chance to get all their games as soon as they can.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the explanation and your work! Needless to say that's weird, given it sounds pretty explicitly :whistle2:/

I'd love if it were just some stunt gone amock (like "hey, we're back, but now we have console games too plus first run PC games for retail prices-we're a direct Steam competitor but no DRM!") which would be the coolest thing ever, but I don't believe it :(
 
[quote name='CoffeeEdge']Please read: "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."

That "solution" being the new non-beta version of the site.[/QUOTE]

Hmmm.... yes we shall see for now, but to quote "Words, Words, Words"

After reading more I feel they will probably be back, at least the news services think they will be. However, even if they return, will the games we have purchased be there in the same fashion, drm free? What about the extras? So until I see these things their promises are the promises of who..... I mean we will see.
 
I only bought a few games from GOG cause I already owned a lot of them... buy there are games I did buy that I didn't own, for example, Divine Divinity and some others. It's sad. :(
 
I seriously doubt its just a joke as many are speculating. Everything sounds like this is a temp shutdown while new management screws with the way things are run. All I care about is grabbing the games I bought last week. If they make a comeback thats good, joke or not, as long as they don't stick DRM into their crap. If so, then may as well just use Steam. Guess we will know for sure tomorrow.
 
[quote name='Xealot42']I hope this isn't a publicity stunt for them taking GOG out of beta. That would be a bit misleading.[/QUOTE]

So, what, you'd rather they really be gone?
 
[quote name='CoffeeEdge']So, what, you'd rather they really be gone?[/QUOTE]

No, but if all they're really doing is moving their WEBSITE from beta, why not just put a maintenance message instead of this nonsense?
 
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