[Art Teitlebaum]

Fuck, this is a sad day for me and all retro fans. Hopefully there will be some sort of replacement.

[Joseph Merrick]

This is just unreal....people were mid-forum post...mid-download...hell even mid-purchase then ZAP! I am absolutely livid...utterly damned livid. Never, NEVER could I have imagined such a sudden a turn of events as this. Hell, even logistics wise, how in the world would it have not been a better idea to do a fire sale type thing beforehand or at least a good chunk of time for everybody to hammer back on their downloads before the cutoff?! This this...this.....AGGH

hehe what's the game you didn't have time to download? tell us her name

[graywolf323]

This sucks for them. It also sucks for me because I have a decent size amount of games owned on their site. Even if they put up the site for a week, it's gonna be tough to download all these games within the time frame (not to mention the servers will be hammered so everything will be slooooooooooow). Plus all the hard drive space it's going to eat up having them around. At the end of the day this reinforces my belief that no matter how sweet the deals are, you should never buy any PC DD unless it's on Steam.

yeah I think I'm going to need to go buy a new external because of this... ugh

[Tony Rocky Horror]

Fucking hell.. Now that I think of it.. Since this news comes very suddenly (for me at least), wouldn't it be wise to backup EVERYTHING I ever bought online?

What is my Steam library of 100+ games suddenly is gone one day. Damn, even thinking about it makes me sad.. D:

[androvsky]

no, there are a bunch of small 'new owner' publishers for a lot of the old ips on there.

Then the notion of a publisher or two suddenly pulling out makes even less sense. Even if 75% of their games were suddenly unavailable, surely they'd be able to shut down in a more reasonable manner.

[Mr. B]

Best service I never used. They had a lot of things going for them. DRM free, personally making sure their games work on modern OSs. Guess publishers didn't care for either of those.

Pourin' one out

[Drkirby]

Maybe, but why would you pull instantaneously instead of waiting for final sales? Just seems really weird the abruptness of all of this.

Well, if any new DD service or large influx of games to a current one happens in the next week or two, we can have a clue of what happened.

[Kilrogg]

Damn. I've never bought anything on GOG for lack of money, but this was one of the few sites I intended to use once that was solved. Almost bought Heroes of Might and Magic III once. Hopefully someone will pick up the torch by the time I have a steady income.

[vazel]

The gaming industry keeps reinforcing every day to me that they hate money

Yea because you and a million other people were buying from them regularly, right?

[Joseph Merrick]

This sucks for them. It also sucks for me because I have a decent size amount of games owned on their site. Even if they put up the site for a week, it's gonna be tough to download all these games within the time frame (not to mention the servers will be hammered so everything will be slooooooooooow). Plus all the hard drive space it's going to eat up having them around. At the end of the day this reinforces my belief that no matter how sweet the deals are, you should never buy any PC DD unless it's on Steam.

it's not that bad. I've got 300 games on there. the installers are only 191gigs :)

Fucking hell.. Now that I think of it.. Since this news comes very suddenly (for me at least), wouldn't it be wise to backup EVERYTHING I ever bought online? What is my Steam library of 100+ games suddenly is gone one day. Damn, even thinking about it makes me sad.. D:

hehe even with backups if those are newer games they're going to be completely worthless still without a decrypter for the archive files. a lot of the older games you can just apply good old cd cracks on top of the exe files though. but yeah I've got all my online purchases backed up to hdd, it's the only way (y)

[charlequin]

Maybe, but why would you pull instantaneously instead of waiting for final sales?

They might not have been allowed to sell whatever games got pulled from the service, effective immediately.

Seems unlikely they all pulled out at once

I don't mean lots of publishers pulled out literally at once, I mean that in likelihood one major publisher pulled out, they knew others would follow soon thereafter, and they shuttered the place rather than pull down some huge portion of their titles immediately and have to suffer a randomly dwindling title lineup as others pulled out.

[lowlylowlycook]

GoG is gone.
GFWL lives.
Still believe in God?

[Freakinchair]

Why didn't they announce that they were shutting down beforehand? They could have gotten a shitload of sales before they closed for good. I probably wouldve bought a good number of games if I had known.

[Tony Rocky Horror]

GoG is gone. GFWL lives. Still believe in God?

:(

[Erasus]

How did this happen? And so sudden!?

This is making me real scared about all my Direct2Drive, Gamersgate and STEAM games...

[Rollo Tomasi]

Neoseeker.com: Okay, so first, how did you pull this one off? Codemasters, Ubisoft...these were quite big, rather unexpected deals. But Activision are surely the last frontier, really -- the last publisher anyone expected to sign on. They're known for charging more on PC games, using DRM, and going the very corporate approach in general. What happened? How long have you been trying to get this deal going? What was Activision's first response? Did you have to get after them after first proposing the signing? CD Projekt: It wasn't easy, but no one said it [would] be. It took us more than a year to finalize the deal with Activision. We [had] first approached Vivendi; it was just before their fusion with Activision, so the timing wasn't exactly perfect for us. We presented them our offer and the whole concept of the service, which appealed to them, especially in the case of Sierra titles. Then after the merge we started talking to Activision about possible cooperation and [though] they liked the concept of selling older titles via digital distribution, there was still the DRM issue. That's the problem we come across many times while discussing with publishers. Thanks to our inborn charm and good arguments we've managed to convince Activision that selling DRM-free games is a good point, not a flaw. Signing new deals always takes a lot of time, but if we're talking about Activision, one of the biggest publishers in the world, it's taking even more time and work. We're sure it was worth working so hard to finally offer such great classics to our customers. We're really happy about this deal and we can assure you it's just the beginning.

Guess this didn't really pan out for them.

[niz]

Come on, gog is great and cannot shut down like this. So, maybe it's just the ending for the beta and the new plateform coming soon.

[balladofwindfishes]

Yea because you and a million other people were buying from them regularly, right?

There's no indication that them closing was for financial reasons.

With GoG, even if a game sold 1,000 copies, it was still 1,000 copies more than the game sold without the service. It also seems like many of the emulation was done in-house, meaning there was little financial burden from the original publishers.

It just seemed like easy money for very little risk and work. Right now the only alternative for most of those games is piracy. Publishers have left legitimate customers out in the cold, and then complain when they pirate their games.

[Joseph Merrick]

How did this happen? And so sudden!? This is making me real scared about all my Direct2Drive, Gamersgate and STEAM games...

your gamersgate games are completely safe for the future if you download the installers and unhook them from the gamersgate downloader :) do it

[HK-47]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

[Syril]

Son of a bitch. They were probably the closest ones to ever re-releasing Quest for Glory.

[Joseph Merrick]

It also seems like many of the emulation was done in-house, meaning there was little financial burden from the original publishers.

quite a few games had dotemu emulators. oh and dotemu games can still be got from dotemu.com they've even added some unique to dotemu games recently like moto racer

[TouchMyBox]

stop talking about steamworks it never ends well in threads about other dd services

Seriously, it's pretty fucking trite. If you hate steam, stop giving them money. End of story. I'm pretty sure everybody on NeoGAF knows about steamworks' drm.

[Instro]

Son of a bitch. They were probably the closest ones to ever re-releasing Quest for Glory.

This, damnit.

[ElectricThunder]

hehe what's the game you didn't have time to download? tell us her name

huh? what in the world does that have to do with anything out from nowhere?

I'd take a pic of my virtual shelf with Win 7's little Snag thing but...well...

:(

[Drkirby]

Yea because you and a million other people were buying from them regularly, right?

There were defently at least 10k+ sales a day. Plus, just killing the site within seconds without saying "We are sorry, we are shutting down our service within 15 minutes. LAST CALL!" sort of left a ton of money on the table that could of been had in a fire sale type thing.

[vazel]

Haha at the people worrying about their Steam games. Because a small site like gog.com is indicative that the biggest digital distribution site for games may shut down. For Pete's sake you could even see all of gog.com's available games listed on one page.

Although this has made me positive I'm never buying from Gamersgate, another smaller site run by another smaller developer. Direct2Drive is ok I suppose, they seem second biggest to Steam and they're owned by IGN.

There were defently at least 10k+ sales a day. Plus, just killing the site within seconds without saying "We are sorry, we are shutting down our service within 15 minutes. LAST CALL!" sort of left a ton of money on the table that could of been had in a fire sale type thing.

How do you know that? That would be ridiculously good for such a small selection. That would even be decent for PSN.

[Ogs]

[Acosta]

WHAT THE FUCK?

I hope this is a (bad joke) by CD Projekt and it's only a way to promote the end of the beta period...

Leave me alone! I want to believe!

[Baller, PhD]

Here's hoping for "Steam Classic" or something along those lines.

Valve, fix it. :(

[Minsc]

Haha at the people worrying about their Steam games. Because a small site like gog.com is indicative that the biggest digital distribution site for games may shut down. For Pete's sake you could even see all of gog.com's available games listed on one page.

Steam's not safe forever. Gabe is mortal, and money corrupts, even if Gabe is immune to selling, doesn't mean the next in line won't want a 100M+ or whatever it's worth.

Steam going public and undergoing huge policy changes, or possibly a monthly subscription fee would certainly upset a good number of people just as much or more than it ending.

[Joseph Merrick]

huh? what in the world does that have to do with anything out from nowhere? I'd take a pic of my virtual shelf with Win 7's little Snag thing but...well... :(

hehe. my stupid shelf was getting too big and annoying, stopped keeping it ordered quite a while ago

[vazel]

Steam's not safe forever. Gabe is mortal, and money corrupts, even if Gabe is immune to selling, doesn't mean the next in line won't want a 100M+ or whatever it's worth. Steam going public and undergoing huge policy changes, or possibly a monthly subscription fee would certainly upset a good number of people just as much or more than it ending.

I'd imagine any new owners wouldn't want to piss off the established customer base with radical changes. Steam's loyal customer base would be a big reason why anyone would want to buy Steam.

[firehawk12]

Fuck, I was going to buy all the Sierra adventure games again too. :(

[HK-47]

I'd imagine any new owners wouldn't want to piss off the established customer base with radical changes. Steam's loyal customer base would be a big reason why anyone would want to buy Steam.

lol optimist.

[Stop It]

Now, this is where things get a bit strange (google translate is rubbish, but on the Quakenet IRC we have Polish natives looking at this)...

http://www.bankier.pl/forum/temat_in...1960123,1.html

CD Projekt are either owned, or part of a company traded as Optimus SA http://www.bankier.pl/inwestowanie/p...riod=1M&size=B (We're honestly not 100% sure, but there is a CD Project staffer on this financial site mentioning Optimus rather than CDP so we're assuming that they are one and the same or linked).

As you can see, their share price has...been very active recently and their is an EGM scheduled for this coming Wednesday. This all points to a takeover, and depending on who is looking at buying the company, they may not see a DRM free GoG as a viable business model.

This, added to information that I cannot impart, implies that this isn't the last we'll see of Good Old Games. I'd wait a few days before calling for the funeral procession.

[TheUsual]

Steam's not safe forever. Gabe is mortal, and money corrupts, even if Gabe is immune to selling, doesn't mean the next in line won't want a 100M+ or whatever it's worth. Steam going public and undergoing huge policy changes, or possibly a monthly subscription fee would certainly upset a good number of people just as much or more than it ending.

Develop the company culture to avoid this?

[-PXG-]

Fucking hell.. Now that I think of it.. Since this news comes very suddenly (for me at least), wouldn't it be wise to backup EVERYTHING I ever bought online? What is my Steam library of 100+ games suddenly is gone one day. Damn, even thinking about it makes me sad.. D:

And this is why I keep telling my friends and GAF, that digital distribution is a teriible idea.

I never used GOG, but this is still really bad news. People getting screwed over left and right...

[arstal]

Haha at the people worrying about their Steam games. Because a small site like gog.com is indicative that the biggest digital distribution site for games may shut down. For Pete's sake you could even see all of gog.com's available games listed on one page. Although this has made me positive I'm never buying from Gamersgate, another smaller site run by another smaller developer. Direct2Drive is ok I suppose, they seem second biggest to Steam and they're owned by IGN. How do you know that? That would be ridiculously good for such a small selection. That would even be decent for PSN.

Gamersgate was spun off from Paradox. I do have some worries there, but I believe worst case scenario- Impulse would take the GG keys.

Impulse should be fine. Stardock overall is profitable, uses Impulse for its application siide, and Brad says Impulse is profitable.

D2D I worry about.

[AdrianWerner]

People, relax. It's just a marketing stunt. Worse one ever. I don't know who at CDP thought this was a good idea to drop the beta and go final in such manner, but he's a moron.

And yes, it is a stunt, CEO warned financial forums couple days ago to ignore what will appear on Gog site soon. .t. It's a mess overall...23rd there was supposed to be full blown conference (like the one in Spring, when they've shown Witcher 2 for the first time), but it was just annouced it won't happen and there will be online conference instead.

Anyway, bassicaly GoG is simply ending it's beta phase and going final, that's all. Some speculate it will get a standalone client too.

[Joseph Merrick]

Haha at the people worrying about their Steam games. Because a small site like gog.com is indicative that the biggest digital distribution site for games may shut down. For Pete's sake you could even see all of gog.com's available games listed on one page. Although this has made me positive I'm never buying from Gamersgate, another smaller site run by another smaller developer. Direct2Drive is ok I suppose, they seem second biggest to Steam and they're owned by IGN. How do you know that? That would be ridiculously good for such a small selection. That would even be decent for PSN.

hey buddy, you trying to pick a fight or what. don't use small to describe gog.com's selection of 400 or so games in one sentence and then smaller in the next to describe gamersgate who has like double the amount of titles to steam. I'm gonna get angry alright

People, relax. It's just a marketing stunt. Worse one ever. I don't know who at CDP thought this was a good idea to drop the beta and go final in such manner, but he's a moron. And yes, it is a stunt, CEO warned financial forums couple days ago to ignore what will appear on Gog site soon. .t. It's a mess overall...23rd there was supposed to be full blown conference (like the one in Spring, when they've shown Witcher 2 for the first time), but it was just annouced it won't happen and there will be online conference instead. Anyway, bassicaly GoG is simply ending it's beta phase and going final, that's all. Some speculate it will get a standalone client too.

good info, dude. you should have come sooner :-D

[Acosta]

Steam's not safe forever. Gabe is mortal, and money corrupts, even if Gabe is immune to selling, doesn't mean the next in line won't want a 100M+ or whatever it's worth. Steam going public and undergoing huge policy changes, or possibly a monthly subscription fee would certainly upset a good number of people just as much or more than it ending.

Can we cut the crap about the Steam discussion for once?, I'm sick of seeing it in every PC related thread and if GoG is closed for real this is definitely not the place for it.

[Alcool313]

=( I never bought Arcanum and now its gone. I had been waiting for so long for that game and I was just waiting for thanksgiving of this years. Damn it.

[out0v0rder]

digital distribution is the best type of distribution, fuck physical copies, only dumb nerds collect shit in real life.

[Kuro Madoushi]

Steam's not safe forever. Gabe is mortal, and money corrupts, even if Gabe is immune to selling, doesn't mean the next in line won't want a 100M+ or whatever it's worth. Steam going public and undergoing huge policy changes, or possibly a monthly subscription fee would certainly upset a good number of people just as much or more than it ending.

DON'T GIVE THEM ANY IDEAS! >:/

[TheKingsCrown]

Steam's not safe forever. Gabe is mortal, and money corrupts, even if Gabe is immune to selling, doesn't mean the next in line won't want a 100M+ or whatever it's worth. Steam going public and undergoing huge policy changes, or possibly a monthly subscription fee would certainly upset a good number of people just as much or more than it ending.

Steam is worth a lot more than $100 million, trust me. :lol

[Acosta]

Holy shit I knew it was a stunt, it was impossible.

I feel relieved but a bit angry, this was not a good idea.

[VALIS]

Haha at the people worrying about their Steam games. Because a small site like gog.com is indicative that the biggest digital distribution site for games may shut down. For Pete's sake you could even see all of gog.com's available games listed on one page. Although this has made me positive I'm never buying from Gamersgate, another smaller site run by another smaller developer. Direct2Drive is ok I suppose, they seem second biggest to Steam and they're owned by IGN.

I'd imagine any new owners wouldn't want to piss off the established customer base with radical changes. Steam's loyal customer base would be a big reason why anyone would want to buy Steam.

Trying to comprehend your rationale has made me dizzy.

[Twig]

yeah, didn't have the lucasarts stuff. but they did have some nice ones, all the myst games, gabriel knights, sanitarium, amerzone/syberias, anotherworld, beneathasteelsky although this is free of course, brokenswords, darkfalls, gobliiins, king's quests, space quests, phantasmagorias, texmurphys, journeymanproject2, longest journey

God and I literally had planned to buy over half of those eventually, once I cut down on my backlog.

Ughhh.

Now I'll probably never get some of them. \:

[subversus]

bitches