Their games might end up on both, but when it comes to a new 3rd party game being put on CDPR store with DRM or GOG store without DRM, which do you think will happen? Long term, do you think GOG would survive if CDPR shift their focus to another store?
It’s not really the same as Rockstar Launcher and Steam, because Rockstar don’t own Steam.
I’d like to think I’m not so much speculating, but rather concerned about what this might mean. There’s certainly no apparent reason why splitting CDPR games away from GOG would be good for consumers.
My guess is that they want to use a single account across more services unrelated to GOG
The specific reasoning they’ve given is pretty clear:
You are receiving this email due to your use of online features, including Cross Progression and My Rewards, in CD PROJEKT RED games, as well as your participation in platforms like the CD PROJEKT RED Forums.
None of these things have a clear advantage in being separated from GOG. GOG is owned by CDPR, GOG is a CDPR subsidiary. CDPR have full authority to dictate how their games are sold on the GOG platform. The only unique thing about GOG is the DRM-free position.
By separating CDPR games from GOG, they can separate CDPR games from the DRM-free position, without facing the inevitable backlash that doing so would normally face. Then, newer CDPR games won’t be bound by the GOG philosophy, while GOG can die off somewhat naturally and without such significant backlash. This could be seen as commercially preferable over the current situation for a publicly traded company such as CDPR.
I am making assumptions, but that is the very nature of future predictions. I ask if you could make any other assumption that really challenges mine.
They are legally separate entities, but why should that affect customers? Why are CDPR games no longer being sold on the GOG store? This almost would be like if Valve stopped selling Half Life on Steam.
I don’t think it has anything to do with being “easier to manage”. I think the corporate structure is purely for financial reasons. Valve never spun up a second business for Steam.
I also suspect it has something to do with the fact that GOG is a staunchly DRM free platform. It sounds like either CDPR want to sell games with DRM (which means future titles similar to Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Baldur’s Gate 3 would no longer have a DRM-free option, as CDPR would simply have them on their main store rather than GOG), or CDPR want to include DRM in their own games.
GOG and CDPR have always been different branches anyway.
They have and they haven’t. CDPR used GOG’s infrastructure, and CDPR own GOG, so this makes sense. You don’t buy Valve games from the Valve store, you buy them from Steam.
Technically, I think GOG was originally started and owned by CDPR, then became GOG Ltd, and now it’s GOG sp. z o.o. However, I think it’s reasonable to be frustrated that the corporate restructuring (which is almost surely for their financial benefit) is affecting customers. I bought my games from GOG, because I like GOG, and I liked CDPR for making GOG and holding the same ideals.
What this seems to me is that CDPR no longer wish to sell their games on GOG, perhaps because GOG is staunchly DRM free. Does this mean CDPR are going to include DRM in future games? Or are they merely trying to expand the selection of titles they can sell on their storefront(s) to include those which refuse to be DRM free? Does this mean GOG is going to fall to the wayside, as they will no longer push for DRM free versions of major titles, instead referring them to the CDPR store?
I have DRM free versions of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Baldur’s Gate 3. It would be sad if future games weren’t available in this way.
No, GOG was the official store for CDPR (as GOG was created and is owned by CDPR), but now CDPR are splitting off, or something. So, for example, your achievements in games like Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 have been recorded in GOG, but will now be migrated to a separate CDPR service.
So it’s not a merger, but a split, however to my knowledge the ownership structure of CDPR owning GOG will remain the same. It’s just that they want to separate GOG from their own publisher business. What this means for GOG as a storefront seems uncertain - will GOG continue to sell all games, or will it go back to its original purpose of only old games? Will GOG continue to be DRM free? Will future CDPR games include DRM such as Denuvo? Will GOG eventually die off?
Maybe that might be an option, like if I create a CDPR account now and tell them to transfer to that account rather than migrate and then change emails. I’ll give it a go.
Probably, I think I’m going to contacte them and get them to do that, while explicitly stating I object to my email being subject to the new terms and conditions.
Yes, if one company buys a part of another the data can be legally migrated. The data will also become subject to new the T&C’s and privacy policy, although there must be an opt out before this happens (which they are providing here). This is more of a split I think, as far as I’m aware GOG are still owned by CDPR, it seems like they’re setting up a new division for CDPR games, and maybe GOG is just going to focus on old titles.
For myself, I don’t like this. I use unique emails for everything, and this spoils that setup. I don’t want my GOG email to be anywhere near CDPR, and vice versa. However it seems like my only options are migrate the email to the wrong service, or lose all my online data.
I’m not too bothered if they’re two separate services, beyond whatever that might mean for the continuation of the services. Eg, is GOG going to be worse than it is currently, or is CDPR looking to separate so they can be worse and more like a typical publisher.
Goldeneye was classic, but Perfect Dark was always better IMO.
Man, I wish Rare never sold themselves to Microsoft. They tried to get Nintendo involved and start a bidding war, but Nintendo didn’t bite. Conker’s Bad Fur Day is still perhaps my favourite game of all time, all the timely movie references, and the juxtoposition of a cutesy squirrel character actually being a hungover reprobate. I played so much of that teddies v French squirrels on the beach landing multiplayer.
I’m one of those weirdos who actually preferred BF2142. There was some cool shit in that game, with some really innovative gameplay elements that encouraged the full range of classes, like one had senors for infantry and another had sensors for vehicles (although you had to buy all the expansions to get all the good shit). Also, hover tanks and AA mech robots.
Saying that though, BF2 had a bit of a bug in it where you could fly a helicopter straight towards any AA and it would consistently fall underneath you. I was lethal with that. Also, I really love the fact that DICE basically hired the developers of the BF1942 mod Desert Combat to make BF2